Rarely in its recent annals had the Cazenovia football team ever needed to worry about whether it would make the Section III playoffs in the last week of the regular season.
Yet the Lakers dealt with this stress quite well, venturing to Mexico Friday night and earning a comfortable 27-6 victory over the Tigers to win for the fourth time in five weeks.
That result, combined with Central Valley Academy’s 20-7 win over Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, allowed Cazenovia to finish alone in fourth place in the B East division behind the Thunder, plus Oneida and New Hartford.
And it sets up a highly-anticipated sectional Class B opening-round game next Friday as the Lakers venture to Al Merola Field to face undefeated, state no. 9-ranked Solvay, a once-great program who fell on hard times before roaring back to life this fall and making the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade.
With nothing guaranteed following its Oct. 11 home defeat to CVA, Cazenovia quickly gained control against a Mexico side that had lost six in a row. Ty Freyer got the Lakers on the board, scoring on a 20-yard run in the first quarter.
Two more scoring drives followed in the second period, Ryan Romagnoli dashing 21 yards to the end zone and, minutes later, Cazenovia striking through the air as Romagnoli’s pass to Evan Murray turned into a 60-yard touchdown.
Romagnoli helped wrap things up with a 37-yard scoring run in the third quarter as the Lakers’ defense nearly got a third shutout in four weeks, keeping Mexico off the board until the fourth quarter, when the game was long in hand.
Cazenovia held the Tigers to 144 total yards as John Frega had four tackles and three assists, with Vito Borio and Keegan Bailey each getting three tackles. A.J. Rothfeld assisted on six tackles and made two of his own.
The Lakers had 394 total yards, 253 of them on the ground as Romagnoli gained 116 yards on 11 carries and Freyer had 89 yards on seven carries. Between them, Romagnoli and Freyer completed six of 14 passes for 134 yards.
Meanwhile, Chittenango, who will miss the sectional playoffs, saw its five-game skid end at Camden, where it started fast, but ultimately needed a fourth-quarter safety to beat the Blue Devils 16-14.
The Bears’ defense ended up keying the outcome, first by scoring on a Elias Clement fumble return as Nate Addison added a four-yard TD run to make it 14-0 through one period.
Camden fought back, tying it 14-14 by halftime on short scoring runs by Eric Mitchell (one yard) and Mason Gerber (two yards). And it stayed even until the final period, when the Chittenango defense returned to trap the Blue Devils in its own end zone for the winning two points.
