Before they even hit October, the Marcellus and Westhill football teams were holding 4-1 records, sharing second place in Class B West and were all but assured of returning to the Section III playoffs.
On Friday night, the Mustangs and Warriors both won at home, Marcellus claiming its fourth win in a row as a fourth-quarter touchdown produced a 21-14 victory over defending sectional Class B champion Homer.
As that went on, Westhill put together its most lopsided win of the season, blanking Cortland 38-0, and Solvay, also playing at home, kept its post-season hopes alive by defeating Bishop Ludden 27-6.
It was the Marcellus-Home game that carried the most drama, with the Mustangs trailing the Trojans 14-13 going to the final period.
But all game long, Marcellus had run the ball well, and it did so here in the clutch, moving the ball to Homer’s 34-yard line before quarterback Brayton Johnson broke free and found the end zone for the go-ahead score.
Johnson added the two-point conversion, part of an effort that included 128 yards on just eight carries, which made up for struggles through the air as he only completed five of 13 passes for 42 yards.
Rob Seeley remained the Mustangs’ primary ground option. His 160 yards on 13 carries included a 70-yard TD run in the first quarter that got his team on the board.
Homer went up 8-7 as Dylan Yacavone found Charlie Lines on a three-yard scoring pass and then on the two-point play, only to have Johnson throw a four-yard scoring pass to Liam Tierney.
Ahead 13-8 at halftime, the Mustangs saw the Trojans again retake the lead with a third-quarter drive that Andrew VanPatten finished off with a three-yard scoring run.
Marcellus would make the last move, though, and will seek its fifth win in a row next Friday at Cortland before closing against Westhill in a game that could determine who hosts a first-round sectional game.
When the Warriors faced Cortland, it finally put together a dominant effort after its previous three wins (over Institute of Technology Central, Solvay and Homer) came by a combined eight points.
Here, Westhill led the Purple Tigers 12-0 by the end of the first quarter on a pair of Garvin Kinney TD passes to tight end Zachariah Brown – one covering 30 yards, the other 27 yards.
Marcus Welch scored from 23 yards out to extend that margin to 19-0 by halftime, part of a 92-yard, 12-carry effort on the ground as Tom Howard added 59 yards on just four carries.
Kinney, who completed 12 of 19 passes for 179 yards, threw a third TD pass to Brown from five yards out in the third quarter. Trevor O’Hearn and Mason Gacek added scoring runs of 20 and three yards, respectively.
Now Westhill can knock 2-3 Bishop Ludden out of playoff contention as the two neighbors meet next Friday, just as Solvay puts its modest win streak up against unbeaten, state no. 2-ranked Skaneateles.
On Homecoming, the Bearcats gave fans at Al Merola Field the rare treat of a convincing victory, using a well-balanced attack to take out a Ludden side saddled with a short work week after it lost at Skaneateles on Sept. 22.
They were still scoreless when, in the second quarter, Solvay found the end zone twice, Jaimen Bliss scoring on a three-yard run and Brock Bagozzi throwing a 30-yard TD pass to Russ Tarbell.
Bliss carried the ball 22 times for 105 yards, and capped off a pair of Bearcats scoring drives with one-yard plunges into the end zone during the second half. Bagozzi threw 23 times, completing 11 of those passes for 131 yards.
Ludden’s lone points came in the fourth quarter on Ze’vion Derby’s 50-yard TD run. The Gaelic Knights fell to 2-3 and will need to beat Westhill to maintain post-season aspirations.
