Perhaps, early in the second quarter of Friday night’s Section III Class B playoff opener at Hyatt Stadium, the Skaneateles football team had a brief moment of concern.
A 13-point lead built by the Lakers on Chittenango in the opening period had mostly disappeared, with the usually stout Skaneateles defense burned twice by the Bears, including a 77-yard scoring pass from Ryan Lamaitis to Keith Spurgeon where Spurgeon caught a high pass at midfield and ran the way the rest of the way home.
Within a couple of minutes, though, all turned normal again – and by “normal”, that meant lots of points put up by the Lakers, and little surrendered until the game was well out of reach.
Ultimately, state no. 2-ranked Skaneateles beat Chittenango 51-18, the Lakers improving to 8-0 and advancing to next Friday’s 5 p.m. sectional semifinal at Fayetteville-Manlius against Vernon-Verona-Sherrill (6-2), who advanced by beating Westhill 19-7.
It took all of 62 seconds for the Lakers to move out in front. A Bears fumble on its own 26 was pounced on by Skaneateles and, on the very next play, Areh Boni dashed to the end zone.
Pat Hackler, playing one more time in front of the home fans, threw 45 yards to Nate Wellington to set up Boni’s second TD, a one-yard run, but Chittenango, down 13-0, did not wilt, at least right away.
In the final minutes of the first quarter, the Bears drove to the Lakers’ eight, from where Lamaitis found Dakota Diable in the end zone. The big TD pass from Lamaitis to Spurgeon followed.
That gave the Lakers enough of an alarm to reassert control before halftime. Two minutes after the margin was cut to 13-12, it expanded when Hackler found Wellington in the end zone from 21 yards out.
It took less than two minutes for the Lakers to score twice more before halftime. Nick Wamp had a 17-yard TD run, and Boni converted a third time on a 15-yard dash, extending the Skaneateles lead to 34-12.
Wamp then returned the second-half kickoff 75 yards to the end zone. Hackler added a rushing TD on an eight-yard dash late in the third period, and Wamp, six-for-seven on extra points, converting late on a 34-yard field goal.
Though he only completed 12 of 27 passes, Hackler still accumulated 247 yards, most of them to Wellington, who had 154 yards on four catches. Boni ran for 135 yards on 13 carries, with Hackler adding 79 yards on six carries.
Skaneateles plays VVS in one semifinal while, in the other semifinal at 8 p.m. Friday at F-M, Cazenovia takes on Oneida. The winners get to the Carrier Dome Nov. 3 to play for the sectional Class B title.
