On a grand stage, Pat Hackler delivered a grand performance – and with ample help, he helped the Skaneateles football team earn its first Section III Class C title in five years.
Hackler’s five-touchdown effort in the first half, and a defense that forced three key turnovers in the third quarter, helped the Lakers pound state no. 2-ranked General Brown 66-27 in Saturday’s sectional final at the Carrier Dome.
“We knew we had a pretty good team going into the season,” said head coach Joe Sindoni. “This year we got bigger, stronger and faster. To put it together like this, I’m happy for (the players).”
For all of its winning consistency, GB had not won a sectional title since 2013, one year following the Lakers’ last championship run, so both sides were full of players hungry to finish on top.
Things began to get wild three minutes into the game when Skaneateles fumbled a handoff on its own 2-yard line and the Lions’ Damien Zawatzki picked it up for the touchdown.
Hackler said he took full responsibility for that play. “I told my teammates, ‘let’s get to work’, and we went from there,” he said.
GB’s lead lasted all of 18 seconds – enough time for Hackler, with his first deep throw of the game, to find Nate Wellington, leading to a 70-yard scoring play and a 7-7 tie.
GB promptly got the lead back, Dominic Lutz’s 50-yard run setting up Tom Dupee’s 17-yard scoring pass to Jake Heller. It only lasted until the Lakers motored to the Lions’ 12 and Hackler found Nick Wamp in the end zone on a rollout pass.
Now the Lakers’ defense made a big play, forcing a GB fumble that Jimmy Liberatore recovered, leading to a short drive and Hackler’s third TD pass of the quarter, nine yards to Wellington.
Taking a 21-14 lead to the second quarter, Skaneateles added to it with a fourth-down stop inside its own five and then the game’s most spectacular play from Hackler.
Deciding to keep the ball from his own two-yard line, Hackler found a hole on the left, cut to the sideline and outran everyone on a 98-yard dash to the end zone.
Suddenly, the Lions were in catch-up mode, Dupee did score from two yards out late in the half, but that left enough time for Skaneateles to drive 72 yards without a time-out and Hackler to throw his fourth TD pass, 26 yards to Wamp, with 43 seconds left, making it 34-21 at the break.
By himself, Hackler had accounted for 279 yards in the first half through the air and on the ground. Sindoni said the fact that it was Hackler’s third year in the offensive system made him master all of its intricacies.
Yet the Lakers’ defense had struggled through those first two periods to contain GB’s powerful attack. When that stopped, Skaneateles would put the sectional title away.
A Lions fumble at its own 20 was pounced on by Liberatore early in the third quarter, leading to Hackler’s fifth TD pass, a 10-yard strike to Wellington. The Lakers forced another turnover when Luke Viggiano intercepted Dupee and returned it 34 yards as Hackler scored one play later on a 10-yard scramble.
Viggiano returned to recover a second fumble after Wellington stripped Dupee on a long run. Then Areh Boni put together a pair of long runs on the ensuing drive, scoring from three yards out before adding an 11-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter. Jack Comer rumbled 74 yards for another score with 5:36 left.
Skaneateles will take on another undefeated foe when it faces defending state champion and no. 1-ranked Newark Valley in next Saturday’s Class C regional final at Union-Endicott High School, which kicks off at 11 a.m.
“We worked hard for this sectional title, but we’re not done yet,” said Hackler.
