While they already knew that they would take part in the Section III playoffs next weekend, neither the West Genesee nor Jordan-Elbridge football teams were in the mood to ease through their last regular-season tests, especially in front of home crowds.
To that end, the Wildcats and Eagles both won big on Friday night, with WG roaring past Rome Free Academy 45-7 at Mike Messere Field and J-E pounding Port Byron/Union Springs 53-6.
For the Wildcats, the big work was done the week before when it won at Fayetteville-Manlius 31-20 to lock up a first-round sectional Class AA playoff home game, and 0-6 RFA was expected to provide more of a breather.
That didn’t happen right away, WG getting its only points of the first quarter on Riley Small’s 31-yard field goal, but events in the second period restored some order.
Three times in that quarter, the Wildcats found the end zone, Tyler Cook running five yards for one touchdown and throwing scoring passes of 11 yards to Esisas Brumfield and 34 yards to John Benson right before the break.
Yet even with a 24-0 halftime lead, WG did not back off, putting together three more scoring drives in the third quarter. Brumfield added a second TD on a four-yard run, with Eddie Hebert going 19 yards to the end zone and Brad May scoring from 37 yards out.
Cook was eight-for-15 for 158 yards, Benson catching two of those passes for 72 yards as Exavier Brumfield ran for 98 yards on 11 carries and May had 73 yards on 10 carries.
Defensively, Brendan Hammerle led with six tackles, four of them solo, while Brian Felix had five tackles. Nick Cotter got four tackles as Brad James recorded an interception.
Meanwhile, at Jordan-Elbridge, the Eagles had assured itself a post-season bid when it won 62-48 at Hannibal on Oct. 6 – which was also career win no. 100 for head coach Joe Fiacchi.
By the time Fiacchi received a halftime honor for this milestone in the game against Port Byron/Union Springs, win no. 101 was well in hand, as was the Eagles’ fifth win this fall.
In fact, it was settled in a seven-minute stretch of the first quarter where J-E piled up 28 points.
Jeremiah Sparks, the Eagles’ driving force throughout this fall, added a passing TD to his ledger with a 21-yard scoring pass to Geoff Lippa. Then Luke Pinckney scored from two yards out to make it 14-0.
Sparks returned to score twice in 22 seconds late in the period. After a 25-yard TD dash, Sparks stepped in front of a Panthers pass and returned the interception for his third score of the night.
A fourth TD by Sparks, on a 48-yard run, was part of a big second quarter where Marion Quigley twice broke free for long scoring runs, one from 26 yards and the other from 64 yards.
As the third-place finisher in Class C West, the Eagles will face Utica-Notre Dame, the second-place finisher in C East, in the first round of the sectional playoffs this weekend. The winner advances to the semifinals against General Brown or Little Falls.
With the Class AA picture sorted out,, WG finds itself hosting Christian Brothers Academy, who ended up third in the AA-2 division, in the opening round, the winner to get Liverpool or Utica Proctor in the semifinals.
