CENTRAL NEW YORK – If anything good could be found in the West Genesee football team’s Oct. 1 defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius, it was the way the Wildcats fought back, nearly erasing a 21-0 halftime deficit.

A week later, again playing in front of a home crowd at Mike Messere Field, WG made sure it got off to a better start.

In fact, what the Wildcats did against Auburn was rack up 34 unanswered points in the first half, cruising from there to defeat the Maroons 40-8 and improve to 2-2 overall.

It was exactly the type of performance WG needed to stay in the Class A picture, especially with a tough game at Christian Brothers Academy looming next weekend.

As it turned out, the decisive moment came quite early. Auburn had thwarted the Wildcats’ first drive when DeSean Strachan picked off River Oudemool and returned the interception 43 yards.

Instead of reeling, WG instead answered when Ben Chamberlain got his own interception, and though his touchdown return was called back due to a penalty, the Wildcats promptly drove to the Maroons’ 23, from where Oudemool found Chamberlain in the end zone.

That was just the prelude to a second quarter where WG would score four times, often finding gaps in the Auburn secondary that turned into big pass plays.

Oudemool hit Dom Burris on a 38-yard TD pass early in the period after the Wildcats recovered an Auburn fumble. Minutes later, it was Oudemool again throwing to Burris, this one covering 43 yards.

Not letting up, WG made it 27-0 when Vincent Firenze threw deep and found Burris for a 69-yard scoring strike. Then, right before halftime, Oudemool returned and fired to Chamberlain for a 19-yard TD strike.

Staked to this big lead, the Wildcats’ defense kept Auburn off the board until the fourth quarter, by which point Francisco Cross had scored on a four-yard run.

West Genesee wasn’t alone in earning a lopsided victory on Friday. Marcellus did the same at Cortland, blanking the Purple Tigers 35-0 for its third win in a row.

Since starting 0-2, the Mustangs have roared into the Class B playoff picture, moving into second in the B West division behind Homer, whose game with Westhill was postponed by a COVID-19 quarantine.

Again in top form, the Marcellus defense stifled Cortland and, starting in the second quarter, the offense began to find the end zone on a regular basis.

Pat Louer’s 15-yard TD pass to Ryder Donahue was followed by Jonas Kaczor scoring on a 15-yard run. Eliot Austin converted a pair of extra points, and the Mustangs led 14-0 at the break.

Getting further away in the third quarter, Marcellus had Lauer go deep and find Donahue on a 57-yard scoring pass. The pair connected again from four yards out before Lauer hit John Walsh on an 11-yard TD pass late in the period.

If Marcellus can beat Institute of Technology Central next Friday, it would mean the B West race would come down to the Mustangs’ Oct. 22 regular-season finale against Homer.