East looks strong in Class D crossover play. What to know after Week 5
Section III's Class D football teams took a break from league play in Week 5 and the results suggest a significant power imbalance between the East and the West.
Teams from the six-team East Division won four of the weekend's five games, three by more than 30 points. The East's record is now 7-3 in crossovers within the class with all but Waterville/Hamilton's 32-22 victory over Onondaga Friday - the Indians' first win of the season - decided by 25 or more points.
Unbeaten Dolgeville (5-0), the East Division leader and reigning sectional champion, beat Cato-Meridian (2-3) 54-16 Saturday and won 48-7 at Beaver River two weeks earlier.
Beaver River (4-1) was the lone West Division winner over the weekend, shutting out Herkimer (1-5) 48-0.
Sandy Creek (4-1), the other team without a loss in Class D West competition, suffered its first defeat of the season Friday in Little Falls where the Mounties (4-2) won 31-0 and posted their second shutout of the season. The Mounties had previously won 34-6 at Onondaga (0-5) and had been shut out themselves by Dolgeville one week earlier.
Sandy Creek had beaten Sherburne-Earlville 14-6 in Week 3. Sherburne-Earlville (1-5) had the bye against the five-team West Division in Week 5 and played instead at Class C Clinton.
Mt. Markham (5-1) and Notre Dame (1-4), two of the teams that dropped down from Class C2 this year and forced the split of what had been a single Class D league last year, met Saturday afternoon in Utica with Mt. Markham's Mustangs winning 60-0. Each had won its previous crossover; Mt. Markham beat Cato-Meridian 33-8 and Notre Dame defeated Herkimer 14-8.
Class D East teams have outscored their opponents from the West by 17.2 points on average. Take away the Beaver River victory, and that average soars past 23 points per game.
The two-division playoff format pits the top four teams from each division against each other in the sectional quarterfinals. It will be interesting to see how that plays out Oct. 28 and 29.
More:Section 3 football scores for the 2022 season
Adirondack takes big step in Class C
The first round went to Adirondack Friday as Class C2 started an unofficial three-week playoff to finish its regular season.
General Brown (4-1, 3-1 C2), ranked seventh in the state in Class C by the New York State Sportswriters Association, No. 12 Adirondack (5-0, 4-0 C2) and No. 16 Holland Patent (6-0, 4-0 C2) all entered the first full football weekend of October with perfect records in their seven-team league. That changed with Adirondack's 30-27 home field victory over General Brown.
Adirondack's Wildcats and General Brown's Lions, runners-up in Section III's 2021 playoffs in classes D and C, respectively, went back and forth in Boonville. General Brown led 13-0 in the first half before Adirondack rallied to take a 16-13 halftime lead. Ray Hennessey ran for his second touchdown in the third quarter to extend the lead to 22-13 before General Brown came back with two touchdowns and took a 27-22 lead into the fourth quarter.
Adirondack won the game in the fourth quarter, taking the lead on quarterback Brett Sanford's 10-yard touchdown pass to John Hennessey and adding the last two points on the conversion run by Ray Hennessey.
With that big win in the books, Adirondack plays on the road this week at Westmoreland/Oriskany (1-5, 1-4 C2) here the Bulldogs are coming off their first win against Southern Hills (0-5, 0-4 C2).
General Brown returns home to Dexter for Friday's game against Holland Patent. Holland Patent's Golden Knights remained unbeaten with a 14-6 win at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill (3-3, 2-3 C2). While Adirondack and General Brown had been blowing out opponents before last week's showdown - Adirondack had won each of its first four games by more than 30 points, General Brown had scored at least 45 points in each of its first four while allowing one touchdown - Holland Patent has won its last four games by a combined total of 36 points, a stretch that includes a last-minute 26-20 win over Southern Hills two weeks ago.
General Brown needs to beat Holland Patent then root for the Golden Knights to beat Adirondack the following week to earn a share of the league title. The Golden Knights or Wildcats would claim an outright title by winning out.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: What to know after Week 5 of Section 3 football
