Two short years ago, when the Cazenovia football team encountered Skaneateles in the opening round of the Section III playoffs, it proved a 51-0 blowout for the home side at Buckley-Volo Field.
It proved a stark reminder, at least at the time, about which Lakers program held a permanent place atop the area Class B ranks, and which one still had a long way to reach that summit.
Now, it’s changed quite a bit.
When Cazenovia met Skaneateles again in Saturday’s sectional Class B final at the Carrier Dome, it put up a brave and tough effort – but still got overwhelmed by those other Lakers, who won the state Class C crown in 2017 and now added another sectional title by a 41-10 margin.
Cazenovia, making its seventh consecutive sectional finals appearance, was a confident team going to the Dome, having blanked Oneida 40-0 in the semifinal round. But now its defense had to try and solve the riddle of a high-octane Skaneateles offense anchored by senior quarterback Pat Hackler.
Plus, Skaneateles was quite motivated, having seen a film of that 51-0 loss it took at Cazenovia as a reminder of how bad things once were for them, and what it had done to turn itself into a powerhouse.
With three possessions in the first half, Skaneateles found the end zone each time. It mostly worked on the ground during its first drive, a 78-yard march where Hackler and Areh Boni gobbled up yards before Hackler found Nick Wamp in the corner of the end zone from 17 yards out.
A second-quarter drive covered 89 yards, with a 42-yard Hackler pass to Wamp the key play on a march that Hackler finished by sprinting 10 yards up the middle for a touchdown.
Briefly, Cazenovia crept closer, as Ryan Romagnoli’s 29-yard run set up Drew Johnson throwing a 12-yard scoring pass to Chad Carges on a rollout, which made it 13-7.
But Nate Wellington returned the ensuing kickoff past midfield, and with its short field Skaneateles again found its way to the end zone, Hackler going the last 19 yards to Wamp on a pass to the right side in single coverage.
Three different times in the first half, Cazenovia drove inside the Skaneateles 15-yard line, but only reached the end zone once. One of those drives in the final seconds of the second quarter reached the one, but was turned back, so Cazenovia settled for Evan Murray’s 20-yard field goal.
Cazenovia only trailed 20-10 at halftime, and thought it had gained more momentum when it stopped Skaneateles at its own two-yard line on fourth down after Wellington’s 52-yard kick return opened the third quarter.
However, the Skaneateles defense forced a quick punt and, with yet another short field, it took just two plays for Hackler to make it 27-10, finding single overage and throwing to Wellington in stride on a 23-yard scoring pass.
Hackler also intercepted Johnson on Cazenovia’s next possession, and though he was picked off by James Pavelchak two plays later, he led another Skaneateles scoring drive capped by Boni’s six-yard TD run in the last minute of the third quarter and hit Wellington on a 32-yard scoring pass late in the game.
As Skaneateles advanced to face Chenango Forks in a clash of the state’s top two-ranked Class B teams in the regional finals next weekend, Cazenovia finished at 8-2, and will face plenty of changes in the off-season, from players graduating to finding a new head coach after Jay Steinhorst announced that this season would be his last.
