Having just finished off its first undefeated regular season in 16 years, the Liverpool football team finds that it still has to hold on to neighborhood bragging rights against Cicero-North Syracuse if it wants to go anywhere in the Section III Class AA playoffs.
The Warriors moved to 7-0, locking up a perfect run through the Class AA-1 division, Friday night at LHS Stadium by balancing its ground and air attacks in a 42-24 victory over West Genesee.
Meanwhile, the Northstars, seeking a signature win at Baldwinsville, nearly got it, rallying from a 15-point deficit to knock on the Bees’ door – but not break it down, settling for a 21-20 defeat.
Still, by finishing fourth in the AA-2 division, C-NS is paired up with Liverpool in the opening round of the AA sectionals next Friday, on the same turf where Jaydakis Scott torched the Northstars for 309 yards in a 39-12 Warrior victory back on Sept. 26.
To the surprise of many, Liverpool, despite its 6-0 start, still did not appear in last week’s state Class AA rankings, while 5-1 Baldwinsville did even though it had lost to Henninger the week before.
Still searching for respect, the Warriors hoped that a win over West Genesee (whose own playoff fate was unknown until CBA won at Central Square 33-20, clinching a berth for the Wildcats), and a completion of that first 7-0 campaign since the program’s last sectional title in 1998, would provide some.
It didn’t prove that easy at first, despite Ricky Sisto putting Liverpool on the board with a 22-yard scoring pass to Matt Sala that provided an early 7-0 lead. WG answered with its own scoring drive, finished when quarterback Dashon Turner scrambled for a TD from 13 yards out.
Scott began to assert himself when he took a screen pass from Sisto at his own 40-yard line and, finding open field, beat all of the Wildcats’ defenders on a 60-yard sprint to the end zone.
Still, WG didn’t flinch, pulling within 14-10 on Will Northrop’s 36-yard field goal in the second quarter. Late in the half, though, Scott really took over.
First, Scott found the end zone on a 37-yard run, followed by Mike Wright foregoing an extra point to throw a two-point pass to Zach Khatib. Minutes later, the Warriors had the ball back and, from 23 yards, Scott netted his third TD, which made it 28-10 going into halftime.
Twice in the second half, the Wildcats scored, on Josh Mattice’s fumble return and James Kerr’s four-yard run. Both times, Liverpool answered and restored its margin, Sisto finding Joe Scro on a 53-yard scoring pass and Scott netting his fourth TD on a 32-yard run in the final minute to ice it.
More than at any other time this season, the Warriors showed a healthy mix of passes and runs. True, Scott gained 242 yards on 26 carries, but Sisto set a career mark with 237 passing yards on just nine-of-13 attempts, an average of better than 24 yards per completion.
This is what C-NS will have to deal with again in the wake of its all-out effort at Baldwinsville. A win here may have meant a shuffle in the AA-2 division playoff order, with the Northstars going into the game with a 3-2 league record and the Bees at 4-1 in league play.
During a scoreless first quarter, C-NS forced a punt on B’ville’s lone possession and had the ball most of the way, counting on Nick Golembieski’s runs even more after quarterback Connor Evans left the game with an injury, replaced by eighth-grader Connor Hayes for the rest of the night.
The Northstars then polished off a 21-play drive when Golembieski scored on a one-yard run early in the second period, but the extra point was missed, keeping it 6-0 in C-NS’s favor.
Late in the half, the Bees finally put together a drive of its own, anchored by tailback Cameron Skipworth, who scored from five yards out with less than a minute to play.
Tom Scarfino’s PAT was good, and C-NS, trailing by one, frantically moved the ball down the field in those remaining seconds, including Keegan Wright’s 27-yard run. But on the last play of the half, Mitchell was stopped four yards short of the end zone, and the Northstars took that slim 7-6 deficit to the break.
B’ville found its rhythm in the third quarter, relying on Skipworth during a 60-yard march to open the period as he scored from two yards out.
That was one of three drives the Bees put together in that period, and while C-NS stopped one of them at its own 25, it couldn’t keep Skipworth from earning his third TD on a 26-yard run.
Trailing 21-6, C-NS promptly made its own surge. It started with an innocent screen pass from Hayes to Golembieski on the last play of the third quarter than the Northstars senior turned into a 65-yard TD rumble. The ensuing two-point conversion made it 21-14.
Rain began to come down at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium just as C-NS tried an onside kick to start the final period – and recovered it. Fired up by that, Hayes led the Northstars to the Bees’ end zone again, Matt Bitz making a sensational catch on a pass from Hayes with 10:01 left.
With the deficit down to a single point, C-NS tried for a go-ahead two-point conversion, but missed it due to a bad snap. Still, it had plenty of time to go in front, and got another chance when the Bees fumbled at the Northstars’ 37 less than three minutes later.
Stopped on that drive, C-NS stood up on defense and forced a B’ville punt from midfield with 2:19 left. Now, with the ball on its own 20, the Northstars used a long completion to get into Bees territory, only to stall one more time and, on fourth down with less than 40 seconds left, an incomplete pass allowed B’ville to hang on for the win.
