A magical season for the Bishop Grimes football team that started in the Carrier Dome two months earlier finished on that same Dome turf Sunday night.
The first time it was there, the Cobras kicked off its 2014 campaign by beating New York Mills Sept. 7 in the Kickoff Classic. Now, it was vying for the first National Football Foundation championship, trying to avenge a regular-season defeat to LaFayette/Fabius-Pompey.
But it would not happen. Dominating from the start, the Lancers took advantage of every Grimes mistake and controlled matters on both sides of the ball, eventually beating the Cobras 40-6 to win the NFF title and finish a perfect 10-0 season.
These same two teams had met at Grimes on Oct. 18, and LaFayette/F-P won that game 35-12. Since then, the Cobras had wiped out Clinton 48-0 and then, in the NFF semifinal Nov. 1, used a last-second touchdown to stun Little Falls 18-13 and earn its return trip to the Dome.
Yet the Cobras were dealing with plenty of issues, including late-season injuries that stretched matters for an already small roster. LaFayette/F-P, who required two overtimes to win its NFF semifinal over Adirondack, would take full advantage.
An early scoring drive had the Lancers up, 7-0, when Jordyn Marchiano intercepted Jordan Newman’s pass, setting up another score and doubling LaFayette/F-P’s margin.
Grimes’ struggles continued in the second quarter, where the Lancers quickly moved to the Cobras’ two-yard line and scored on Ryan Agedal’s short touchdown pass to Levi Krebs.
Minutes later, Agedall returned a Grimes punt 45 yards, and while the Cobras made a defensive stand, it continued to struggle against a ferocious LaFayette/F-P defense, with Newman fumbling on his own three-yard line and Patrick Anastas recovering it.
Billy Steinmetz ran in for another Lancers touchdown, and Grimes trailed, 27-0, at halftime, hurt by penalties even when it did make plays, like a long kick return to open the second half that got wiped out by a holding flag.
Meanwhile, Agedal’s second long punt return, of 47 yards, went to the end zone to make it 33-0, and now the only question was whether Grimes could prevent the shutout. The Cobras would, thanks to a fourth-quarter drive where Austin DiRienzo’s 28-yard pass to Trevor Pokines put Grimes deep in Lancers territory.
Then Shakim’ Williams scored on a 10-yard run, the last points of Grimes’ season, which finished with a 7-3 mark and a sense of renewal and accomplishment, something rarely seen in the Cobras’ program in recent years.
