LIVERPOOL – With a big play at the outset, poise in the homestretch and plenty of physical power from start to finish, the Liverpool football team reclaimed the ‘Star Wars Cup’ at the expense of Cicero-North Syracuse.
The Warriors’ 21-14 victory over the state Class AA no. 5-ranked Northstars Friday night at LHS Stadium did many things at once, besides alter the trajectory of the long-time rivalry between the two neighbors.
In the course of a single game, Liverpool redefined the Section III Class AA title race and made it more wide-open, with these two sides now in a battle with Corcoran (who has won four in a row) for the top spot as both teams still have to face the Cougars before the regular season.
Of course, just having bragging rights was more than enough to satisfy the Liverpool players and coaches who saw their game plan work close to perfection.
“We played with our hearts and came out on top,” said La’Quan Lemon, the C-NS transfer who scored in the second quarter and recovered a fumble to set up what proved to be the winning touchdown.
Head coach Dave Mancuso said his team had a quiet focus that sustained itself throughout the week leading up to the game, and served the Warriors well once things kicked off.
It only took 65 seconds for Liverpool to go in front. On the third play from scrimmage, Jah’Deuir Reese took a screen pass from Jalen Graham and, making a quick cutback in the middle of the field, took off down the left sideline and did not stop until he was in the end zone 79 yards later.
That quick 7-0 lead was backed up by a Warriors defense that didn’t let C-NS get its potent offense going. On each of the Northstars’ first three possessions, it was stopped on fourth down inside the Warriors’ 40. Worse yet, C-NS’s top running back, Jamar Ballard, left late in the first quarter and did not return.
Following the third stop, Liverpool began to assert itself with a 64-yard drive, all on the ground. The Warriors’ offensive line of Nate Graser, Joe Guindy, Crispin Ogindo, Jacob Renaud and Hunter Thompson kept creating room for a variety of backs to pick up yards on the ground.
Lemon’s four-yard TD and the extra point made it 14-0, and with C-NS dropping passes, committing penalties and making other mistakes, that score held until halftime.
What happened in the locker room during the break may have played as big a role in the outcome as anything on the field.
Graser, a senior captain, said he reminded his teammates that, as a sophomore in 2019, he had to experience C-NS rallying from a 21-point deficit to stun Liverpool in the sectional semifinals, and to not let up this time around.
It was more important to heed those words after the Northstars took the second-half kickoff and drove 65 yards to its first points of the night. Jason Bartlett accounted for most of those yards and scored on a one-yard plunge.
Early in the fourth quarter, it was still 14-7 when the Warriors’ defense made the game’s biggest play. On a rush, ends Bruce Wingate and Urijah Matthews got to Jaxon Razmovski and forced a fumble that Lemon recovered at the Northstars’ 27.
Dakari Mack nearly reached the goal line on the next play, his 25-yard run setting up his own one-yard TD that made it 21-7, and Liverpool would need that cushion.
A quick C-NS drive set up Bartlett going 17 yards to the goal line with 6:23 to play, but the Northstars never got the ball again.
Again running well behind its dominant line, Lemon, Reese, Anthony Kelly and Lance Phillips all picked up key yards, and when Graham sneaked for a first down with 1:20 to play, the Warriors were able to run out the remaining clock.
As Liverpool takes on Rome Free Academy next Friday, C-NS is home to face Corcoran, with the Cougars and Warriors set to face off in the Oct. 22 regular-season finale.
