It proved a rare treat for Syracuse high school football fans, seeing all four of the team’s large high schools claim victories on a single Friday night.
Of them, none were sweeter that Fowler’s 14-8 overtime decision over Fulton, which broke a long skid that dated back to the 2009 season. That game was played at Corcoran High School’s field, since construction is going on at Fowler.
As that was going on, Corcoran was in the process of pulling away from Auburn 33-8, to win its second straight game for new head coach Tyrone Fisher. Nottingham, too, moved to 2-2 for its first-year coach, Nick Patterson, by holding off Cicero-North Syracuse 19-14, while Henninger also climbed back to the .500 mark by smashing Oswego 53-14.
Rain fell throughout Friday’s contests, and Fowler, mired at 0-3, found itself trailing Fulton (also looking for its first win of the season) 6-0 going into the third quarter. But London Odister turned it around when, from his own 15-yard line, he threw deep and found Jawaun Ortman for a tying touchdown.
Odister’s two-point run inched the Falcons in front, but the Red Raiders used a defensive safety in the fourth quarter to tie the game 8-8, setting up an overtime where each team got a possession on the opponent’s 20-yard line.
Fulton got the ball, but on a fourth-down-and-two, the Falcons stuffed the Red Raiders. Now Fowler needed any kind of points to prevail, and Dalton Cooley, from eight yards out, found the end zone to end it.
On that same Corcoran turf seven days earlier, the Cougars, staring at an 0-3 mark as it trailed Cicero-North Syracuse, rallied from an 18-point deficit with 27 unanswered points to prevail 33-24, Shaquille Breland scoring three touchdowns in that comeback.
Fisher’s second coaching win would prove far easier than the first as, even in the rain and mud at Auburn’s Holland Stadium, Corcoran would flourish.
Jarvis Shields earned more than half of his 111 rushing yards on a 57-yard scoring run in the first quarter. Then the Cougars’ defense struck in the second period, Quentin Harrison returning a fumble 65 yards for six points.
Up 12-0 at the half, Corcoran expanded the lead when Shakim Buckmon hit Emmanuel Rowser on a 53-yard scoring strike. Then Shields returned and earned back-to-back TD’s of nine and 38 yards to put Auburn away.
Nottingham had lost two straight since a season-opening win over Rome Free Academy on Sept. 2. It took a trip to CNS’s Bragman Stadium to break that skid against the Northstars, who also entered the game with a 1-2 mark.
Terrific defense marked the Bulldogs’ first-half effort. It kept CNS off the board, and used short TD runs by Marty Clanton (of five yards) and Jaquan Adams (of eight yards) to move in front. And when Derrick Gore scored on a three-yard run in the third quarter, Nottingham led 19-0.
It needed those points, for CNS would use a pair of late drives to cut the margin down to five before Nottingham’s defense returned to make key late stops.
Henninger, reeling from back-to-back defeats to Rochester Aquinas (in the Carrier Dome) and Utica Proctor, returned home to Sunnycrest Field and found a willing slump-buster in Oswego, streaking out to a 47-0 halftime lead on the winless Buccaneers.
Shakim Clark found the end zone three times in that flurry, on runs of 21 and 59 yards plus a punt return of 55 yards. Reggie Robinson also produced a big play, scoring on an 85-yard sprint to the end zone along with an eight-yard run.
With the starters out, Keisean Scott, who ran for 113 yards (seven more than Robinson), tacked on TD runs of 30 and 83 yards.
Henninger, 2-1 in the Class AA-2 division, could move into second place in the league if it wins this Friday at Fayetteville-Manlius. Corcoran goes for three in a row as it visits Oswego, while Nottingham could see its playoff fate determined by a key home test against Central Square. Fowler aims for back-to-back wins when it visits Indian River.