Jake Zembiec showed up, in uniform and ready to go, for the highly-anticipated football showdown between Christian Brothers Academy and Rochester Aquinas Saturday night in the Kickoff Classic at the Carrier Dome.
More importantly, Earnest Edwards arrived for the Little Irish – and the damage he did on offense, defense and special teams in the first half made the difference as the Brothers lost by a 33-20 margin.
The final score didn’t reflect the fact that the Irish controlled proceedings, amassing a 33-0 lead before all of the Brothers’ points came in the latter stages.
This was the first time the long-time powers had met since the 2001 state Class A semifinals, also at the Dome. Aquinas won that epic over CBA, 37-34, and now, 14 years later, the Irish and Brothers reunited.
They did so quite motivated, for different reasons. CBA, with Casey Brown making his head-coaching debut after Joe Casamento’s championship-filled 16-season tenure, was bent on bouncing back from last fall’s 4-4 record, a big struggle by its high standards.
Aquinas, on the other hand, was still steamed over how it was thrown out of the Section V playoffs a season ago due to an eligibility issue surrounding Zembiec, one of the nation’s top senior quarterbacks, who has a verbal commitment to Penn State.
Ironically, in the lead-up to the game, there was concern that Zembiec would not play due to a tender shoulder. But he did start, unlike CBA defensive standout Dan Damico, as an illness might sideline the junior linebacker for much of the regular season.
But neither Zembiec nor Damico had anything to do with the way Edwards, the Irish’s senior wide receiver and defensive back, set the game’s tone in just 12 seconds.
Receiving the opening kickoff, Edwards took off left, picked up two blocks and did the rest with a sprinter’s speed, an 89-yard dash to the end zone that, with the extra point, gave Aquinas a lead it would hold the rest of the night.
Then, on the Irish’s first offensive possession, it moved to the Brothers’ 28, where on fourth-down-and-nine Zemibec lofted a pass to the goal line that Edwards, in single coverage, snagged for his second touchdown of the night.
It took a while for CBA’s offense to get on track, but it did so late in the first quarter with a six-minute, 14-play, 63-yard drive, but it stalled at the Aquinas 15, foreshadowing other troubles.
Three times in the second period, the Brothers turned it over. A fumble at the Aquinas 35 turned into a 65-yard Irish scoring drive that Zemibec capped by again finding Edwards in the end zone, this time on a nine-yard strike.
And just when CBA had snared its first turnover on a Sirvocea Dennis interception late in the half, Edwards returned, picking off a bad Jake Brotzki pass at the Brothers’ 45 and returning it, untouched, for his fourth TD of the night.
Fittingly, the half ended with Graycen Carter getting an interception in the end zone as Aquinas again thwarted a CBA scoring chance and took a 26-0 lead to intermission.
Yet the break did little to top the Irish, who added a one-yard TD run by Taylor Riggins in the third quarter, set up by Zembiec’s 23-yard pass to Shemar Hayes, who also got an interception to thwart another Brothers threat later that period.
Only in the final period did CBA prevent the shutout, piling up 20 points against the Aquinas reserves. Brotzki converted on a four-yard swing pass to Sam Martin, Stevie Scott added a 13-yard scoring run and Brotzki found Charles Pride from 22 yards out in the closing seconds.
Earlier on Saturday, another local private school with another first-year head coach tasted defeat, Bishop Grimes taking a 21-7 loss to Tully.
Jason Wait was debuting as the Cobras’ top man on the sidelines, dealing with both a young roster and Grimes’ return to the Class D West division after reaching the National Football Foundation division finals at the Dome a season ago.
Also, Grimes’ small numbers was a particular obstacle on a hot, humid afternoon, which saw the Cobras’ lone points come on Anthony Talarico’s 45-yard TD run in the first quarter.
Tully didn’t allow anything more, and thanks to Patrick Morse’s one-yard scoring plunge, forged a 7-7 tie, which stood until the third quarter, where the Black Knights drove again to the one and, once again, Morse dove in for the go-ahead points.
Try as it could, Grimes could not pull back even. Instead, Tully’s Nick Edinger tacked on a 10-yard TD run in the final period, capping off a day where he gained 101 yards on just six carries.
Grimes is home again next Saturday to face Bishop Ludden, who beat Pulaski 18-8 in its season opener, at 1 p.m., right after CBA hosts Rome Free Academy Friday night. The Black Knights dropped its first game of the season 12-6 to Nottingham.
