Cazenovia and Solvay, two Central New York football programs with grand legacies, battled it out Friday night on the turf at Al Merola Field in the opening round of the Section III Class B playoffs, with one side answering the other through a flurry of big plays and momentum shifts.
But the last push belonged to the Bearcats, who overcame four different deficits and scored 21 unanswered points in the latter stages to defeat the Lakers 42-28.
Absent from the sectional playoffs for a full decade, state no. 6-ranked Solvay had gone 7-0 in the regular season, a clean sweep of the B West division where it scored 40 or more points in every game. That unit now tested a Cazenovia defense that five times had allowed fewer than 10 points.
Yet it was the Lakers striking first, pinning Solvay inside its five-yard line with the opening kickoff and forcing a bad punt that set up a short field and Ryan Romagnoli’s 15-yard touchdown run less than four minutes into the game.
As it would do all night, the Bearcats answered, Brock Bagozzi’s passes setting up a 16-yard scoring strike to Justin Scott. They stayed 7-7 through the end of the first quarter, each side fumbling the ball away on consecutive plays.
Not even a minute into the second period, Romagnoli scored again on a 15-yard run after setting up the TD with a 29-yard pass to Keegan Bailey. Two minutes later, it was tied again, 14-14, two long Bagozzi pass plays leading to an eight-yard strike to Zach Bowen.
Romagnoli found Bailey again on a three-yard TD pass after his own 50-yard kick return set it up. Solvay responded this time with a 71-yard drive, all on the ground, with Blaine Franklin accounting for most of the yards until Elijah Wright scored on fourth and goal with 1:21 left in the half.
Intermission arrived with the Lakers and Bearcats level at 21-21, but they were far from done exchanging momentum.
Bailey’s spectacular one-handed interception midway through the third quarter was followed, seconds later, by him catching a 26-yard screen pass from Romagnoli and Ty Freyer finding the end zone one play later.
Solvay absorbed this and, trailing for the fourth time at 28-21, had Bagozzi throw 41 yards to Bowen to launch another drive that, on fourth-and-goal, ended with Bagozzi throwing four yards to Scott in the end zone.
When A.J. Rothfeld blocked Ethan Bigelow’s extra point to preserve a 28-27 Cazenovia lead, the Lakers appeared poised, with one more drive, to put a halt to Solvay’s dream season.
But as it had done throughout the season when tested, the Bearcats came up with big plays, none more important than defensive end Brad Lando’s interception of a Freyer screen pass inside the Cazenovia 15 that led to Wright’s go-ahead two-yard TD run in the first minute of the fourth quarter.
Bagozzi ran in for two points, and Solvay led for the first time, 35-28. More importantly, its defense began to contain Cazenovia’s multifaceted attack, making three crucial stops as the game went down the stretch.
To put the game away, Bagozzi made two big completions – 15 yards to Scott, 13 yards to Russell Tarbell on fourth down – which led to Jaimen Bliss going 15 yards for the clinching score with 1:49 left.
