by Braylon Noble
MARCELLUS – What the Marcellus football team proclaimed in T-shirts prior to the 2022 season – “Bring the Cup Back” – was fulfilled on the season’s opening Friday night.
This year’s renewal of the Tom Anthony Silver Cup game will not be remembered as a pretty affair, but the Mustangs didn’t mind one bit as, in front of its home fans, it got the best of the Solvay Bearcats, squeaking out a 9-7 victory.
In a game which had multiple unsportsmanlike conduct penalties which added to the flurry of flags on the field for a good portion of the night, neither team ever got much going on offense.
The Bearcats, on its first possession of the game, got the ball in the hands of tailback Jaysin Bliss and receiver Jordan Dippold in space during a seven-plus minute drive, but it ended in an interception by the Mustangs as Luis Mojica’s pass would end up in the hands of Marcellus linebacker Brady Ellis.
The Mustangs would jump on this opportunity presented to them by the turnover, marching down the field and scoring barely two minutes later as quarterback Patrick Louer would sneak in from the two yard line late in the first quarter, though it remained 6-0 as Elliot Austin’s extra point was blocked.
From there, the defenses took over until the second quarter, when the Mustangs drove again and tacked on a 25-yard field goal from Austin with 7:07 left in the half – the winning points, as it turned out.
Scott Hall’s sack of Mojica, one of many big defensive plays he would make, led to another Mustangs chance just before halftime, but Solvay’s defense stopped Marcellus inside the 10, keeping it 9-0 going to the break.
In the second half the Bearcats would put together its best drive of the night. A big gain by Dippold put Solvay at the Mustangs’ 41, and a series of penalties (three in all) by the Mustangs put the ball near the goal line, from where Mojica would sneak in for the touchdown. Christian Kaminski’s extra point cut the margin to two.
The game would again enter a stalemate, with the following five drives all end in punts, two from Solvay and three from Marcellus, as time ticked away.
Still, the Bearcats even had a chance to steal the game, getting the ball with just under six minutes to go. However, a sack on third down and unsuccessful fourth-down try crushed Solvay’s dreams of hanging on to the Silver Cup, which it earned back in 2019 when it beat Marcellus 42-35.
With this loss Solvay drops to 1-1 and will now move on to a match up with Clinton at home. On the other side Marcellus, at 1-0, will next travel to Holland Point.
