CENTRAL NEW YORK – Had the West Genesee football team’s game against Liverpool last Thursday night concluded with the Wildcats staring at a substantial deficit, it may have proven a discouraging blow for the rest of the season.
But the way the Wildcats rallied, getting within a play or two of victory before settling for a 35-32 defeat, indicates that it just may have the capability of emerging as Christian Brothers Academy’s primary area Class AA challenger.
Off a short week of work, WG found itself in early trouble against a Liverpool side no. 21 in the state rankings but coming off its own 42-10 defeat to CBA six days earlier.
A potent Warriors offense produced three touchdowns and a quick 21-3 edge, but the Wildcats were able to find the end zone just 1:06 before halftime on Jack Wade’s 23-yard scoring pass to Robert Newell which cut the margin to 21-10 at the break.
During a back-and-forth second half Liverpool scored again but WG responded with a pair of 24-yard scoring passes from Wade to Evan Dufford and suddenly found itself only down by a field goal, 28-25, nearing the midway point of the fourth quarter.
Even after the Warriors extended its margin on John Sindoni’s TD pass to Antonio Rivera, the Wildcats quickly drove to its own score, Wade’s fourth TD pass going 10 yards to Brian Simmon.
More importantly, WG recovered the ensuing onside kick, with ample time to drive toward a potential tying field goal or winning TD, only to have the Warriors’ defense force a fumble and recover it to hang on.
Wade threw 32 times, completing 16 of those passes for 226 yards as Dufford caught seven passes for 129 yards. Elijah Apps gained 139 yards on the ground on 25 carries.
Dufford stood out on defense, too, gaining six tackles and an interception as Raul Colon led with 10 tackles and Apps finished with five tackles.
Jordan-Elbridge made it back-to-back wins on Saturday afternoon, outscoring Altmar-Parish-Williamstown 46-28 with big games from Kuchaun Gorman and Nixon Karcz.
Gorman, in particular, took charge by amassing a career-best 220 yards on 18 carries and scoring three times. Karcz was 19-for-31 for 115 yards through the air and ran for 62 yards on six carries.
Andrew Rio caught five of Karcz’s passes for 81 yards and a score, while on defense Dan Redmond led the way with six tackles and David Dominick added five tackles. Tyler Chilson had 4 ½ tackles and Nick Loperfido recovered a fumble.
Westhill played on Friday night against a strong Section IV side from Owego and could not keep up, the Warriors ultimately taking a 55-20 defeat.
Owego had an answer for all of Westhill’s first-half production, whether it was Elijah Welch’s 49-yard TD pass to Collin White or a one-yard scoring pass to Keller O’Hern that preceded Welch’s three-yard scoring dash.
Five different Owego scores meant that the Warriors trailed 35-20 at halftime, and the hosts would get shut out late despite Welch going 14-for-21 for 182 yards and Dom Vitale gaining 68 yards on 15 carries. Bradyen Golembieski’s trio of catches resulted in 56 yards.
