Quite often, the defensive excellence put forth by the Cazenovia football team is taken for granted, seen as a nice complement to what is done on the other side of the ball, where most of the points are scored and most of the attention is focused.
Yet no one could take lightly what the Lakers’ defense accomplished Friday night in its 14-3 victory over Marcellus during the Section III Class B semifinal at Chittenango High School.
With its offense unable to do much during the first half, Cazenovia had to keep the Mustangs from getting away – which it did, and then when the Lakers did get in front, that same defense made sure the lead stuck.
Marcellus entered this game riding a seven-game win streak, and over the course of the first two periods the Mustangs’ defensive unit kept finding ways past Cazenovia’s front line to bother Matt Regan and throw him and the rest of the Lakers off their rhythm.
Rob Lobello’s interception in the first quarter set up Mike Kazor’s 32-yard field goal that hit the right upright, but bounced through, giving Marcellus a 3-0 lead.
Only once in the half did Cazenovia make a serious push, reaching the Mustangs’ 24 before missing a tying field goal. Thus, the 3-0 deficit remained at the break.
By now, though, the Lakers’ defense was shutting Marcellus down. On the front line, Dan Hammond produced seven tackles, with Dan Kent adding six tackles and Shawn Szlamczynski getting five tackles.
All that was needed was for someone to make a big play – and Jake Macheda obliged. His 47-yard dash put the Lakers deep into Mustangs territory, and moments later Macheda scored the game’s first touchdown on a 10-yard run.
Happy to protect a 7-3 lead, the Lakers turned to defensive back Matt McLaughlin. Already with seven tackles, McLaughlin stepped in front of a Nick Patterson Jr. pass at his own 25 with nine minutes left.
Not content with that, McLaughlin got a second interception with 2:34 to play, returning it to the Marcellus 34. Seconds later, the Lakers were on the Mustangs’ 10, and Macheda found the end zone from there for the clinching TD. Macheda finished with 118 yards on 12 carries.
And it sends the Lakers back to the Carrier Dome for another sectional Class B final – and again, the opponent is Homer, whom it beat for the title 31-7 a year ago. The title game kicks off next Saturday afternoon at 2 p..m.
Like the Lakers, the Trojans are 9-0, holding the no. 3 state Class B ranking (Cazenovia is no. 5) and, in the sectional semifinals, Homer shut out Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 34-0.
