About the one thing the Skaneateles football team did not do on the way to a state Class C championship in 2017 was go undefeated in the regular season, denied that feat by Homer.
No one would stop the Lakers from doing so this time, though, as it completed a seven-game sweep through the Class B West division Friday night at Cortland, roaring to a 56-10 victory over the Purple Tigers.
With a 1-5 opponent in front of them, the main goals for Skaneateles at Cortland was to (1) win the game and (2) take care of the important part early so that key players could rest for the post-season ahead.
And after it took a while for the Lakers to put away Solvay a week earlier, it didn’t waste any time here, pouring 28 unanswered points on the Purple Tigers in the first quarter.
Areh Boni set quite a tone. With Skaneateles pinned inside its own 20-yard line in the opening minutes, Boni took a handoff, picked up blocks and was in the end zone 82 yards later.
Having seen that, Pat Hackler took care of three more scoring drives in the first quarter. He threw touchdown passes of 26 and 14 yards to Will McGlynn and, in between, scrambled 24 yards for another score. All told, Hackler completed 16 of 23 passes for 242 yards.
Though not as potent in the second period, the Lakers still scored twice more, Boni (who rushed for 91 yards on the night) finding the end zone from five yards out and Hackler throwing a two-yard TD pass to Luke Viggiano.
As starters exited in the second half, the Lakers had Jack Comer and Colin Cox net their first touchdowns of the season, Comer on a six-yard run and Cox scoring on defense with a 41-yard fumble return.
All is in place for the Section III playoffs, which start next weekend with Skaneateles hosting the fourth-place finisher in Class B East, Chittenango. The winner goes to the semifinals against Vernon-Verona-Sherrill or Westhill.
