CICERO – All that went well for the West Genesee football team when it shut out Fayeteville-Manlius for the Section III Class A championship turned against them when it sought further glory.
The Wildcats saw Friday night’s Class A regional final at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium turn into a barrage of mistakes that Union-Endicott turned into points, the Tigers eventually prevailing 42-7.
In all, WG committed six turnovers, three of which directly resulted in U-E touchdowns – something from which the Tigers gained particular satisfaction, given that in this same regional round a year ago it turned the ball over eight times (all interceptions) in a 42-0 loss to eventual state champion Christian Brothers Academy.
This was the Wildcats’ first state tournament appearance since 2011, and it got off to an ideal start. Two long passes from Vincent Firenze to Dom Burris – one going 29 yards, the other a 21-yard scoring pass – produced a 7-0 lead before the game was three minutes old.
But the game’s tone was set on the Tigers’ opening possession, where it mostly pounded away on the ground until it reached WG’s 14-yard line, where Max Sementelli threw and found 6-foot-3 wide receiver Jaheim Jackson in the end zone, the extra point tying it 7-7.
Aggressive on both sides of the ball, U-E took the lead for good on a two-play sequence late in the first quarter.
Joe Pasquale dove to intercept a Firenze pass near midfield. Then Sementelli went deep – and Jackson again got open, catching the ball and going the rest of the way for a go-ahead 52-yard TD.
Still trailing 14-7, the Wildcats were driving late in the second period when the entire game got away, a direct consequence of the pressure U-E was putting on WG’s offensive line.
Firenze, who had thrown a second interception earlier in the period, was about to take a sack when he tried to throw it away – only to have the Tigers’ Cooper Hughes step in front of the ball and take it back 56 yards for six points.
Trying to answer that score in the last minute of the half, a miscommunication led to a wild snap that U-E’s Qymani Viera-Powell picked up and took 54 yards for yet another defensive score.
What was a close contest was suddenly 28-7 at the break, and when U-E used five-plus minutes to drive to another TD on Hughes’ 10-yard run at the start of the third quarter, things got further away.
Two more turnovers followed, including another fumble that Hughes brought back for a TD that resulted in U-E’s final points as it advances to face Hilton or Jamestown in next weekend’s state semifinals.
