CENTRAL NEW YORK – With their efforts on Friday night, three area high school football teams each earned their third wins of the season – and in two cases moved their way up the Class C-1 standings.
Solvay got a particularly big victory when it went to Hyatt Stadium and, spoiling Homecoming for Skaneateles, defeated the Lakers 35-21.
Though the Bearcats were 2-2 going into the game, it was 0-2 in league competition and needed a victory to climb up the standings, with Skaneateles right in front of them at 1-1 in league play.
Still without Grayson Brunelle in the lineup, the Lakers got on the board in the first quarter with Patrick Herr’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Peyton Banuski as Solvay answered with Jaysin Bliss scoring from four yards out but missed the extra point.
After Torin Bennett scored on a four-yard run in the second period, the Bearcats surged in front for good with a pair of scoring drives, Bliss going one yard for his second TD before Jordan Dippold raced 40 yards to the end zone, Bliss adding a two-point conversion.
Leading 22-14 at halftime, Solvay kept Skaneateles off the scoreboard in the third quarter while adding another TD on Luis Mojica’s six-yard run.
Even when Herr threw a 16-yard scoring pass to Bennett in the final period to cut it to 29-21, the Bearcats’ defense clinched the victory when, minutes later, Jaylen King intercepted Herr and returned it 13 yards for a TD.
Bliss stood out on both sides of the ball, rushing for 136 yards on 25 carries while also getting 16 tackles on defense. Dippold added 15 tackles to go with his 123 yards on 15 carries as Jayden Jones added 14 tackles on defense and Luke Butler had nine tackles.
As this went on, Marcelluswas hosting Canastota and, thanks to a 27-8 victory over the Raiders, improved to 3-1 overall ahead of a big showdown next Friday against Class C-1 division leader Cazenovia.
The Mustangs had a well-balanced attack as Pat Louer completed 13 of 19 passes for 194 yards, one of them a 14-yard TD pass to Brady Ellis as Ryder Donahue had four catches for 61 yards.
Jake Kermes carried the ball 25 times, gaining 155 yards and scoring twice, while also coming out of the backfield to match Donahue’s 61 receiving yards on just two catches.
Bishop Ludden also find itself at 3-1, the Gaelic Knights having no trouble with visiting Utica-Notre Dame as it recorded a 41-0 shutout of the Jugglers.
It was 20-0 before the first quarter was over, Eric Phillips’ 65-yard punt return for a TD capping a surge that started with Eric Phillips’ 11-yard scoring run and continued with X’Zavion Streiff throwing a 45-yard TD pass to Tom Cervantes.
Six different Ludden players would find the end zone by night’s end, Jahbari Clarke scoring on a three-yard run and Taysir Briggs catching a 42-yard pass from Streiff, who also scrambled five yards for six points as he completed nine of 14 passes for 122 yards.
