The Homer football team suffered its second straight defeat to start the season Friday night, falling 42-14 to defending Section III Class B finalist New Hartford.
The Trojans struggled all night to contain an electric Spartan offense led by junior quarterback John Vitullo and senior running back Jake Garcia. New Hartford scored on its first five drives of the game, was stopped on downs deep in Homer territory on the sixth, scored again on the seventh and ran out the clock on the eighth.
Homer head coach Greg Roskos knows New Hartford has a talented offense and was proud of his guys’ resilience.
“We can definitely make some adjustments,” Roskos said. “They have a really good quarterback and probably three or four kids on their offensive side that are going to play college football. That quarterback and those receivers are really good.”
Garcia broke free for a long touchdown run early on, then continued to chip away throughout the remainder of the game. He found openings and ran for some 10 to 20 yard chunks on plays Roskos thought could’ve been made by his defense.
“We were in position a lot of times,” Roskos said. “I think in the first half they had a couple of big runs where we had the guy bottled up in the backfield and he got down there. Our kids fought hard and I really liked that.”
“They have good speed, so if you let those guys get to the edge they start running around you,” Roskos added. “That happened a few too many times.”
Homer’s offense ran through senior running back Alex Votra all night. Votra carried the ball 26 times for 133 yards and a pair of touchdowns, working his way through arm tackles for a few big runs but mostly thriving on 5-to-7-yard pickups. Brycen Poole had two carries for five yards. Jack Brady and Gunnar Tyrrell also got a carry each. Roskos saw his lead back was on and wanted to feed him as much as possible.
“He seemed to have a little fire with him and he got going early, so we kept him with it,” Roskos said. “A couple other guys were cramping up and Alex was hot today, so we left him with it.”
Roskos also liked what the offense as a whole did, with quarterback Max Franco going 7-for-12 for 53 yards through the air. A week after struggling to produce much of anything against Windsor, the Trojans picked up eight first downs.
“I think it was a big improvement offensively,” Roskos said. “We controlled our offensive line of scrimmage. When we were out there in the first half a good majority of the time our offensive line did a good job.”
Brady finished with four catches for 17 yards, Tyrrell recorded two catches for 18 yards and Anthony Guido had an 18-yard reception.
Homer is 0-2 for the first time since 2008 and will look to avoid the same fate as that team, an 0-3 start, at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Camden.
BOYS SOCCER
WESTHILL 6, CORTLAND 0
Liam Burns made 13 saves for Cortland as the Purple Tigers fell to 1-4.
GIRLS SOCCER
SOUTHERN CAYUGA 1, MARATHON 0
Marathon allowed the game-winning goal with four minutes left in the first half. Alyiah Roberts made 10 saves in the loss. The Olympians recorded 10 shots on goal and five corner kicks to Southern Cayuga’s 13 shots on goal and four corner kicks.
TULLY 1, FABIUS-POMPEY 0
Mari Woodcock scored the game’s only goal in the first half as Tully moved to 4-0 on the season. Emily Hall made 11 saves for a clean sheet.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
HAMILTON 3, CORTLAND 0
Sophia Testa led Cortland’s offense with seven kills, an ace and six digs and Katie Harris added 16 assists, six digs and two aces in a 22-25, 17-25, 11-25 loss.
Sophie Mayer contributed 12 digs and four kills, Morgan Howard pitched in five kills and four digs and Gia Perfetti had four digs and an assist. Aubree Austen-Hines (one kill, two blocks), Annie Jackson (two digs, one ace), Nellie Lucas (one ace, one dig) and Hannah Ostrander (one dig) also contributed for the Purple Tigers.
BOYS GOLF
WESTHILL 203, CORTLAND 224
Koda Hubbard and CJ Urtz led Cortland’s effort at Camillus Country Club, with each shooting a 42. Finn Thomas contributed a 44 and Garrick Ott, Owen Michales and Cooper Coheno all shot a 48. One of Ott, Michales and Coheno’s scores wasn’t needed.
HANNIBAL 260, MCGRAW 269
Lucas Friedman carded a 46 at Stone Creek Golf Course, but it wasn’t enough to lead McGraw to its first win. Barrett Zogg added a 51, Lucas Johnson contributed a 56, Thomas Lea and Foster Eaton each notched a 58 and Mason Allen’s 62 was cancelled out.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
FOOTBALL
Moravia at Pembroke, 7 p.m. today
BOYS SOCCER
Homer at Westhill, 12:30 p.m. today
West Genesee at Tully, 10 a.m. today
Marathon at Tully, 4:30 p.m. Monday
McGraw at Faith Heritage, 4:30 p.m. Monday at Jones Road Soccer Field
Groton at Newark Valley, 4:30 p.m. Monday
Chittenango at Cortland, 7 p.m. Tuesday
Stockbridge Valley/Morrisville-Eaton at Cincinnatus, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday
Lansing at Dryden, 7 p.m. Tuesday
DeRuyter at Madison, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Stockbridge Valley Central School
Southern Cayuga at Moravia, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday
GIRLS SOCCER
Homer at Syracuse City, 1 p.m. today at Fowler High School
McGraw at DeRuyter, 9:30 a.m. today
Mexico at Cortland, 7 p.m. Monday
Brookfield at McGraw, 4:30 p.m. Monday
Newark Valley at Groton, 4:30 p.m. Monday at Ross Field
Madison at Cincinnatus, 4:30 p.m. Monday
Homer at Skaneateles, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday
Bishop Grimes at Tully, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Homer at Fayetteville-Manlius, 8 a.m. today
Dryden at Tioga, 8 a.m. today
Cortland at Phoenix, 6 p.m. Monday
Groton at Moravia, 6:30 p.m. Monday
Lansing at Dryden, 6:30 p.m. Monday
Homer at Mexico, 6 p.m. Tuesday
FIELD HOCKEY
Cortland at Port Byron/Union Springs, 6 p.m. Tuesday
Homer at Cato-Meridian, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday
Newark Valley at Marathon, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday
Afton/Harpursville at Moravia, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday
CROSS COUNTRY
Tully at East Syracuse-Minoa, 9:30 a.m. today
Marathon, Moravia at Groton, 5 p.m. Tuesday at Stonehedges Golf Course
Dryden at Watkins Glen, 5 p.m. Tuesday at Watkins Glen State Park
BOYS GOLF
McGraw at Cortland, 3:30 p.m. Monday at Willowbrook Golf Club
Cazenovia at Homer, 3:30 p.m. Monday at Cortland Country Club
Tully at Chittenango, 3:30 p.m. Monday at Rogues Roost Golf Course
Chittenango at Cortland, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Willowbrook Golf Club
Marcellus at McGraw, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Knickerbocker Country Club
Hannibal at Tully, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Vesper Hills Golf Course
GIRLS TENNIS
Cortland at Phoenix, 4:30 p.m. Monday
Homer at Skaneateles, 5 p.m. Monday at Austin Park
Homer at CBA, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday
GIRLS SWIMMING & DIVING
Dryden at Johnson City, 11 a.m. today
