by Braylon Noble
SOLVAY – After a narrow Sept. 9 defeat to Marcellus to surrender the Tom Anthony Silver Cup, the Solvay football team came into
last Friday’s game against Clinton at Al Merola Field looking to get back on track.
The Bearcats would do just that, earning a strong 28-13 over the Warriors to improve to 2-1 on the season.
Mostly, Solvay stuck to a game plan similar to what it did against Marcellus, trying to control the game on the ground with a heavy dose of tailback Jaysin Bliss and using Jordan Dippold in different ways to complement Bliss’ play.
Flags on both sides marked a scoreless first quarter. So did strong defensive plays by Solvay and Clinton that thwarted early scoring chances and forced punts.
That would change nine seconds into the second quarter as Dippold would take it straight up the middle of the field for a 44- yard touchdown, giving the Bearcats a 7-0 lead after Christian Kaminski tacked on the extra point.
Clinton would answer quickly, driving from its own 38 in just two minutes as Kooper Kulpa scored from the one. That seemed to spark Solvay as the, Bearcats would score twice in the next three minutes to take the lead for good.
The first would come on a halfback option pass from Bliss who would connect with a wide-open Dippold down the sideline for his second 40- plus yard touchdown of the night.
On the ensuing kickoff Solvay would squib it and recover the kick on the Warriors’ 36. Then it gave the ball to Bliss for most of the drive and he would eventually run in a nine-yard score. A third Kaminski extra point the Bearcats made it 21-7 with 6:26 left in the half.
Clinton would make things interesting putting together a 64-yard drive, capped off with a eight-yard pass from Chmielewski to Kulpa with 1:34 left in the half, which made it 21-13.
But those would be Clinton’s final points of the game as it would miss the extra point and were kept out of the end zone by the Solvay defense for the rest of the night.
Both teams struggled for most of the second half as the first five drives would end with each side turning the ball over on downs – three for Clinton, two for Solvay.
It was the Bearcats breaking that trend with just under four minutes to play, driving to the Clinton one before quaterback Luis Mojica scored on one-yard sneak to all but clinch the outcome.
Solvay now looks ahead to key Class C-1 division game against visiting Cazenovia next Friday at 6:30.
