ONONDAGA COUNTY – They had Homecoming on the first Friday night in October at two area high schools just a few miles apart, with large crowds at Marcellus for its showdown with Westhill and at West Genesee, where it welcomed Fayetteville-Manlius.
Only one set of home fans and students left completely satisfied.
Marcellus kept Westhill off the board and prevailed 21-0 for its second win in a row, while West Genesee, finally playing in its home opener, could not quite overcome a rough half in a 21-20 defeat to F-M.
Students at West Genesee arrived early, were loud long before kickoff and were clad in black, ready to see if the Wildcats, finally playing its long-delayed home opener, could follow up its road win at East Syracuse Minoa the week before.
What they saw, though, was an F-M side that took full advantage of early WG mistakes and dominated large portions of the first half, holding the Wildcats to just one first down.
Even when WG blocked a field goal late in the first quarter, its players froze long enough for the Hornets’ George LaCombe to pick up the ball and scoot 19 yards to the end zone.
Shut down again in the second quarter, the Wildcats saw the Hornets score on Chris Hoalcraft’s 25-yard touchdown pass to John Giuffrida and T.J. Conley’s 42-yard dash down the sidelines.
Trailing 21-0 at halftime, WG roared to life early in the third quarter, a short F-M punt setting up a scoring drive where, on fourth down, River Oudemool found Colin McAvan over the middle for a 15-yard touchdown.
But the extra point was missed, a crucial factor because F-M turned the ball over twice and, with a series of penalties, allowed the Wildcats to stay within range.
With 2:56 left, on another fourth down Oudemool hit Dom Burris on a 12-yard TD pass, only to fall just short on the two-point try to leave it at 21-12. WG recovered an onside kick, only to have LaCombe intercept Oudemool on the next play.
There was still time for the Wildcats to get it back, rush downfield and, with 27.7 seconds left, cut the margin to one when Oudemool again found Burris in the end zone from 16 yards out and Vincent Firenze caught a two-point pass. But one more onside kick rolled out of bounds and F-M ran out the clock.
While all this was going on, Marcellus was entertaining its own big crowd at Homecoming, with the extra attraction of having a large group of Westhill students on hand hoping that the Warriors would spoil the occasion.
That didn’t happen, largely due to a Mustangs defense that, while it allowed Westhill to move the ball, kept it from reaching the end zone. The Warriors had
On the other side of the ball, Marcellus was not spectacular, but it still grabbed the lead for good in the first quarter when Pat Louer threw a 32-yard TD pass to Ryder Donahue.
Jacob Kermes scored from six yards out in the second period and Marcellus led, 14-0, at halftime. All told, Kermes carried the ball 26 times for 105 yards, more than half the team’s total of 202 yards on the ground.
Louer, who was nine for 17 for 112 yards, stayed turnover-free, and the Mustangs sealed it in the fourth quarter when Jonas Kaczor dashed 35 yards to the end zone. Reggie Welch led Westhill with 88 yards on 13 carries.
Homer, the leaders in Class B West and no. 4 in the state rankings, takes on Westhill next Friday as Marcellus travels to Cortland and West Genesee hosts Auburn.
