While the football rivalry between Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse has always run hot, it might never mean as much as it does when the two battle it out for the ‘Star Wars Cup’ next Friday night at LHS Stadium. That’s because, though the game won’t count in the league standings, with the Warriors at 3-0 and the Northstars at 2-1, both programs carry high expectations – something that wasn’t always the case in the past. Liverpool’s ambition partially derives from the way it has shut down foes this fall – just one touchdown allowed in three games, including back-to-back shutouts, the latter of them coming Friday night in the home opener as the Warriors blanked Rome Free Academy 39-0. At C-NS, its rapid rise was demonstrated by its trip to Utica Proctor, where the Northstars, shaking off its 35-28 defeat to Auburn the week before, demolished the Raiders 51-12. During the first two weeks of the season, Liverpool had showed modest improvement in its attack, but it really took off against RFA with the presence of Jaydakis Scott in the backfield. Scott, the Warriors’ leading rusher a year ago, would wound the Black Knights with four first-half touchdowns. Terrific blocking from a big, formidable offensive line helped the cause, too. Liverpool led 6-0 after one period thanks to Scott’s first TD, on a three-yard run. Then, the Warriors put together three more scoring drives in the second quarter, and Scott scored each time, on short runs of six and four yards, and then on a 52-yard sprint late in the half. All told, Scott had 188 rushing yards on 26 carries. But the Warriors could convert through the air, too, as Rick Sisto found Joe Scro on a 24-yard TD pass in the third quarter and Matt Rioux would add a one-yard scoring run. For all that Scott did, though, Liverpool’s defense remained the big story. Since giving up a second-quarter touchdown to Corcoran in the Sept. 5 opener, the Warriors haven’t allowed a point – 10 consecutive shutout periods. Whether that shutout streak holds up against C-NS is an open question, but it’s a sure bet that the Northstars will offer Liverpool its toughest challenge yet. Through its three games, C-NS has put up 121 points. Just as importantly, in its impressive effort at Utica Proctor, the Northstars demonstrated that a setback, as it had at Auburn, would only make them more determined to bounce back. Again, Nick Golembieski provided the spark, the senior running back breaking C-NS out of its own territory early in the first quarter by taking off on an 83-yard TD run. Later in the period, Golembieski scored again, on a one-yard plunge. Up 14-6 going into the second quarter, C-NS essentially put the game away with 22 unanswered points in that frame, all of it from a trio of TD passes from quarterback Dom Fiorini. It started with Fiorini throwing a six-yard scoring pass to Connor Evans, plus a two-point conversion. Then Fiorini went to Golembieski on a TD pass that covered 58 yards, and right before halftime, a 33-yard scoring pass to Bo Nesci made it 36-6 at halftime. Before exiting in the third quarter, Fiorini added a fourth TD pass to a fourth different receiver, going 50 yards to Josh Ramirez. And even when Matt McAndrew replaced Fiorini, he joined in the fun with a 20-yard scoring pass to Mike Centolella. That high-powered C-NS attack, lined up against Liverpool’s stingy and ferocious defense, provides a tantalizing match-up. The game will also mark the end of the Northstars’ month-long road swing, as it will christen its new turf at Bragman Stadium Oct. 3, when Henninger visits.