VERONA – For the second consecutive Friday night, the Cazenovia football team found itself pushed hard on the road by an opponent determined to make its season by upending the side ranked at no. 3 in the state in Class C.
Again, though, the Lakers met that challenge, getting timely big plays from quarterback J.P. Hoak that helped the visitors fend off Vernon-Verona-Sherrill and earn a 34-20 victory over the Red Devils.
No doubt, VVS, with a 3-3 record entering the game, had noticed how, a week earlier, Cazenovia had to come back from deficits of 14-0 and 21-14 to pull out a 28-21 win at Marcellus, and would get off to its own strong start in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.
Keeping the Lakers off the board in the first quarter, the Red Devils put together the only scoring drive of the period, capping it when James Wheeler scored on a two-yard run.
Cazenovia would roar back in the second period, helped in no small part by a defense that forced a pair of turnovers as Alex Kuper earned an interception and Brad Gagnon recovered a fumble.
Those extra possessions led to 20 unanswered points. Hoak twice found Jack Byrnes for touchdown passes, one of eight yards, the other a deeper 51-yard strike, with a four-yard scoring dash in between.
VVS, trailing 20-7 at the break, would cut into the deficit in the third quarter, getting the only points when Wheeler caught a 24-yard scoring pass from James Ward.
All game long, Wheeler caused problems for Cazenovia, carrying the ball 28 times for 212 yards, by far the most anyone has gained against the Lakers’ defense this season, and he would score on a 60-yard run in the fourth quarter to keep his team close.
Yet Hoak made sure the Red Devils didn’t catch up. Early in the final period, he broke free from midfield on a 53-yard scoring dash and, after Wheeler cut it to 26-20, delivered the decisive blow when he scrambled from his own 39, found another lane and went 61 yards for his third TD of the night.
Most of Hoak’s 199 rushing yards came in the fourth quarter, to go with completing seven of 12 passes for 99 yards. Jack Donlin added 64 yards on nine carries.
Defensively, Cazenovia allowed 373 yards to VVS. Aside from the turnovers, Jed Olkowski picked up seven tackles (two for losses) and eight assists, with Kuper adding six tackles. Donlin and Evan Rice both got five tackles, with Rice earning a pair of sacks.
All that Cazenovia needs to do to complete an undefeated regular season is prevail next Saturday against visiting Canastota at Buckley-Volo Field. Kickoff is at 1:30.
As the Lakers were battling VVS, Chittenango looked for its third win in a row, but could not get it against Institute of Technology Central, falling to the Eagles 40-28.
Trailing early, the Bears scored twice in the second quarter, on Kyle Wehrlin’s four-yard run and Jack Lamphere’s 37-yard pass to Hunter Taylor. Yet ITC also found the end zone twice, leaving Chittenango behind 22-15 at the break.
They traded scores in the third period, Chittenango having Lamphere find Taylor again in the end zone, this time from nine yards out, but the game’s pattern of the Eagles continually stretching out its lead continued in the fourth quarter.
ITC scored to make it 34-22 and, after the Bears closed within six on Lamphere’s 70-yard TD strike to Taylor, would drive again for a clinching score.
Overall, Lamphere was eight-for-19 for 202 yards, most of it to Taylor, who had 167 yards on just four catches. Quentin Mohamed rushed for 111 yards on 26 carries.
