Just in time, and against just the proper opposition, the Cazenovia football team rediscovered its winning form.
Mired at 0-2 and concerned that a post-season berth was already slipping out of its reach, the Lakers made bold changes on offense that started to pay off in the second quarter of Saturday’s Homecoming game against Chittenango at Buckley-Volo Field.
Three touchdowns in that period, combined with two more in the third quarter, broke Cazenovia out of its season-long struggles and produced a 34-13 victory over the Bears, the Lakers’ first under new head coach Kyle Martin.
For a team accustomed to regular-season dominance, the Lakers’ defeats to New Hartford and Oneida, the latter of them a 6-0 shutout on its home turf, forced an urgency rarely seen in the Cazenovia program.
And urgency produced an altered lineup to bring the offense to life. Senior Dylan Anderson moved from tight end to right guard, fortifying a front line that had gone through plenty of early struggles. Also, Ryan Romagnoli would take many more direct snaps.
It also helped the Lakers to have John Frega back in the lineup on both sides of the ball after he had missed the Oneida game. Frega joined Anderson, Cameron Cunningham, Carter Polhamus and Gordon Wester, and together they would physically wear Chittenango down.
Just as important was what the much-improved Lakers defense during the first quarter, twice stopping the Bears after Cazenovia had turned the ball over with a Nate Smith interception and a Nick Farr fumble recovery.
So it was still 0-0 when, less than two minutes into the second quarter, Romagnoli took a snap at his own 37-yard line, found a hole on the left side and outran the Chittenango defenders to the end zone.
It began an outburst of 34 points in less than 19 minutes, interrupted only by Warren Tedford’s four-yard touchdown pass to Nate Addison that got the Bears on the board minutes after Romagnoli’s first score.
Getting more comfortable as a quarterback in a spread offense, Romagnoli threw deep and found Chris Sparks for a 35-yard TD pass. Then the first of Connor Wilson’s two interceptions set up another score in the final seconds of the half, Romagnoli converting from two yards out.
Far from done, Romagnoli took the third snap of the third quarter and, helped by crushing blocks, ran untouched 58 yards for six points. Runs by Vito Borio and Ty Freyer set up a fourth Romagnoli TD late in the period.
Before exiting early in the fourth quarter, Romagnoli had gained 204 yards on 14 carries, but he didn’t have to carry the whole burden since Freyer got 73 yards on 17 carries and Borio added 54 yards on seven carries.
Chittenango was limited to 187 yards of total offense by a Lakers defense that featured Keegan Bailey, who had seven tackles. Frega (six tackles) and Borio (five tackles) were close behind.
Now both teams are 1-2, but Cazenovia has major momentum as it visits Vernon-Verona-Sherrill on Friday, just as Chittenango hosts an Oneida side that is 3-0 after it knocked off the Lakers and rallied past VVS a week later.
