Day or night, warm temperatures or cool, calm demeanor or fiery temper – name the different circumstances, and it seems like the Skaneateles football team can handle them.
Sitting at no. 3 in the state Class B rankings, the Lakers tightened its grip atop the Class B West division last Saturday by patiently dealing with all the challenges Bishop Ludden (and the weather) threw at them and shutting out the Gaelic Knights 35-0.
They were to have the Homecoming game on Friday night at Allyn Stadium, but the threat of severe weather caused Skaneateles officials to move it to Saturday afternoon, when it felt far more like autumn, and far less threatening.
Bishop Ludden reached the Section III Class D final a year ago, falling to Dolgeville. Then it got bumped up two classes due to merit and the fact that it picked up students from Syracuse Academy of Science.
Now in B West, the Gaelic Knights had started 2-1, but would not pose a serious threat to the Lakers, who again were sensational on the defensive side, allowing it to not have to air it out too much when it had the ball.
In fact, Pat Hackler did not throw a touchdown pass until late in the second quarter, and even in that case it was a short throw to Nick Wamp where the junior receiver did most of the work on a 42-yard dash to the end zone.
By then, it was 21-0 in the Lakers’ favor. Two scoring drives, one in each period, ended with Areh Boni plowing in for touchdown runs of nine and 16 yards.
Somehow, Skaneateles pulled away despite committing a fair amount of penalties. Ludden was worse, though, as one player got ejected for hitting Hackler late out of bounds.
Not missing any time, Hackler tacked on two more TD passes in the second half, going three yards to Wamp and 42 yards to Nate Wellington. Wamp was successful on all five of his extra-point attempts.
From an accuracy standpoint, it was far from Hackler’s best performance as he only went 10-for-23 for 163 yards and threw an interception. Boni ran for 128 yards on 16 carries.
In the B West standings, not only is Skaneateles on top at 4-0, the two teams closest behind them, Marcellus and Westhill (both 3-1), are teams the Lakers already beat by a combined 91-15 margin.
Hackler and his fellow seniors are home one more time in the regular season when they meet Institute of Technology Central this Friday at 7 p.m.
