It turned into a productive Friday night for a trio of area high school football teams, each of whom returned home and gained much-needed victories after taking losses on the road the week before.
East Syracuse Minoa moved to 4-1 by trouncing Central Square 40-13, while Fayetteville-Manlius pulled away to take out Rome Free Academy 32-6 and, in eight-man football, Bishop Grimes outscored Morrisville-Eaton 50-30.
ESM’s Sept. 27 defeat at Whitesboro created some urgency for the Spartans, who still had games left against the three Class A division front-runners (Carthage, Auburn and Indian River) the rest of October.
Central Square was quick to find out how focused ESM was, for the Spartans scored twice in the first quarter. Mikai Combs found the end zone on a 19-yard run and, a few minutes later, Tyler Bell, from midfield, found Nate Pullano on a 49-yard touchdown pass.
Bell and Pullano connected again on a 42-yard scoring pass in the second period, and the Spartans’ defense struck, too, forcing a Redhawks fumble in the end zone that Joe Copp recovered for a TD.
Ahead 27-6 at halftime, the Spartans did enough in the second half to keep Central Square from getting too close, Combs scoring a second time on a 14-yard run and Bell finding Nolan Palmer on a nine-yard scoring strike.
Well-balanced in its attack, ESM had Bell complete 13 of 32 passes for 237 yards, with Combs gaining 171 yards on 24 carries. Palmer caught six of Bell’s passes for 96 yards.
Not far away, F-M was 0-2 in the Class AA-2 division after back-to-back defeats to Utica Proctor and Cicero-North Syracuse, so beating Rome Free Academy was vital to maintaining post-season hopes.
What keyed the Hornets’ effort against the Black Knights was its passing game. Twice in the first half, Alex Dauksza threw TD passes, going 24 yards to Jack Nucerino and 30 yards to Jordan Leuze. That, combined with a dominant F-M defense, created a 13-0 edge at the break.
Dauksza, who completed eight of 13 passes for 108 yards, threw a third scoring pass five yards to Ben Hammond, sparking the Hornets’ late getaway as he also scored on a one-yard plunge and Will Duncanson ran 18 yards for another TD.
As F-M regrouped, Bishop Grimes, overwhelmed by defending eight-man sectional champion Weedsport on Sept. 27, rebounded with a big point effort on Homecoming against Morrisville-Eaton.
At Sunnycrest Field, Christian Brothers Academy went in search of its first win of 2019, but could not hold an early lead in a 24-14 defeat to the Henninger Black Knights.
A pair of turnovers by Henninger led to touchdowns for the Brothers in the first quarter and a 14-0 edge, but it was another turnover that turned the game in the Black Knights’ favor.
Xzavier Lewis returning an interception 30 yards for a TD cut CBA’s lead to 14-7 by halftime, and Gavin Cook threw a pair of scoring passes in the third quarter, including a 73-yard strike to Lewis and a 24-yard pass to Gabriel Murphy. Eh Hser Ku Moo’s 25-yard field goal in the final period helped seal it.
