ONONDAGA COUNTY – Having done so much to help Skaneateles football reach recent glory, Grayson Brunelle returned and helped the Lakers author a defining moment for the 2022 season.
Helped by Brunelle’s four touchdowns, Skaneateles ignored its 1-4 record and routed rival Marcellus 42-14 in a memorable Senior Night effort Friday at Hyatt Stadium.
The win might not be enough to help the Lakers snare a Section III Class C playoff berth, but it dealt a decisive blow to the Mustangs’ hopes of hosting a first-round post-season game.
And it opened the door for Bishop Ludden to rise to second place in the C-1 division when, on this same Friday night, it defeated Solvay 47-21 at Al Merola Field.
Bruenlle had missed his team’s first four games of the season, during which Skaneateles had gone 1-3, returning on Oct. 7 for a Lakers defeat to Ludden.
Now he was back on a full-time basis, ready for a Marcellus side that found it difficult to recuperate from the previous week’s 28-21 loss to state no. 3-ranked Cazenovia, a game where it led most of the way before those other Lakers rallied late.
Twice in the first half, Brunelle found the end zone, on a one-yard plunge and 40-yard pass from Patrick Herr. That, along with Herr’s 40-yard scoring pass to Nate Shattuck, negated Pat Louer’s 69-yard TD pass to Ryder Donahue and helped the Lakers built a 20-7 advantage.
Then Skaneateles put it away in the third quarter, Herr’s 54-yard TD run igniting a scoring burst where Brunelle would find the end zone twice more on short runs of nine and three yards.
Herr flourished with Brunelle’s presence, completing 16 of 23 passes for 233 yards and rushing for 99 yards on 11 carries. Brunelle had 136 total rushing and receiving yards, adding seven tackles on defense, as Shattuck had five catches for 87 yards.
This happened as Bishop Ludden, 4-1 going into its game with Solvay, relied on an explosive offense to earn its fourth consecutive victory at the Bearcats’ expense.
X’zavion Streiff got the Gaelic Knights with a 50-yard TD pass to Jahmarion Clarke, part of an opening period where Jahbari Clarke also scored from 10 yards out, giving Ludden a quick 14-0 edge.
Solvay did keep Ludden quiet in the second quarter, landing the only points on a scoring drive culminating with Jaysin Bliss scoring on a one-yard run.
So it was 14-7 going into the third quarter, when the Gaelic Knights regained control with two scoring drives. Evan Cervantes scored on a two-yard plunge and Eric Phillips found the end zone on a nine-yard run.
Solvay tried all it could to erase the 26-7 deficit, twice scoring in the fourth quarter on short TD runs by Bliss and Jordan Dippold, but Ludden kept answering.
Clarke’s second TD, on an 18-yard run, and Streiff scrambling nine yards for another score, was followed by Malik Hines’ 62-yard dash to the end zone that sealed another Gaelic Knights win.
