CENTRAL NEW YORK – For more than a week, the Cazenovia football team basked in the good feelings gained from its impressive season-opening win at General Brown on Sept. 8.
Among other things, the win propelled the Lakers all the way to no. 3 in the first state Class C rankings of the season, the highest ranking of any Section III school, with Adirondack close behind at no. 5.
This was what Cazenovia carried into its first “home” game of the season, actually a Saturday-night showdown with Little Falls at the JMA Dome as part of the revived National Football Foundation High School Classic.
Steady from start to finish and not even getting close to feeling any sort of letdown, the Lakers beat the Mounties 32-6 to move to 2-0 and take momentum into its next game this Friday against Skaneateles (2-1) at Morrisville State College.
Quite unlike the General Brown game, it didn’t take long for Cazenovia to get on the board.
Twice in the first quarter, the Lakers struck for touchdowns, Brayden Weismore breaking loose for a 28-yard scoring run and Bobby Livingston connecting with Wyatt Scott from 44 yards out before running in for two points.
That 14-0 margin held the rest of the half, with the Lakers’ defense again quite effective in containing Little Falls as it limited the Mounties to 140 total yards.
Six times, Cazenovia recorded sacks, two each by Jack Donlin and Jack Macro, with Connor Frisbie and Zander Jackson-Sizmer adding single sacks. John Shepardson earned an interception as Evan Rice assisted on seven tackles.
Cazenovia built on its cushion in the third quarter with Livingston’s second TD pass, 14 yards to Christian Schug, and in the final period Livingston found Taven Reilley in the end zone from 12 yards out as Rice added an eight-yard scoring run.
For the game, Livingston was 11-for-17 for 125 yards through the air, most of it to Reilley, who had seven catches for 67 yards. Weismore matched Reilley as they led the Lakers with 43 yards apiece on the ground.
Two nights earlier, Chittenango, who split its first two games with Vernon-Verona-Sherrill and New Hartford, went to Central Valley Academy and found itself in a tense battle to the finish before falling to the Thunder 20-19.
They had traded blows in each of the first two quarters. Kyle Werhlin’s 24-yard touchdown run and Chase Brummer’s extra point got the Bears on the board and answered Logan Hewitt’s three-yard scoring run and PAT, which made it 7-7.
Jack Lamphere scrambled in from two yards out in the second quarter, but the conversion missed. CVA’s Braden Moreau hit Connor Dempsey on a 14-yard TD pass, but another missed conversion meant it was 13-13 at the break.
The Thunder notched the only points of the third quarter on Landon LaFountain’s one-yard plunge and a PAT from Lincoln Lynch.
Trailing 20-13, Chittenango again answered, reaching CVA’s three early in the final period. With 9:06 left, Lamphere hit Zailor Caras for the TD, cutting the margin to one, but missed the possible go-ahead conversion and was unable to threaten again.
