Winners of three in a row following an 0-2 start, and carrying a two-game shutout streak, the Cazenovia football team appeared to have reached its traditional winning form in time for its annual home game under portable Friday night lights.
But all of those good feelings were upended when Central Valley Academy arrived at Buckley-Volo Field Friday night and rallied in the second half to defeat the Lakers 25-20.
Instead of clinching another Section III Class B playoff berth, the Lakers, who now sit in fourth place in B West, must defeat Mexico next Friday in order to get to the post-season since it is now tied for fourth with Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, but would claim any tie-breaker because it beat the Red Devils head-to-head in that rare 4-0 game on Sept. 27.
CVA, like Cazenovia, had lost its first two games of 2019 and then responded with a three-game win streak. And the Thunder didn’t get rattled by the Lakers’ festive home atmosphere, nor by a first-quarter scoring drive that Ty Freyer finished with a six-yard touchdown run.
Answering quickly, CVA scored on its next drive on Mitchell Ardnt’s six-yard run to break Cazenovia’s shutout streak, though the extra point was missed.
Those were the Thunder’s lone points of the first half as the Lakers found the end zone again in the second period, Ryan Romagnoli scoring from three yards out. Evan Murray added the PAT, and Cazenovia took a 14-6 lead to the break.
As it turned out, it was CVA’s passing attack that would turn the game around, Michael Dihrberg throwing 24 yards to Brennan Murray early in the third quarter to cut the Lakers’ margin to 14-12.
Though Romagnoli answered with a 35-yard scoring dash, a missed conversion left it at 20-12, and for the rest of the game Cazenovia was unable to move much against an improving Thunder defense.
Ardnt scored from two yards out to make it 20-18, and in the fourth quarter CVA moved to the Lakers’ 23, where Dihrberg threw and found Cole Brewer, who found the end zone to put the Thunder in front for good.
Romagnoli ran for 87 yards on 22 carries, with Freyer adding 68 yards on 17 carries. Vito Borio paced the Cazenovia defense with seven tackles as Vito Borio got four tackles and Keegan Bailey assisted on four tackles.
While Cazenovia remains alive in the post-season race, Chittenango continued to struggle on Friday, taking a 29-0 defeat to state Class B no. 17-ranked New Hartford.
A pair of second-quarter touchdowns put the Spartans in charge, Tyler Potocki throwing scoring passes of 39 yards to Tyler Cole and nine yards to Peter Colburn. New Hartford added a safety to make it 15-0 at halftime and scored twice more in the second half on Potocki runs of three and five yards.
The Spartans improved to 6-0 and kept pace with state no. 19-ranked Oneida (who beat Camden 38-12) atop the Class B East standings, with New Hartford hosting the Indians next Friday for the league title as the Bears have its own trip to Camden next Friday.
