Usually the highest classification, in New York's case class AA, of a high school football championship weekend is the best game to look forward to but this year is different from the norm. The Class B championship takes center stage under the lights of the Cicero North-Syracuse Bragman Athletic Complex. The Westhill Warriors come into the game very confident with an undefeated record of 9-0 during the regular season and even made the public think Westhill possibly was running up the score in this game. Cazenovia enters the game with a perfect 9-0 record as well.
Westhill took on Marcellus last week in the Region III Class B semi-finals against Marcellus and MHS had a 14-7 lead in the first. Westhill woke up the "sleeping giant" that was the potent offensive attack and most importantly the offensive line opened holes for the explosive game breaker Dale Ross. Just reading that makes me wonder if the Cazenovia Lakers have much of a shot. But according to the New York State Sportswriters Association the Lakers should be the favored team Saturday evening. Cazenovia put on an offensive display as well throughout the season and won games by large margins with the spread offensive attack that utilizes QB Coleman Koesterer athleticism to a tee. In the semi-final match vs. Solvay, Koesterer still managed to move the offense despite Solvay putting 9 defenders in the box. Both teams like to run the ball a lot so expect a quick, fast-paced game. Both defenses have yet to be challenged for a complete game this year so it will interesting to see how the Lakers contain Dale Ross and if the Warrors can contain Koesterer and the spread.
Just keep in mind the revenge factor is always important. Read what a fan wrote and interesting blog and shared his opinion of the game during an SU off week last year (scroll down a little bit on the opinion link). A dismantleing of the Warriors in last year's region championship will be a constant reminder this entire week during practice and Westhill seniors who were at the Carrier Dome last year will use that motivation at CNS High School. This should be an excellent finish to some great games to conclude the Region III championship weekend.
Championship weekend starts with Onondaga vs. Dolgeville (8-1) at 5 p.m. Friday for the Class D crown, followed by Carthage (9-0) vs. New Hartford (5-4) for the Class A title at 8 p.m. Saturday, Bishop Ludden (8-1) takes on Mount Markham (9-0) for the Class C title at 11 a.m., West Genesee playing C-NS at 2 p.m. for the Class AA followed Cazenovia (9-0) and Westhill (9-0) at 5 p.m.
1 comment:
Informative piece, Harold. Learned that I should be paying attention to this game. And I also learned what to look for from both teams. However, the piece had several run-on sentences that were confusing. Change the first sentence to explicitly say you're talking about AA football.
Melissa
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