The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Chittenango thwarts VVS
CHITTENANGO, N.Y. >> One week after scoring the game-winning touchdown in a tilt with Mexico, Chittenango quarterback Brian Lamaitis was at it again.
With his team trailing Vernon-Verona- Sherrill 14- 0, Lamaitis rallied the Bears for two scores, tying the game on a quarterback sneak in the fourth quarter to help lift Chittenango to a 15-14 win.
“Well, two weeks at Oneida we were on the other end of it [close game resulting in a loss]. They’re a good team. Our team just persevered and played hard,” Chittenango head coach Kurt Kielbasa said. “I don’t know if people have been aware but one of our coaches has a baby daughter who had open heart surgery on Wednesday, so it has been a very emotional week for us.”
Plagued by turnovers, VVS opened the scoring with a 49-yard Alex Oliver run for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead midway through the second quarter. That was it for first half scoring however, as the two teams engaged in a stingy battle.
“They were doing a very good job at stopping our offense in the first half, and we said during halftime that we were going to try and change things up and start passing the ball. They ended up scoring a touchdown on their first possession of the second half… actually that’s probably what I’m most proud of, because teams of the past would look up at the scoreboard and see that we were down 14-0 and just give up,” Kielbasa said. “it’s much easier to just lose a game 28-0, like we did last year when we played VVS, but our kids dug their heels in and won. I’m very proud of them.”
Out of the intermission, VVS grew its lead to 14-0. Once again, Oliver busted a big run for the score, this time for 61 yards. With a successful two-point conversion, VVS went up 14-0 midway through the third.
“He can really run with the ball,” Kielbasa said of Oliver. “I think we were more concerned about just containing him and trying to get him to throw and once the ball was in the air try to make plays on the ball.”
Then, Chittenango began its rally. After a ground-and-pound first half, the Bears started taking to the air. Taking advantage of a VVS interception, Chittenango cracked the Red Devil defense for a 20-yard passing touchdown from Lamaitis to Frank Cerio.
Following a successful conversion, Chittenango trailed 15-8.
VVS maintained its lead heading into the final quarter of action; however, Chittenango worked its way down the field for a final scoring drive, taking advantage of a VVS penalty on fourth down to keep the drive alive.
“We made too many mistakes. I really thought we hurt ourselves in key situations. Penalties – I think we hurt ourselves a lot,” VVS head coach Gary Oliver said. “They blitzed a lot, which we
went over during the week. It shouldn’t have been as big of a problem as it was, but I think it was a big part of it.”
Lamaitis capped the drive with a quarterback sneak, and a made extra point gave the Bears a 1514 lead.
VVS was unable to answer the Bears’ late score, and Chittenango completed the comeback with a 15-14 win.
“Class B East football. It seems that anybody can beat anybody any given week,” Kielbasa said.
Chittenango improves to 4-2 with the victory, while VVS falls to 4-2 with the loss. Both teams are looking up at Oneida and Cazenovia at 5-1. Fittingly, VVS and Chittenango have opportunities to take down one of the Class B East’s 5-1 teams next week, when the Bears host Cazenovia and the Red Devils host Oneida at their new stadium.
“Right now, we could be in jeopardy of making the playoffs, so I mean don’t know exactly where we stand but if we lost next week and say we’re tied with Chittenango, they will get the nod. I think we have to beat Oneida just to get some momentum back for the playoffs,” Oliver said.