Even if getting to the Carrier Dome to play for the Section III Class B championship has turned into an annual occurrence for the Cazenovia football team, this one is special for several reasons.
Part of it is the doubt that may have entered the minds of some Lakers fans after some lackluster performances early in the season, capped by a Sept. 21 home loss to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill.
Another part of it stems from the fact that, whatever the result this time around, it’s the last go-round for head coach Jay Steinhorst, stepping down after this season.
Most of it, though, comes from the fact that Cazenovia will get an opportunity to take down a reigning state champion who has won 20 of its last 21 games – and shares the same nickname.
It’s Cazenovia against Skaneateles next Saturday at 3 p.m., a potentially epic battle pitting one Lakers side’s formidable defense against the other Lakers side’s record-setting pass attack led by senior quarterback Pat Hackler.
Both sides, though, were quite convincing in their semifinal games Friday night at Fayetteville-Manlius.
After Skaneateles dismissed VVS 47-13 in the first semifinal, Cazenovia took its turn against Oneida and, in echoes of great teams of the past, imposed its will on both sides of the ball, shutting out the Indians 40-0 to earn its seventh consecutive sectional finals appearance.
These same teams had met three weeks earlier, when Cazenovia went to Oneida and, by prevailing 28-12, regained control of the Class B West division race. Then the Lakers won at Chittenango as the Indians lost to VVS, but then won an opening-round playoff game at Marcellus.
The rematch proved more lopsided than the original, and only partially due to a Lakers offense that scored twice in the first quarter with big plays.
Ryan Romagnoli got it started by firing a 22-yard touchdown pass to Ian Fostvelt. Less than three minutes later, from his own 24, Romagnoli found a gap and took off 76 yards to the end zone.
That alone was enough to win, for though Cazenovia didn’t score the rest of the half, the defense was making sure Oneida never got into the conversation.
On possession after possession, the Indians tried to get moving and could not, the Lakers ultimately holding them to just 137 total yards. Eleven times, Cazenovia had tackles for losses.
Shawn Szlamczynski again led the defensive unit, with three solo tackles and six assists. John Frega had four solo tackles, two of them for losses, as Vito Borio and Isaac Senehi had three tackles apiece. Dan Hammond assisted on five other tackles.
Also, the Lakers forced three turnovers, which started to translate into points during the third quarter as Tony Heaney, after that third takeaway, ran 43 yards for a TD.
The big plays didn’t stop there, Johnson going deep and finding James Pavelchak on a 77-yard scoring pass and running 62 yards for another TD early in the fourth quarter. In between, Romagnoli scored on a five-yard run.
All told, Cazenovia gained 366 yards on the ground, with Romagnoli gaining 162 of those yards on 16 carries and Johnson getting 122 yards on 13 carries to go with completing four of six passes for 89 yards. Heaney added 63 yards on five carries.
Yet it is the defensive unit that will face the most scrutiny in the Dome, trying to solve the Skaneateles puzzle of trying to cover top wide receivers Nick Wamp and Nate Wellington, or worry more about Hackler and Areh Boni running the ball behind a formidable offensive line.
