ONONDAGA COUNTY – A whole lot is at stake next Friday when the Skaneateles and Solvay football teams conclude the regular season against each other at Al Merola Field.
Most of all, what the Lakers and Bearcats are playing for is second place in the Class C West division, which both guarantees a first-round playoff home game and assures avoiding state no. 1-ranked Cazenovia until a possible sectional final.
All of this resulted from Friday night’s action, where, as Skaneateles was defeating Canastota 26-14 at Hyatt Stadium, Solvay found itself at 2-4 Bishop Ludden and found itself outscored as the Gaelic Knights prevailed 45-33.
Even with its 4-1 record, the Bearcats found itself unable to contain Ludden’s offense right from the outset. Jahbari Clarke scored on runs of 10 and four yards in the first quarter, Solvay only answering with one touchdown on an eight-yard run by Jaysin Bliss.
It got even wilder in the second quarter. Darius Mitchell broke loose for the Gaelic Knights on an 80-yard sprint to the end zone and X’Zavion Streiff added a nine-yard TD pass to Jahmarion Clarke.
This, along with Matt Knetchle’s 25-yard field goal, offset scoring runs by Bliss and Xavier Hardy and kept Ludden out in front, 31-20, as the two sides went to halftime.
Bliss added a third TD in the third quarter and Luis Mojica scored, too, for the Bearcats. Again, the Gaelic Knights had an answer, Clarke getting his third score of the night from 10 yards out.
So it went to the fourth quarter with Ludden up 38-33, and as its defense made several key stuffs, one more drive clinched it, Streiff scrambling the final three yards for the TD.
The Gaelic Knights won despite Bliss running for 241 yards on 31 carries, with Hardy gaining 130 yards on 10 carries. Defensively, Bliss finished with 20 tackles and teammate Josh Komar contributed 16 tackles.
Fewer points were scored at Skaneateles, where on Senior Night the Lakers struck early before leaning on its defense to make sure Canastota didn’t catch up.
Torin Bennett and Joe Delmonico both threw first-quarter TD passes for the Lakers – Bennett going five yards to Ellis Brady, Delmonico lofting a 19-yard scoring strike to Braydon Mayer – that helped produce a 12-6 advantage.
Brady scored a second time on a six-yard run, but Canastota was able to score once in both quarters, only trailing 18-14 at the half before a third-quarter Skaneateles drive led to Will Feeney’s three-yard TD run.
And the defense did the rest. Ellis had a part in 10 tackles, with Bennett, Feeney and Dom Caraccio each getting five tackles. Bennett also ran for 92 yards on 11 carries as Caraccio added 65 yards on the ground on 11 carries.
A night before all this, it was the turn of Marcellus to try and do what Solvay, Ludden and Skaneateles could not earlier this season – namely, knock off Cazenovia.
And while the Mustangs would have some good moments, it mostly had to watch the Lakers get a breakout performance from sophomore quarterback Bobby Livingston in a 34-18 defeat.
All through the first half, Cazenovia effectively moved the ball against the Marcellus defense, Livingston throwing touchdown passes of 36 yards and 11 yards, both of them to Taven Reilley, to establish a quick 14-0 advantage by the end of the opening period.
That margin nearly doubled in the second period, Cazenovia twice more finding the end zone as Jack Donlin scored on a 24-yard run and Livingston, from midfield, found Christian Schug and it led to a 51-yard TD play.
Though Henry Lawrence did burn the Lakers’ defense with a 75-yard TD pass to Xander Szalach, Marcellus still trailed 27-6 at the half, where it stayed through a scoreless third quarter.
Any doubts about the outcome vanished when Livingston threw his fourth scoring pass, 32 yards to Reilley, early in the final period, capping off a night where he completed 11 of 15 passes for 193 yards.
The Mustangs would score twice late, Lawrence scrambling six yards for one TD and throwing a 16-yard scoring pass to Mitch Donegan. All told, Lawrence went seven-for-11 for 132 yards, Lawrence gaining 84 yards on 15 carries.
