Once 0-2, the Baldwinsville football team had used back-to-back wins over West Genesee and Rome Free Academy to climb back to the .500 mark. More importantly, it shared first place in the Class AA-2 division.
To get to the top alone, though, the Bees had to turn back undefeated, state no. 17-ranked Utica Proctor Friday night at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, something it could not do as the Raiders got away in the second half to prevail 34-17.
B’ville was short-handed going into the game, without its top running back, Mike Letizia, and his presence would be missed even more on the defensive side since, at linebacker, he is consistently one of the Bees’ leading tacklers.
With or without Letizia in the lineup, B’ville had improved its passing game thanks to senior quarterback Braden McCard, and he generated the Bees’ first points in the opening period with a 30-yard scoring pass to Pat May.
Yet it was anther pass that proved costly when Proctor’s Bryce McLean returned a McCard interception 41 yards for a touchdown. That kept the Raiders close despite May’s TD and a 30-yard field goal.
Proctor began to take charge in the second quarter with a trio of drives, with running back Taesean Cooper as the driving force. All told, Cooper would gain 189 yards on 20 carries, nearing the 1,000-yard mark for the season.
Cooper scored on runs of three and two yards in that second period, and his gains set up Brandon Peterson’s seven-yard TD pass to Zhani James. Thus, even with McCard’s nine-yard scoring pass to Dan Fabrizio (he finished 10-for-16 for 153 yards), B’ville trailed 28-17 at halftime.
And the Bees were unable to do much in the second half against the Raiders’ defense. In particular, Proctor kept B’ville’s runners in check, Willie Strong held to 86 yards on 23 carries, and it added a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.
May, aside from all of his contributions on offense, also earned a team-best 10 tackles on the defensive side. Dan Ewald had six tackles, with Nate Robinson and Jayden Nanna each getting five tackles as Robinson and Dan Fabrizio earned fumble recoveries.
B’ville is now tied with Cicero-North Syracuse for second place in AA-2, both with 2-1 records. The Bees and Northstars face each other next Friday at Pelcher-Arcaro at 6:30, with the winner likely to get a first-round home game in the Section III playoffs.
