CENTRAL NEW YORK – In their own unique ways, the Marcellus and Skaneateles football teams had bolted to 2-0 starts, announcing their status as Class C contenders.
For the Mustangs, keeping it up meant winning last Friday at Little Falls, and it did so with another dominant performance on both sides of the ball on the way to defeating the Mounties 58-6.
Sharp from the outset, Marcellus twice drove to touchdowns and added two-point conversions for a 16-0 lead through one quarter. And even as Little Falls got on the board in the second, Marcellus spread the margin to 30-6, proceding from there to blank the Mounties in the second half and add more four more trips to the end zone.
The task for Skaneateles was tougher, since it went Saturday night to Holland Patent, where the Golden Knights held its own 2-0 record, but the Lakers proved up to it, getting past the Golden Knights 27-6.
A pair of first-quarter scoring drives bolted Skaneateles to a 14-0 advantage. HP cut it to 14-6 by halftime, but the Lakers’ defense shut down the Golden Knights from there as it tacked on a pair of insurance touchdowns in the latter stages.
Hugh Carroll threw 19 passes, completing 13 of them for 172 yards while gaining 90 yards on the ground on 15 carries. Two of Colin Henry’s six runs went for TD’s as he gained 65 yards, and he added a scoring reception as Brady Ellis got the other TD.
Defensively, Luke Logan led the Lakers with seven tackles, just ahead of Ellis with six tackles. Braydon Mayer added five tackles as Landen Brunelle, Jackson Bone and Frank Ambrosie earned four tackles apiece.
Back on Friday, Bishop Ludden/SAS went north to face General Brown, no. 6 in the first state Class C rankings of the fall, and nearly pulled off a shocker before taking a wild 50-48 loss to the Lions.
All through the first half, the Gaelic Knights found it difficult to contain GB’s powerful ground attack. Conversely, the Lions were just as futile against the Ludden/SAS offense which utilized its speed and skill.
It led to a string of touchdowns, with each side finding the end zone three times in the second quarter alone. The difference was that GB had scored twice in the first quarter, so the two teams went to halftime with the Gaelic Knights trailing 34-28.
More exchanges followed in the second half, Ludden/SAS briefly going in front 36-34 before GB reclaimed the lead. Then the Gaelic Knights tied it 42-42 early in the fourth quarter before the Lions got a go-ahead score and, more importantly, were successful on the two-point conversion.
Even though Ludden/SAS got back within two, it could not get the conversion it needed to force overtime, ending a valiant performance that featured X’zavion Streiff going 13-for-19 for 236 yards and three TD’s while running for 61 yards and a score.
Darion Clarke found the end zone three times while catching five passes for 79 yards. Jahbari Clarke had 12 carries for 89 yards and a score, also earning 10 tackles on defense just behind the 11 tackles from Tiziere Sheard.
Solvay played Saturday at Adirondack, where Skaneateles had prevailed in overtime a week earlier, and could not repeat what the Lakers pulled off, taking a 20-12 defeat to the Wildcats to fall to 1-2 overall.
What made this so frustrating for the Bearcats was that it played strong defense, blanking Adirondack in the second and third quarters while rallying from a 6-0 deficit with a pair of mid-game touchdowns, each of them on passes from Cameron Cappetta to Adrian Alvarez.
But the 12-6 lead did not hold as the Wildcats tied it in the opening minute of the fourth quarter on Braden White’s 20-yard run, then put together a late-game drive and went ahead with 1:10 to play when John Hennessey scored from nine yards out.
Cappetta threw 21 times, completing 13 of them for 93 yards as Jason Davis had 12 carries for 81 yards. Davin Kaszubinski led the Bearcats’ defense piling up 11 1/2 tackles as Davis got seven tackles. Cappetta and Jadyden Godbolt got seven tackles apiece, with Alvarez notching an interception to go with his 6 1/2 tackles.
