ONONDAGA COUNTY – For decades, the Christian Brothers Academy and Jamesville-DeWitt football teams watched each other but rarely got to meet on the field, firmly entrenched in their own leagues and with other rivals.
So there was some anticipation to the two neighbors facing each other last Friday night, with the Red Rams having split its first two games and the Brothers 1-2, both defeats by a single point.
As it turned out, though, it was CBA who enjoyed the evening much more, netting three touchdowns in each of the first two quarters and going on to defeat J-D by a score of 63-0.
Already up 7-0 thanks to Jordan Rae’s six-yard scoring pass to Kamren Harris, the Brothers began to break it open when Symir Torrence intercepted a Rams pass and returned it 35 yards for a TD.
Minutes later, CBA got a second defensive touchdown, this one from Aiden Calvarese, who took a J-D fumble near midfield and tore 54 yards to the end zone, making it 21-0 before the first quarter was done.
More followed in the second period, with Rae airing it out in the style CBA fans grew so accustomed to during its many championship runs earlier in the millennium.
Three different scoring passes went to three different players – 24 yards to Harris, another 24-yard toss, this one to Amarri Pitts, and finally a 39-yard strike to Torrence that stretched the margin to 42-0 by halftime, Tristen Kucera having hit on all six extra points.
Rae, who was 16-for-26 for 254 yards, threw his fifth TD pass to Torrence from 14 yards out in the third quarter, with Jamier Handford (five yards) and Aiden Calvarese (23 yards) adding scores later in the game. Handford finished with 108 yards on 13 carries.
Again playing eight-man football, Bishop Grimes opened April 3 against reigning Section III champion Weedsport and put up plenty of points, yet still lost 60-36 to the Warriors.
A first-quarter TD by the Cobras was eclipsed by Weedsport’s 30 points it notched before halftime as Hunter Morgan scored twice, including a 56-yard run.
To its credit, Grimes did match the Warriors with 30 points in the second half as Dom Rossi, in his football debut, completed nine of 13 passes for 171 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
And when Grimes returned to action a week later against Morrisville-Eaton, the Cobras were able to break into the win column, outlasting that other set of Warriors 28-22 in overtime.
What made it more extraordinary was that Grimes trailed 22-8 going to the fourth quarter, but stormed back with a pair of touchdowns in those closing minutes.
Then, in the OT period where each team gets a possession on the opponents’ 20-yard line, the Cobras stopped M-E and earned the winning points when Melo McKelvin scored on a six-yard run.
Rob Gilbert and Sean Murphy each netted a TD reception as Nader Elturk ran 10 times for 77 yards. Defensively, Jacob Fritz was everywhere, having a hand in 21 tackles as McKelvin and Murphy had 12 tackles apiece and Jack Gutchess added 11 tackles.
