ONONDAGA COUNTY – For the second year in a row, the Skaneateles football team put up 42 points against its neighbors from Marcellus.
By doing so, the Lakers prevailed 42-21 on Friday night and maintained control of this rivalry while also improving its overall record to 4-2 and saying in third place in the Class C West division.
Solvay sits in second place in C West, recovering from its first defeat of the season with an emphatic 42-12 victory over Canastota at Al Merola Field to improve to 4-1.
On top is Cazenovia, who also is atop the state Class C rankings and, on Friday night, went to Bishop Ludden and kept the Gaelic Knights off the board in a 20-0 decision.
Marcellus had won its first game of the season Sept. 29 against Canastota, yet found itself making all kinds of early mistakes against Skaneateles that the Lakers converted into points.
Twice in the first quarter, the Lakers found the end zone, followed by two more touchdowns in the second period that helped to build a 28-7 advantage going to the break.
On a rainy evening, Skaneateles largely stuck to the ground, and it worked. Torin Bennett, who was 13-for-24 for 91 yards and a touchdown through the air, led with 114 yards on 16 carries, scoring twice as three of Dom Caraccio’s 14 carries for 71 yards found the end zone.
Bennett also got five tackles on defense, trailing only teammate Brady Ellis with his 5 1/2 tackles. Caraccio added 4 1/2 tackles as Rich Aupperle led the Marcellus defense with 5 1/2 tackles.
At Solvay, the Bearcats, dealt a 33-14 defeat by Cazenovia six days earlier, rebounded by trading touchdowns with Canastota until it wore down the Raiders in the second half.
Jaysin Bliss had another big night on the ground, gaining 268 yards on just 17 carries and scoring three times. Jakob Frost, who missed the second half of the Cazenovia game, saw two of his four completions go for touchdowns to Jeff Sharpe, who had 93 yards on just three receptions.
Josh Komar had an extraordinary game on the defensive side, credited with 21 tackles. Bliss helped out with 11 tackles, while Luis Mojica had an interception to go with his eight tackles, Dylan Mumford matching that total and Luke Butler adding six tackles.
Bishop Ludden found itself at home ready to challenge Cazenovia, and the combination of a determined defense and a wet field made everything a challenge.
The two sides would slog through a scoreless first quarter, but in the second Cazenovia began to take control.
A Lakers drive reached the Gaelic Knights’ four-yard line, from which Brayden Weismore scored the game’s first points. Even bigger was Bobby Livingston’s 44-yard touchdown pass to Christian Schug that, with Wyatt Scott’s two-point run, made it 14-0 going to the half.
Though Ludden would put together an occasional drive and finished with 196 total yards, it only converted on two of 11 third downs and were stopped five straight times on fourth down as the Lakers preserved its shutout, adding Jack Donlin’s 11-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
