A perfect September for the Marcellus football team was capped by an impressive victory over one of its main rivals, knowing that another rival looms with the Class B West division lead on the line.
The Mustangs scored four times on long runs in a span of five plays from scrimmage in the third quarter of Friday night’s game at Westhill, those big plays the difference-maker as it defeated the Warriors 34-6.
Now 4-0 Marcellus can plan for its big showdown next Friday against 4-0 Solvay, who had little trouble staying undefeated as it took out Institute of Technology Central 49-6.
Westhill, 1-2 heading into its battle with Marcellus, was energized by its large Homecoming crowd, and brought back its 2009 team on the 10-year anniversary of that group of Warriors’ Section III and regional Class B championship run.
Even the jerseys for this game were special, with the Warriors forgoing its usual blue-and-black look for multicolored jerseys in honor of autism awareness and raising more than $1,000 for local autism charities.
Marcellus absorbed all of this and kept Westhill off the board in the first half, but made plenty of its own mistakes, twice unable to get any points inside the Warriors’ 20-yard line – once off a turnover, the other time following a 79-yard run by Trevor Widrick.
Midway through the second quarter with the game still scoreless, the Mustangs lined up in close formation at its own 34. Then it ran a reverse, and Nick Kermes tore down the right sideline 64 yards to the end zone.
Though a 7-0 halftime advantage was far from safe, the big runs from Kermes and Widrick hinted at much bigger plays ahead.
Sure enough, three plays into the second half, quarterback Sean Tierney faked an option handoff, found a gap on the right side and took off 50 yards for a touchdown.
On its very next play from scrimmage at its own 31, the Mustangs again ran the option and, again, Tierney outran everyone to the end zone, this one covering 69 yards and extending the lead to 20-0.
Westhill had a drive halt on fourth down at the Marcellus 32, and on the very next play Kermes took his turn, sprinting down the left sideline 68 yards for his second TD of the night.
And even after the Warriors got on the board with Garvin Kinney’s 23-yard scoring pass to Geoff Daniul, the Mustangs put things away two plays later as Tierney’s last option run to the goal line covered 44 yards. Tierney ran for 153 yards in the third quarter alone.
With Westhill beaten, now it’s Marcellus against Solvay, who did not look ahead to its most important game this decade as, in front of its home crowd at Al Merola Field, the Bearcats took charge against ITC with 21 first-quarter points.
Brock Bagozzi got it going with a big play through the air, a screen pass to Russ Tarbell turning into a 55-yard touchdown in the opening minutes. Then Jaimen Bliss ran 36 yards for another score and, before the period ended, Bagozzi found Brendon Carolina in the end zone from 23 yards out.
Bagozzi scored the lone TD of the second quarter on a four-yard scramble. Then he threw a 34-yard TD pass to Elijah Wright in the third quarter after Bliss scored a second time from seven yards out. Franklin added a two-yard TD plunge in the fourth quarter.
Elsewhere in Class B West, Bishop Ludden put up a great fight in its Homecoming game against Homer, but took a 35-26 defeat to the Trojans.
During an active first half, the Gaelic Knights found the end zone three times, each of them on passes by Nazier Kinsey – 51 yards to Antwon McMullen, then strikes of 17 and three yards to Odell Darby.
This gave Ludden a 20-13 halftime advantage, but it got shut out in the third quarter and Homer went out in front, Andrew VanPatten scoring on a four-yard run and Logan Peck going 33 yards for the go-ahead TD.
Despite Kinsey’s fourth TD pass (seven yards to McMullen), Homer clinched it late with a scoring drive that VanPatten ended with a one-yard TD plunge. In defeat, Kinsey completed 16 of 20 passes for 265 yards, with McMullen catching nine of those passes for 159 yards.
Next Saturday, Ludden faces ITC at Corcoran High School, while Westhill hosts South Jefferson, who at 3-1 sits right behind Marcellus and Solvay in the B West standings.
