CAMILLUS –
Over the course of 24 hours last weekend, three varsity teams at West Genesee who were supposed to play in the fall finally made their debuts on the eve of spring.
Most notably, the football Wildcats hosted Christian Brothers Academy last Saturday at Mike Messere Field, and in a thrilling contest not decided until the final play, WG edged the Brothers 33-32.
Having built a 33-20 edge early in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats saw CBA twice go down the field and score in the closing minutes.
As time ran out, the Brothers, still trailing 33-26, were at WG’s 20-yard line when Jordan Rae found Jack Szatkowski in the end zone, just as he had done from 10 yards out earlier in the quarter.
Having failed on a two-point try before, CBA again decided to go for two points and the win rather than an extra point and overtime, but the Wildcats made the last-second stop.
What had kick-started WG was Jacob Mueller’s 75-yard kickoff return for a TD early in the second quarter after the Brothers scored first on Nate Smith’s six-yard run.
They exchanged blows the rest of the period, Braeden McNeil scoring for WG only to have CBA find the end zone twice, so the Wildcats trailed 20-13 at the break.
But as its defense blanked CBA in the third quarter, WG moved within one, 20-19, on McNeil’s 25-yard scoring pass to Nick Louise, sparking a run of 20 unanswered points.
Exavier Brumfield went 15 yards to the end zone early in the final period and scored again from four yards out, capping a day where he gained 170 yards on 29 carries.
Aside from that decisive two-point stop, WG also featured, on defense, Dan Becker amassing 14 tackles. Marks Vogt and Vincent Firenze each had five tackles, with Dylan Pitonza and Nate Pickett both earning four tackles.
A night earlier, WG’s girls volleyball and girls swim teams both got underway at home, with the volleyball Wildcats prevailing over the Warriors in four sets.
Having lost the opening set 25-15, WG nearly fell further behind before pulling out the second set 25-23. It then won the third set 25-19 and then, in another 25-23 decision, kept Liverpool from forcing a fifth set.
Through it all, Olivia Snyder and Maggie Clancy ably split back-line duties, Snyder earning 15 assists and five digs as Clancy got 14 assists and six digs.
Phoebe Anderson put up a team-best 10 kills. Izzy Allen, in addition to her nine kills, matched Cami Zajac’s total of nine digs and added three aces. Mia Lamanna earned seven kills, four assists, three blocks and five digs.
It proved more difficult for WG’s girls swimmers, who lost 99-76 to Liverpool despite a handful of individual titles.
Allison Putnam prevailed in the 200-yard freestyle in two minutes, 12.63 seconds, and was a close second (6:01.34) to the Warriors’ Chloe Brown (6:00.67) in the 500 freestyle.
Anna Ivery went 26.25 seconds to beat out Liverpool’s Kaitlyn Thompson (27.09) in the 50 freestyle, also finishing second in the 100 freestyle in 59.47 seconds. Allie Straub was first in the 100 backstroke in 1:20.43 ahead of Hailey Hann’s second-place 1:27.46.
