After two seasons that included back-to-back Section III titles and a 2017 state championship, the Skaneateles football team could not get as far in 2019.
The Lakers were overwhelmed in Friday night’s opening-round sectional Class C playoff game at state no. 4-ranked Lowville, the Red Raiders pouring in 44 unanswered points in the first half on the way to a 58-26 victory.
Meanwhile, West Genesee fell in the opening round of the Class AA playoffs, going to Liverpool and taking a 21-6 defeat to a Warriors team avenging its defeat to the Wildcats in last fall’s sectional semifinal.
Skaneateles faced an enormous defensive challenge against Lowville, who in putting together a perfect 7-0 regular season had scored at least 44 points in every game it played. And the Red Raiders would get to that total in two quarters against the Lakers.
Chad Bach got Lowville going with a 38-yard touchdown run in the opening minutes. Skaneateles briefly countered, driving to the Red Raiders’ four before James Musso found a wide-open Colin Cox in the end zone, though the extra point was missed.
Lowville would take over from there, scoring twice more in the first quarter on runs of eight yards by Bach and two yards by Isaac Lyndaker, with Bach’s second touchdown set up by Jared Beyer’s interception.
And a 23-6 margin grew more lopsided in the second period. Twice, the Lakers put together solid drives, Musso connecting on short passes, but each time Lowville made fourth-down stops.
Meanwhile, the Red Raiders’ ground attack remained unstoppable. Bach scored on an eight-yard run, Lowville’s defense got points when Tyler Dubach intercepted Musso deep in Skaneateles territory and returned it 13 yards for a TD, and Bach threw a 12-yard scoring pass to Colton Friedersdorf.
To its credit, Skaneateles would battle to the end. Musso, who completed 27 of 46 passes for 226 yards, did have a second TD pass to Nick Wamp, and Grayson Brunelle, who ran for 141 yards on 27 carries, scored twice on short runs in the second half.
Wamp, in particular, made some history. By catching 14 passes for 112 yards, he ran his career total to 3,454 yards, breaking the state record of 3,405 that Christian Brothers Academy’s Bruce Williams set from 2001 to ’04, when he caught passes from Greg Paulus, who was named this week as the new men’s basketball coach at Niagara University.
Skaneateles, who was once no. 2 in the state rankings late in September, finished its season at 5-3, while Lowville advanced to face Canastota in the sectional semifinals next weekend.
As for West Genesee, wins in its last two regular-season games over Fayetteville-Manlius and Rome Free Academy brought it to the sectional playoffs, but waiting for them was a Liverpool side that was 6-1 and remembered how the Wildcats broke their hearts in a tense 17-14 playoff thriller 12 months ago.
Still, WG had a great chance to seize an early lead, driving inside Liverpool’s five-yard line in the first quarter, only to fumble a snap that the Warriors recovered. That was as close as WG got to an offensive touchdown all night as it was held to just 106 total yards.
Following that big turnover, Liverpool steadily put together a pair of first-half drives. Both times, it culminated with fullback Jacob Vacco finding the end zone, on a one-yard plunge and then an 11-yard sprint.
Staked to a 14-0 halftime advantage, the Warriors kept it on the ground and wore the Wildcats’ defense down. All told, it gained 371 yards and spread it around as Vacco had 125 yards on 18 carries, with Bryce Mills adding 105 yards on 16 carries.
Only when the Warriors tried to trick WG did it create any uncertainty. Attempting a third-quarter field goal, Liverpool faked it, but Aaron Sisto’s throw was picked off by Hopetan Wellington, who returned it 95 yards for a touchdown to give the Wildcats some life.
But like it had done all game, Liverpool kept WG’s offense quiet, and Warriors quarterback Brendan Mancuso scrambled 18 yards for a fourth-quarter TD that sealed the Warriors’ berth in the semifinals against defending champion Cicero-North Syracuse.
