CENTRAL NEW YORK –
Having made a stop on a two-point conversion to cling to a season-opening victory over Christian Brothers Academy on March 20, the West Genesee football team could not find that same success a week later.
Venturing to Holland Stadium last Friday night, the Wildcats led two different times in its game at Auburn, yet could not hold on to either of them in a 28-15 defeat to the Maroons.
Auburn got out in front in the first quarter with a drive to WG’s one-yard line before Troy Churney found Jeremiah Phillips in the end zone.
It was the Wildcats’ defense that generated its first points after a punt put the Maroons on its own one-yard line and a safety quickly followed.
Then a Maroons turnover set up WG deep in Auburn territory again, and Exavier Brumfield scored on an eight-yard run. Scott Fura’s extra point put the Wildcats up 9-6.
That didn’t last, though, as Elijah Benson dashed 38 yards for a touchdown with 3:21 left in the half, leaving WG behind 14-9 going to the break.
Brumfield’s second TD on a two-yard run created a 15-14 edge, but then the Wildcats fumbled a punt deep in its own end late in the third quarter, leading to Churney’s nine-yard TD pass to DeSean Strachan.
Trailing 20-15, the Wildcats had the ball inside Auburn’s 10 at the start of the fourth quarter but could not convert. The Maroons countered with a long drive that Benson closed out with an 11-yard TD run and two-point conversion with four minutes left, putting the game away.
One other area high school team debuted last weekend, Jordan-Elbridge hosting Onondaga and falling to the Tigers by a score of 14-9.
In the first of two meetings with OCS (they’ll have a rematch April 16), the Eagles got on the board with a first-quarter safety, but then were shut out for a long stretch of the game.
During the middle stages, the defenses took over, with the lone tally a second-period TD by the Tigers on Will’Zarion Jones’ seven-yard run.
OCS made it 14-2 in the fourth quarter when Jones scored a second time on an 18-yard run. J-E closed the gap when Caleb DeCola scored from eight yards out and Sage Crawford added the extra point, but the Tigers held on.
