SKANEATELES –
All of the seniors for the Skaneateles football team were honored prior to last Saturday’s game against Bishop Ludden at Hyatt Stadium.
These players had endured so much just to get to this point, from the long delay for a season to the near-ouster of head coach Joe Sindoni in a saga that included court appeals and an eventual reversal from the school board.
Now the Lakers would take the field for just the second time this season, having seen a possible game against Solvay on April 9 get canceled.
Though it was 17 days removed from its 18-0 shutout of Cazenovia, Skaneateles did not show much rust against a Bishop Ludden side that had won its first two games of 2021.
In fact, before the Gaelic Knights even got on the board, the Lakers had netted 21 straight points, all that it would need as it went on to defeat Ludden 35-14.
Twice in the first quarter, the Lakers, mixing runs and passes, drove deep into Gaelic Knights territory, and both times Grayson Brunelle found the end zone, scoring on a nine-yard run and then on a 12-yard dash.
When James Musso got a six-yard touchdown, Skaneateles enjoyed a 21-0 advantage, and for the rest of the game Ludden would engage in a futile chase.
Even when the Gaelic Knights scored on Nazier Kinsey’s 20-yard TD pass to Willie Jennings, the Lakers would answer, moving to the one-yard line before Brunelle converted for the third time.
Musso completed 16 of 22 passes for 210 yards, netting his lone TD pass on a 21-yard strike to Patrick Herr in the third quarter. Herr had three receptions for 65 yards and Cody Nesbitt had five catches for 70 yards.
Brunelle’s 133 yards on 23 carries balanced out the Lakers’ attack, and the Lakers’ defense made enough stops, too. Ludden’s lone points of the second half came on Kinsey’s 15-yard TD scramble and Axel Rivera’s extra point.
Skaneateles is set to have a rematch with Cazenovia Wednesday at Buckley-Volo Field, just as Ludden is set to face Solvay, whom it beat 27-20 at the start of the month.
