BALDWINSVILLE – Two weeks, two victories – and two very different experiences for the Baldwinsville football team to get to the same happy result.
The Bees jumped all over visiting Rome Free Academy Thursday night at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, scoring in the game’s opening moments and netting 39 unanswered points in the first half as it cruised past the Black Knights 59-21.
In nearly every way, the experience contrasted what had taken place six days before – namely, B’ville’s dramatic 14-13 win over West Genesee on Sept. 3 where defense ruled most of the way and a late touchdown and two-point conversion turned things around.
Carl Sanfilippo, the Bees’ long-time head coach, was back on the sidelines after a one-game absence, and starting quarterback Caden Cox was back, too, though the Bees didn’t wait until he was on the field to take command.
Kaleb Paul took the opening kickoff at his own nine-yard line, picked up a series of blocks and didn’t stop until he was in the end zone 91 yards later.
Having taken the lead in the game’s first 15 seconds, B’ville then scored on its next possession, too, Sam Mellinger finding the end zone from 16 yards out.
Then Cox went to the air to burn RFA’s defenders twice, first on a 44-yard scoring pass to Nick Huhtala, then throwing a shorter pass to Dan Ewald and watching him find the goal line for the Bees’ fourth TD of the first quarter.
From there, the Bees returned to its ground game, twice driving in the second period and twice converting as Eagan Lehman had a 36-yard TD run and Amir Akins scored from five yards out.
Lehman added another three-yard scoring run in the third quarter after the Black Knights finally got on the board. Later, with the reserves on the field, Nick Wellman dashed 10 yards for a TD and Brandon Levin broke loose for a 35-yard scoring play.
Gaining nearly 300 yards on the ground, the Bees were led by Levin’s 92 yards on 13 carries, with Lehman adding 70 yards on five carries and Mellinger getting 54 yards on five carries.
Nick Foster’s eight tackles paced the defense as Ewald, Fred Pickard and David Dobrolowski each had six tackles and Mellinger added an interception.
This sets up a big early-season Class AA clash when B’ville visits Liverpool next Friday at 6:30. After losing to St. Francis in the Carrier Dome Sept. 3, the Warriors handled Henninger 45-18 in its league opener.
