CENTRAL NEW YORK – With a rare combination of high anxiety, high expectations and heavy hearts created by circumstances no one would want, West Genesee varsity football resumed, and found a bit of healing grace.
The importance of the Wildcats’ 27-11 victory over East Syracuse Minoa Friday at Spartans Stadium went beyond the fact that it claimed its first win of the season.
Three weeks had passed since WG had started and absorbed a painful 14-13 defeat to Baldwinsville on Sept. 3. The next two varsity games, against Indian River and Carthage, were postponed.
But the inconvenience of a long early-season rest was rendered unimportant when, during the junior varsity Wildcats’ game against Carthage on Sept. 18, Comets freshman Tyler Christman fell injured and, three days later, passed away at age 14.
In the week that followed, the WG community rallied around Christman’s family, from establishing a scholarship fund in his name to wearing red at school. And the football team would wear a red-and-white “TC” patch when it returned to the field against ESM.
The long rest would require the Wildcats to take some time getting back to game speed, which it did while getting shut out by the Spartans in the first quarter and falling behind 3-0.
But WG’s defense stifled ESM the rest of the half and, in general, rendered the Spartans one-dimensional, holding them to just 20 rushing yards all night.
A second-quarter scoring drive put the visitors in front. From the ESM 13-yard line, River Oudemool found Dominick Burris in the end zone.
Leading 7-3 at the break, the Wildcats then seized command with a 93-yard scoring drive in the third quarter. Mixing runs and passes, WG got to the Spartans’ 10, from where Kenneth Davis converted.
ESM closed the gap to 14-11 on Tyler Bell’s touchdown pass to Jackson Palumb and a two-point conversion, but the Wildcats responded and clinched it when Davis scored again on a five-yard run with 1:26 left. Seconds later, Davis returned an intercepted pass 48 yards for his third TD of the night.
As they go into October, Westhill and Marcellus got set to meet each other Friday night on the Mustangs’ home turf.
The Warriors headed there with a 2-2 record, having gone to Cortland last Thursday and, aided by some big plays on offense, defense and special teams, defeating the Purple Tigers 36-12.
Westhill didn’t get going until the second quarter, sparked by Keller O’Hern tossing a 32-yard scoring pass to Taden Chester. Minutes later, with Cortland inside the Warriors’ 20, the defense forced a fumble that Rahmonnyee Gonzalez returned 85 yards for a TD.
Leading 14-12 at halftime, Westhill started to get away when O’Hern hit Gonzalez in the end zone from 19 yards out, preceding a Purple Tigers punt that Chester returned 84 yards to the goal line. A fourth-quarter safety and 46-yard TD run by Lee Hynes sealed it.
Marcellus is also in the win column, too, having hammered visiting South Jefferson 57-12 to break out of its early-season skid.
Eliot Austin’s 25-yard field goal kick-started a 23-point first quarter for the Mustangs. Pat Louer ran 13 yards for one TD and threw 56 yards to Ryder Donahue for another as Jacob Kermes scored from two yards out.
Louer, who was 15-for-19 for 193 yards through the air, scored again on a 10-yard run in the second period, with Kermes converting on a third-quarter punt return to go with his 160 rushing yards on 17 carries. Three more touchdowns followed in the final period, including a 14-yard pass from Louer to John Walsh.
