No matter how routine it may seem to those watching from the outside, a lot of work goes into the Cazenovia football team putting together undefeated regular seasons on a regular basis.
Yet another one of those 7-0 campaigns culminated Friday night at Camden, where the state Class B no. 5-ranked Lakers scored the game’s first 25 points and didn’t let up until it had beaten the Blue Devils 39-21.
Camden, sporting a 2-4 record, was out of post-season contention, yet still carried the faint hope of surprising Cazenovia, but those hopes got dashed in a hurry.
Twice in the first quarter, the Lakers struck for touchdowns. One was a long drive capped by Jake Macheda’s five-yard run. The other was a big play from midfield as Matt Regan threw deep and found Kevin Stalder for a 49-yard scoring pass.
Regan threw a second TD pass early in the second period, 25 yards to Will Huftalen, and when Matt McLaughlin scored on a one-yard plunge and Ian Fostvelt added the extra point, Cazenovia held a 25-0 lead.
Only here did Camden get on the board with Tyler Parent’s 62-yard scoring pass to Kaden Gabler, but the Lakers answered right before halftime when, from his own 29, Regan unleashed his third and longest scoring pass of the night, 71 yards to Stalder.
Once Macheda scored on a 43-yard run early in the third quarter, the Lakers, up 39-7, could relax a bit, and the Blue Devils did score a pair of late touchdowns.
Regan set a career mark by passing for 232 yards on eight-for-11 completions, an average of 29 yards per completion. Aside from Stalder, McLaughlin caught five passes for 87 yards as Macheda rushed for 76 yards on nine carries.
Defensively, Shawn Szlamczynski was unstoppable, his nine tackles (seven of them solo) including a pair of sacks. Dan Kent had seven tackles as Stalder, who got an interception, and Joey Riedl had four tackles apiece.
Cazenovia will meet Westhill, the fourth-place finisher from Class B West, next Saturday at 1:30 in the opening round of the sectional playoffs.
Chittenango is bound for the sectional playoffs, too, the Bears having snapped a three-game skid by prevailing 27-7 over the Solvay Bearcats on Senior Night.
Consecutive defeats to Canastota, Homer and Marcellus (who hold a combined record of 20-1) had slowed Chittenango down, but Solvay, its post-season hopes gone, provided a respite.
Brian Lamaitis got the Bears on the board by throwing a 60-yard scoring pass to Keith Spurgeon in the first quarter. Then Chittenango’s run attack got going during two second-period drives, ended with TD runs of four yards by Griffen Smith and 16 yards by Francis Cerio.
Thus, despite a 47-yard TD run by Solvay’s John Bliss, the Bears were up 21-7 at halftime, and its defense took over from there, especially Brian Coe, who had 10 tackles, and Sam Hill, who finished with eight tackles.
Offensively, the running of Cero (86 yards on 14 carries) and Smith (65 yards on 10 carries) pushed Chittenango along, and Laimatis tacked on a one-yard TD plunge in the third quarter to further stretch out the margin.
The Bears, as the third-place finisher in B West, will meet the second-place finisher in B East, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, in the first round of the sectional playoffs next Saturday at 2 p.m. The winner gets Homer or Mexico in the semifinals, while Cazenovia, with a win, earns a semifinal against Marcellus or Utica-Notre Dame.
