The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Semifinals feature Oneida, Canastota
Oneida, Canastota each one win away from Section final
Every football team hopes to play meaningful games in November.
November means a deep playoff run. It means semifinal football. It means a shot at playing in the Carrier Dome to decide the fate of the section.
After eight weeks of action, two Dispatch-area teams will take the field in November with an opportunity to secure a spot in the Section III finals.
Oneida, the Class B East Champion andNo. 1 seed in the Class B bracket, will take on No. 4 Marcellus on Friday, Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School.
Canastota, the Class C South Champion and No. 3 seed in the Class C bracket, squares off against No. 2 Lowville at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2 at Cicero-North Syracuse.
Oneida enters its semifinal bout as the No. 10 team in the state according to the New York State Sportswriters Association. Similarly, thosepundits have rank Canastota at No. 9.
Head coach Jason Fuller and Oneida will put their unbeaten record on the line against a stateranked No. 13 Marcellus team that boasts a 7-1 record. TheMustangs only loss of the season was
to Class B West champion and unbeaten Solvay.
Conversely, head coach TomCongden and the Raiders will look to spoil stateranked No. 4 Lowville’s unblemished 8-0 record.
After tearing through the regular season and Class B East with a 7-0 record en route to the league crown, the Orange dismantled No. 8 seed Homer by a final tally of 49-14 to earn a spot in the semifinals for the second straight season.
No. 4 Marcellus held off No. 5 seed Central Valley Academy 17-14.
Oneida comes into the contest allowing an average 8.3 points - 66 points across eight contests - on defense for the top unit in Class B. In comparison, Marcellus surrendered 166 points, or 20.8 per game, in the highflying Class B West. The Mustangs have an edge on offense, posting a scoring average of 33.5. Oneida has put up 28.3 points per game on offense in its eight victories.
The Raiders, whose only blemish came in a flag-littered Week 2 loss to Skaneateles, are back in sectionals a year after injuries derailed their 2018 campaign. After opening the season with a 1-1 mark, Canastota heads into the semifinals on a six-game win streak, including a 42-6 demolition of No. 6 seed General Brown in the Class C quarterfinals.
Lowville and Canastota have the two most prolific offenses in Class C. Canastota has averaged 50.75 points per contest on offense compared to Lowville’s 52.6 average. The next highest scoring team in Class C is Skaneateles, a team that averaged 42 points a game on offense but was eliminated in the opening round of sectional play by Lowville, 58-26. The teams are just as close on the defensive front. Congden’s Raiders are allowing 14.9 points on defense, while Lowville has yielded 14.6 points per contest.
Should Oneida win, it will face the winner of a bout between No. 2 Solvay and No. 3 New Hartford.
If Canastota wins, the Raiders will face the winner of a Saturday meeting between No. 1 Cato-Meridian and No. 5 Herkimer.