CENTRAL NEW YORK – Dealing with a string of defeats was a unique enough experience for a Cazenovia football team long accustomed to winning seasons and imposing its will on others.
And what happened Friday night at Hyatt Stadium only added to the strange feelings, Cazenovia toppled 28-14 by the other group of Lakers from Skaneateles with a very familiar face leading them.
Not long ago, Jay Steinhorst was a cornerstone of the Cazenovia program, first as an assistant coach to Tom Neidl, then as head coach for the program’s finest moment as, in 20215, it won its first-ever state Class C championship.
After leaving Cazenovia, Steinhorst returned to the head coaching ranks at Skaneateles two seasons ago, steadily building that team to contender status in 2023, and to a 3-0 start this September that produced a state Class C no. 6 ranking.
Ideally, Cazenovia would stop all of it, but it could not fully recover from a first quarter where Skaneateles delighted the home fans and bolted to a 14-0 lead.
Twice, Skaneateles quarterback Hugh Carroll, who missed most of the 2023 season with an injury (including a narrow 14-12 defeat to Cazenovia), led early scoring drives than led to his own touchdown runs from one and eight yards.
In the opening seconds of the second quarter Cazenovia made up some ground when Bobby Livingston threw deep and found Paul Mitchell for a 65-yard touchdown and then scored himself on a two-point conversion.
Right before halftime, though, Skaneateles restored its cushion with a drive to the Cazenovia 17, from where Carroll found Reid Danforth in the end zone.
They traded third-quarter scoring drives, Cazenovia getting a TD pass from Livingston to Carter Bowden but Skaneateles finding the end zone on a two-yard Brady Ellis run.
All through the final period the visiting Lakers found itself unable to make up any ground, and it would have to wait until this Saturday’s home game against Southern Hills to get into the win column in 2024.
Livingston was eight-for-14 for 158 yards, running for 70 yards, but Cazenovia as a whole had just 222 yards of total offense. Bryce Enders paced the defense with eight tackles and 10 assists.
Chittenango took a 2-1 record into Saturday’s game against Homer, a game that was tight most of the way until the Trojans took over in the fourth quarter and beat the Bears 44-29.
A pair of first-quarter scoring drives had Chittenango in front, Kyle Wehrlin going eight yards for a TD to get the Bears on the board.
They continued to go back and forth in the second period. Twice, Homer found the end zone and twice Chittenango answered, Seamus Gardher throwing 21 yards to Zailor Caras for one score and heaving a 72-yard TD pass to Chayse Ostrander just before halftime.
All this gave the Bears a 29-22 advantage at the break, but Homer’s defense adjusted and, over the course of the last two periods, it kept Chittenango off the board.
Meanwhile, Max Franco’s pair of short scoring passes -one to Kaden Durham, the other to Jack Brady – gave the Trojans a 36-29 lead, and Alex Votra sealed it with a 42-yard TD run, part of a game where he gained 184 yards on 24 carries.
Gardner threw 25 times, completing 15 of those passes for 179 yards. Wehrlin added 104 yards on 15 carries as Caras had four catches for 69 yards and also led the defense with six tackles, Cooper Smith getting 5 ½ tackles. The Bears visit Westhill next Friday night.
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