The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Trojans take on Lakers for Class B title
In 2016, the Cazenovia Lakers raced past Homer 31-7 in the Class B Section III Championship.
This year could not have been more different for coach Jay Steinhorst’s squad.
The No. 1 seed Lakers never led in the 2017 rematch, trailing No. 2 seed Homer by a tally of 28-0 at the end of the first half.
Homer got on the scoreboard early in the first quarter. The Trojans capped an eight play, 59-yard drive with a 33-yard scamper from Krillin Drake to take a 7-0 advantage with 8:27 to go in the first.
The Homer defense forced a Cazenovia 3-and-out on the ensuing possession to get the ball back on their own 42-yard line with 6:41 still to play in the opening frame. After allowing John Horner III runs of 1 and 7 yards, Cazenovia stuffedHorner on 3rd-and-2 to force a punt. The Trojans had other plans, however. Tucker O’Donnell kept the snap and picked up a Homer first down to keep the drive alive. Eight plays later, Horner III cross the goal-line on an 8-yard carry to put the Trojans up 14-0 with seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
Homer had another surprise in store for the Lakers on the next kickoff. O’Donnell skied his kick short, and Cazenovia’s Tony Healy was unable to come up with the ball. Homer ended up with the ball on the Cazenovia 40, taking its third possession of the contest to the distance for a 21-0 lead with 9:54 remaining in the second quarter. Horner opened the drive with a 2-yard carry, followed by a Zachary Barber 8-yard run on third down to keep the chains moving. Drake added his own touch to the drive with an 8-yard carry, immediately followed by a 9-yard reception to
set the Trojans up with 1stand-goal. Dominick Natale got in on the scoring action for Homer two plays later, pounding the ball across the goal line for a 3-yard score.
Cazenovia’s next offensive drive ended in disaster as Cazenovia went for it on 4th-and-7 from the Homer 47. Dante Yacavone stepped in front of a Regan pass, weaving his way in and out of traffic en route to a 53-yard pick-6 and a 28-0 Homer lead.
Coming out of the halftime break, neither team was able to generate much offense. Cazenovia failed to keep two separate drives alive when they elected to o for it on fourth down, but Homer was unable to duplicate its impressive first half performance on the ground.
The fourth quarter began with the score still at 280, and as the clock wound down to under five minutes left in the championship contest, the Lakers began to make things interesting.
Jake Macheda burst through the line for a 55yard touchdown run to get the Lakers on the scoreboard with 4:35 left in the final period, and Cazenovia recovered the ensuing on- side kick to keep their slim hopes alive. Moments later, MattMcLaughlin found Regan open in the end zone to cut the Homer lead to 28-14 with 1:43 left.
The Laker special teams unit came up big again for Steinhorst as they recovered yet another onside kick following Macheda’s catch. Regan connected with Kevin Stalder for a big gain to give the Lakers 1stand-goal with less than a minute left. Regan wormed his way across the goal line two plays later. This time, the Lakers failed to convert on the point-after, but with 44 seconds left, Cazenovia hadmade a game of it, trailing 28-20.
Steinhorst’s squad was unable to pull off a third onside recovery in a row, though, and Homer held on to take a knee and run the clock out.
Appearing in every Class B title game dating back to the 2012 season, the only time the Lakers have failed to capture the championship prior to this Saturday was in 2014 when Cazenovia was eliminated fromthe playoffs by Homer.