In the wake of its defeat to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill on Sept. 21, the Cazenovia football team may have felt that its long reign atop the Class B East division was, at last, going to end since the Red Devils and Oneida were both ahead of them in the standings with 4-0 records.
Then, a weekend later, the hopes for a league title were revived.
VVS was stunned at home by Camden 31-20, so the Lakers knew, by the time it took the field for Saturday’s game against New Hartford at Buckley-Volo Field, that it again had a path to the top.
And Cazenovia didn’t trip up on that first step, making Senior Day a successful one by erupting for 30 second-quarter points against New Hartford and going on to bash the Spartans 40-7.
When the Lakers only managed a 23-yard field goal from Evan Murray in the first period, it gave no indication at the way it would flatten New Hartford on both sides of the ball in the quarter that followed.
Five different times, Cazenovia had the ball in that second quarter, and it converted each time, the 30 points topping its totals from entire games it won against Central Valley Academy and Camden earlier in the month.
It started with Drew Johnson, from midfield, finding Tony Heaney on a 46-yard touchdown pass. Minutes later, it was 17-0 as again, Johnson made a big play, connecting with James Pavelchak on a 58-yard scoring pass, but the Lakers were far from satisfied.
Getting the ball again, the Lakers scored twice more on runs by Ryan Romagnoli of 11 and five yards, and just before halftime Murray, already four-for-five on extra points, tacked on a 33-yard field goal.
So a close game had, in 12 minutes, gone to 33-0, and the only other Lakers’ points came with the reserves on the field, a fourth-quarter nine-yard TD pass from Mike Parrella to Jack McDonald.
Johnson amassed 219 passing yards on nine-for-15 completions, an average of better than 24 yards per completion, with Pavelchak catching four passes for 112 yards and Heaney’s three catches amounting to 73 yards. Romagnoli rushed 12 times for 81 yards.
On the defensive side, the first-team starters blanked New Hartford. Shawn Szlamczynski recovered a fumble and Keegan Bailey earned an interception, with Joey Riedl assisting on six tackles and C.J. Monroe getting three tackles, plus three assists.
Since Oneida beat Central Valley the night before, it moved to 5-0 and now was alone in first place in B East, but the Lakers could join them atop the standings if it beats the Indians this Friday at 6:30. Oneida is, of course, coached by a Cazenovia alum, Jason Fuller, adding to the night’s intrigue.
Oneida had already beaten Chittenango the week before, and the Bears, following up with Friday’s trip to Mexico, nearly saw its own playoff hopes crippled, but it managed to pull out a wild 54-48 victory over the Tigers.
It all got going with Chittenango managing four touchdowns in the first quarter, during which Brian Lamaitis threw three scoring passes – 45 yards to Dakota Diable, 15 yards to Gabe Haley and 65 yards to Keith Spurgeon. Connor Caporin added a 25-yard TD run.
Despite this, the Bears only led 25-14, and Mexico cut that margin to 33-28 by halftime, the lone Chittenango score in the second quarter a big play, Lamaitis going 81 yards to Haley.
What ultimately saved the Bears on this night was more big plays. Trailing 42-33 in the third quarter, Chittenango got close with Nate Smith’s 58-yard scoring dash and took the lead when Nate Vivelo returned a Justin Barlow interception 75 yards for the TD.
Mexico regained the lead, 48-46, on Connor Haynes’ 18-yard scoring run, yet it was the Bears rallying again and Lamaitis scrambling 38 yards for what proved to be the winning TD.
Lamaitis threw for a career-best 314 yards, with Spurgeon getting 141 receiving yards and Smith 105 yards, each on just two catches.
Though it sits in fourth place in B East with a 3-2 record, Chittenango will have to win one of two tough home games to close the regular season as VVS visits next Friday at 6:30 and Cazenovia shows up on Oct. 12.
