The Tom Anthony Cup is named after a bench boss who coached at both Marcellus and Solvay. The silver trophy, also nicknamed the "Dog Bowl," has "Marcellus" listed as the winner every year for since 2007.

Now there's a new winner, as Solvay defeated Marcellus in a thriller, 42-35 on Friday.

Coming into the contest, the Mustangs knew they were dealing with a much different Solvay squad then in past years. The 15th ranked Bearcats had cruised through their schedule coming into the contest, while the 10th ranked Mustangs were also sitting at 4-0. At practices earlier in the week, it was clear that both teams knew there was a lot on the line.

Not only was the Cup on the table, but whoever won would earn sole possession of the West Division lead.

Solvay looked like a force to be reckoned with early on. The Bearcats rushed out to a 14-0 win thanks to a blocked punt returned for a touchdown and a run in the first six minutes. Marcellus has faced a lot of adversity already this season, so they were prepared to fight back coming into this contest.

They rallied to tie things up at 21 later in the second quarter.

The Bearcats continued to respond thanks to their quarterback Brock Bagozzi. The senior threw a huge touchdown pass late in the half to make it 28-21 at the break. Marcellus coach Nick Patterson talked about the adversity heading into halftime.

"We've been having success; we've got to just limit the mental mistakes," said Patterson. 

At the break, Solvay coach Dan Salisbury said he was impressed by the play of his team in the first 24 minutes. He thought they moved the ball well and paced things well, but they overthrew a bit and needed to limit penalties.

The second half of this game didn't disappoint. Salisbury said early in the week it would be a dog fight, and it was. Marcellus continued to rally, but Solvay kept having answers thanks to Bagozzi. The QB, who threw for 420 yards in a loss to Marcellus last year, refused to lose this one. He put his team up 42-28 in the 3rd quarter, and slowly so that lead slip away.

Marcellus cut it down and even had a chance to tie things up in the final two minutes, but the Marcellus receiver was out of bounds on a caught pass. 

As the final horn sounded, Solvay was handed the Tom Anthony Cup for the first time since 2007. Bagozzi was speechless, and the team was raucous about the win.

Next week, the Friday Night Matchup should be a good one when Carthage visits ESM for a Class A battle. Stick with Spectrum News to catch the game at 7 p.m.