Even at this stage at what is shaping up as a memorable and possibly magical season, it’s too early to say if the Liverpool football team will cast aside its 16-year sectional championship drought.
But if it does, the Warriors are sure to look back to what happened late Friday night at Alibrandi Stadium as the pivot point where a good team showed something deeper.
Trailing Christian Brothers Academy in the fourth quarter, with control of the Class AA-1 division race in the balance, Liverpool summoned up all of its resolve and made all the big plays down the stretch, leading to a 19-16 victory over the Brothers.
They entered that final period with CBA out in front, 16-6. Not only was Liverpool’s attack sputtering, it had just surrendered a safety to a Brothers defense bent on atonement after giving up 50 points to Corcoran in its last home game two weeks earlier.
Early in the quarter, CBA threatened to get away, driving to the Warriors’ 13-yard line. At just that moment, though, the Warriors made a vital stop, took over on downs, and began to assert its own will.
And that meant plenty of carries for Liverpool’s star tailback, Jaydakis Scott. Coming off a 309-yard, five-touchdown efforts against Cicero-North Syracuse in a 39-12 win on Sept. 25, Scott had mostly struggled on this night, but now, on this drive, he managed 40 yards on four carries.
That, mixed in with some timely passes from Nick Sisto, got the Warriors moving, and when Scott scored on a 16-yard run with 5:31 to play, the margin was 16-12.
Now it was the Warriors’ defense taking its turn. With terrific pursuits, Liverpool forced CBA into a three-and-out, and the ensuing punt put the ball on the Warriors’ 25 with 3:45 left.
Nothing fancy was done here. Again, the Warriors’ offensive line pushed aside the Brothers’ front four, giving Scott and Audey Ashkar room to run – which they did, the ball gradually moving inside the CBA 10-yard line in the final minute.
It was Scott going the final 13 yards for the touchdown with 52.9 seconds left, and the extra point gave the Warriors a three-point margin. Though CBA had time to answer, Joe Scro snuffed it out, intercepting Jake Brotzki’s pass to seal a big Liverpool win.
The meaning of this game went beyond the standings, of course. CBA had drilled Liverpool last fall in the sectional Class AA semifinals, and the returning Warriors remembered the pain of that defeat and falling just short (again) of getting to the Carrier Dome for the title game.
But the standings did matter, too, for if CBA won, it would create a three-way tie atop the Class AA-1 division with these two teams, plus Corcoran. Liverpool wanted to avoid that scenario.
Scott’s first TD had come in the opening period on a 15-yard run after CBA’s Andre Dowdell put his team on the board with an eight-yard scoring run.
A missed conversion kept the Brothers in front, 7-6, and that lead grew to 14-6 when Dowdell went 18 yards for a TD in the second quarter.
That was the last time CBA would reach the end zone, though. Liverpool’s defense made sure that Dowdell (who had 126 yards on 15 carries) and fellow back Stevie Scott (113 yards on 18 carries) didn’t find open space outside, keeping them from big gains.
Just in time, Scott and the Warriors’ offense would reward that effort. And now Liverpool comes home for its last two regular-season games, starting next Friday against Nottingham (2-4) and finishing on Oct. 17 against West Genesee.
