Once more, the Skaneateles football team put on a high-scoring display for an overmatched opponent.
James Musso threw for 312 yards and recorded six touchdown passes as the Lakers went to Hannibal Friday afternoon and put together a 48-14 victory over the Warriors.
Still at no. 2 in this week’s state Class C rankings behind Susquehanna Valley, Skaneateles took a while to get itself into gear against 1-2 Hannibal, only scoring twice in the first half.
Musso’s first-quarter TD pass to Colin Cox covered 32 yards, and in the second period the Lakers made it 14-0 when Musso, from near midfield, found Nick Wamp deep for a 48-yard scoring play.
Trailing 14-0 at halftime, the Warriors didn’t surrender right away, twice finding the end zone in the third quarter, including a kickoff return – but that came amid a 21-point Skaneateles surges.
Cody Nesbitt finished off one scoring drive catching a 23-yard TD pass from Musso, who then threw one yard to Wamp for another score. Late in the period, Musso threw deep from the 50 and found Jack Comer, who ran the rest of the way.
Nesbitt added two more TDs on both sides of the ball in the fourth quarter, catching Musso’s sixth scoring pass from 19 yards out and returning a Hannibal interception 72 yards for six more points.
Completing 13 of 27 passes, Musso spread things around, with five different receivers reaching the 50-yard mark but none getting more than Wamp’s 90 yards on four catches. Grayson Brunelle added 59 rushing yards on seven carries.
First place in Class C West will be at stake next Friday when 4-0 Skaneateles visits 4-0 Cato-Meridian, who maintained its perfect mark by going to Jordan-Elbridge and, after giving up the initial points, dominated the rest of the way, beating the Eagles 48-7.
Trying to improve upon its 1-2 start, J-E surprised the Blue Devils midway through the first quarter with a reverse that turned into a long TD pass from Alex Pond to Luke Pinckney, but that proved the high points for the Eagles.
Cato caught up before the period ended, Isaiah Swann scoring on an 11-yard run, and quarterback Jonarr Witkowski’s two-yard TD sneak placed the Blue Devils in front 14-7, where it stood at halftime.
The game broke open when Cato’s Isaiah White returned the second-half kickoff 62 yards, setting up Witkowski’s 13-yard scoring run one play later. Seconds later, Witkowski intercepted a Pond pass and went 42 yards for another six points.
Not letting up, the Blue Devils scored off a failed J-E fake punt as Witkowski threw 38 yards to Marcus Turo, and added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Eagles play next Friday at General Brown.
Just like J-E, West Genesee was 1-2 going into this week, and like the Eagles it scored first against an undefeated opponent – but the result was the same, too, as the Wildcats were overwhelmed by Utica Proctor in a 42-14 defeat.
A large crowd on hand for Homecoming at Mike Messere Field were pleased by what it saw from WG in the first quarter. It kept the Raiders’ potent offense in check and took the lead when Braeden McNeil threw an 8-yard scoring pass to Anthony Datellas.
Proctor turned it around, though, with three consecutive scoring drives in the second period. Two of them led to short TD runs by Taesean Cooper, and the other resulted in a 20-yard scoring pass from Brandon Peterson to Kurshawn Feliciano.
Even though the Wildcats got 144 yards on 24 carries from tailback Exavier Brumfield, it was kept off the board until the fourth quarter and a 53-yard TD pass from McNeil to Datellas.
By then, the Raiders had put it away, Cooper scoring twice more in the third period on three-yard runs and Proctor adding two-point conversions on each occasion. Jaheim Jones added a 10-yard scoring run.
WG will now look ahead to next Friday’s game at Cicero-North Syracuse, a rematch of the 2018 Section III Class AA final. The Northstars got off to its own 1-2 start before beating Fayetteville-Manlius 29-8.
