Justin Scott did not get a good handle on the opening kickoff Friday night, and for a brief moment the Solvay football team wondered if its wondrous start to 2019 might slip away, too, at the hands of Bishop Ludden.
But then Scott picked up the ball, found a gap down the right sideline, and took off. Seventy-five yards later, he was in the end zone, and the Bearcats were on its way to a 42-13 victory over the Gaelic Knights.
Back-to-back romps over Cortland and South Jefferson had not put Solvay in the first state Class B rankings of the season. But the Bearcats knew that respect could only be gained with more victories, and this meant taking out a Ludden side that had knocked off Westhill 26-6 the week before.
It took all of 13 seconds for Scott to place the Bearcats in front for good. Less than three minutes later, it was 14-0 as, following a Ludden punt, Brock Bagozzi beat a Gaelic Knights with a screen pass to Jaimen Bliss that went 25 yards for a touchdown.
The Gaelic Knights briefly answered with a drive of its own, Nazier Kinsey scrambling 19 yards for a score to cut the margin to 14-6, but those would be Ludden’s last points until the game was out of reach.
Big plays helped Solvay overcome Bagozzi’s three interceptions. In fact, it was the Bearcats’ defense that would find the end zone when Zach Bowen stepped in front of a Kinsey pass and returned it 27 yards for a TD late in the first quarter.
Though it turned over large portions of the game to its ground attack, Solvay changed things up early in the second period when, from his own 25 after a series of runs, Bagozzi thew a perfect pass deep down the left side that Russ Tarbell grabbed and took the rest of the way.
This second 75-yard TD play of the night made it 28-6, where it stood at halftime, and the Bearcats would add two more scores in the second half, each of them by Bliss on a 19-yard dash up the middle and a one-yard plunge early in the fourth quarter.
Back home next Friday, Solvay faces Institute of Technology Central at 6:30, with a chance to complete a perfect September and set up a big Oct. 4 showdown with Marcellus.
The state Class B no. 12-ranked Mustangs, like the Bearcats, are currently 3-0, and it earned that designation as Marcellus went to Homer on Friday and outscored the Trojans in a 35-28 thriller.
What was most impressive about Marcellus’ effort was that it never got rattled, even when Homer’s Connor Matthews, mirroring what Scott did for Solvay, returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown.
Instead, the Mustangs scored twice before the first quarter was done, long drives leading to short TD runs of two yards by Nick Kermes and six yards by Sean Tierney.
The back-and-forth nature of this game continued the rest of the half, Marcellus adding another TD on Kermes’ three-yard run, but the Trojans converting twice, Dylan Yacavone throwing 32 yards to Matthews for one score and scrambling four yards for another.
Tied 21-21 at the break, the two sides again exchanged scores in the third quarter, Tierney breaking loose for a 59-yard dash to the end zone, setting up a final period where the Mustangs reclaimed the lead and kept it with several clutch defensive stops.
In sharp contrast to the great starts from Solvay and Marcellus, Westhill finds itself at 1-2 after going to Cortland on Friday and, without Riley McNitt in the lineup, falling 31-12 to the Purple Tigers.
The Warriors scored only once in the first half, on a TD pass from Jose Gonzalez to Jack Mooney. Cortland used Colin Williams’ 64-yard scoring run to move in front, and Williams converted again from the one to help the Purple Tigers lead 12-6 at the break.
Two more big plays put the game away for Cortland as Williams threw 53 yards to Jaden Finch for one score and Jordan Murray ran 52 yards for another, with Gonzalez able to catch a 56-yard scoring pass from Garvin Kinney in the fourth quarter.
Kinney completed nine of 19 passes for 176 yards as Trevor O’Hearn, taking over McNitt’s duties in the backfield, led the Warriors with 79 yards on 21 carries.
All of this puts Westhill in an urgent situation as it returns home next Friday to face Marcellus.
