CENTRAL NEW YORK – Few Section III football teams have grown as much, or as quickly, as Skaneateles has done this fall.
From a 3-5 mark a season ago and a 2-2 start this season, the Lakers have claimed four wins in a row and, by defeating Solvay 21-14 last Friday night at Al Merola Field, earned the right to play at home in the opening round of the Section III Class C playoffs.
This game would determine who would finish second in the Class C West division behind state no. 1-ranked Cazenovia – and perhaps more importantly, avoid having to face those Lakers until a possible sectional final.
Battling through wet conditions, it was the Bearcats who seized a 7-0 lead in the first quarter when it moved to the Skaneateles 15-yard line and then saw Jakob Frost find Christian Kaminski in the end zone.
Skaneateles answered in a big way in the second period. Torin Bennett connected with Brady Ellis on a 65-yard touchdown pass and minutes later, Colin Henry scored on a 10-yard run.
That 14-7 edge stood up for a while, the Lakers’ defense doing a solid job of containment on Solvay running back Jaysin Bliss, who needed 23 carries to pick up 111 yards. Ellis, with 14 tackles, led that Skaneateles unit as Will Feeney got six tackles.
Then, early in the fourth quarter, Solvay’s special teams pounced upon a dropped Skaneateles punt near midfield, Luke Butler picking up the ball and going 55 yards for the TD that, with Christian Kaminski’s extra point, tied it 14-14.
Staying calm, the Lakers got the ball back and put together a drive that reached the Bearcats’ five before Bennett scrambled in for what proved to be the game-winning score.
Bishop Ludden is also going to the sectional playoffs, having rebounded from a hard-fought defeat to Cazenovia by going to Marcellus Friday and putting away the Mustangs 33-7.
Up in Class A, West Genesee will go into its sectional title defense with a bit more confidence after an impressive 28-14 win over Henninger at Sunnycrest Field.
Elijah Apps got the Wildcats on the board less than three minutes into the game on a four-yard TD run, with Connor Parker’s two-point pass to Carson Pagan off a botched extra point making it 8-0.
Those were WG’s lone points of the first half. Henninger cut it to 8-6, and that’s where it stayed until the third quarter, when the defense finally allowed the Wildcats to seize control.
An errant Black Knights pass was brought back by Yazen Salman 70 yards for a score. Less than three minutes later, WG had the ball again and Apps went 17 yards for his second TD of the night. Francisco Cross later scored on a one-yard plunge.
Westhill was able to score a lot of points in its game at Chittenango, one of them on a 93-yard TD pass from Elijah Welch to Taden Chester in the first quarter.
Yet it wasn’t enough for the Warriors to prevent a 58-36 defeat to the Bears, who answered that long score with Kyle Werhlin’s 80-yard kick return for a score and a 53-yard TD run from Jack Lamphere within a few minutes of each other.
At one point in the second period, Westhill led 30-16, but Chittenango rallied to tie it 30-30 by halftime and then controlled the second half, Werhlin adding four more TD’s as he finished with 201 yards on 27 carries.
Jordan-Elbridge dropped a close 36-35 decision to Midlakes, a game that went back and forth, the Eagles overcoming an early 14-6 deficit to tie it 21-21 by halftime and lead, 29-21, going to the fourth quarter.
But J-E was unable to hang on, this despite Kuchaun Gorman gaining a career-best 201 yards on 22 carries and Nixon Karcz scoring three times while accumulating 178 yards on 22 carries, also completing seven of 11 passes for 85 yards.
The first round of the sectional playoffs this weekend has, in Class C, Skaneateles hosting Lowville, Solvay going to General Brown and Bishop Ludden visiting Adirondack. West Genesee, in Class A, hosts Nottingham, while in Class B Westhill takes on unbeaten New Hartford.
