Coming off a successful 2025 season that saw them go 8-3, finish third in the always tough Six Rivers Football Conference and reach level two of the WIAA D7 playoffs, the Seneca-Wauzeka-Steuben BlueGolds knew that replacing last year’s group of senior players would be no small feat.
The visiting Cashton Eagles also entered the 2026 season with a fairly young team (only two seniors on the roaster) but they entered the game with a few things that S-W-S did not have such as the number of players on the roster (41 total players vs. 26 for S-W-S) and size of their offensive and defensive lines (the Eagles have nine players over 200 pounds with five players being over 240 pounds, including 6’5, 275 pound sophomore lineman Malachi Goede and 6’0, 300 pound freshman lineman Braxten Hooverson while the Bluegolds only have three players over 200 pounds).
Cashton was able to use those advantages to their favor as they used their size up front to control the offensive and defensive lines enroute to a 27-0 win over Seneca-Wauzeka-Steuben this past Friday night at the Wauzeka football field.
The Eagles got on the scoreboard first early in the opening quarter. The visitors managed to block and recover a S-W-S punt deep in Bluegold territory before scoring a few plays later to take a quick 6-0 lead (the extra point attempt was no good). The Bluegolds offense was unable to get anything going on their next drive and were forced to punt back. Cashton’s offense then drove down the field before facing a fourth-and-12 from the Bluegolds’ 23-yard line with 2:43 left in the first quarter. A stop by the Bluegolds on fourth down could have swung momentum to Seneca-Wauzeka-Steuben. However, Eagles senior tight end Taeton Gill used his whole 6’1, 185 frame to extend his arms all the way out to reach a pass thrown by junior quarterback Graham Hemmersbach, a pass that had first appeared to be headed towards a Bluegold defender. Gill made the spectacular catch on the nine-yard line for the first down, allowing the Eagles to score three plays later as Cashton converted the two-point conversion attempt to extend their lead to 14-0 with 45 seconds left in the first quarter with the score remaining the same entering the second quarter.
Cashton would go on to add a touchdown in the second quarter to take a 20-0 lead into the intermission. Both teams played to a scoreless third quarter before the visiting Eagles would add one final touchdown in the fourth quarter on their way to a 27-0 victory over Seneca-Wauzeka-Steuben.
Final game stats were not available at the time this article was written.
Seneca-Wauzeka-Steuben takes on their second Scenic Bluffs Conference member in two weeks this upcoming Friday night when they travel to Cazenovia to take on the Ithaca-Weston (1-0) co-op, who are coming off a 14-0 week one win at Riverdale. The Eagles host Independence/Gilmanton in their home opener.
