They streamed onto the field in the hundreds, Fayetteville-Manlius students joining the football players in one joyous celebration Friday night on turf churned into mud by heavy rain and heavy activity.
All this for a team with a 1-4 record – but that one win was quite sweet.
Ignoring the wet conditions, and overcoming a two-touchdown halftime deficit, the Hornets stunned defending Section III Class AA champion Henninger 29-22, taking over in the second half with a potent combination of physical running and ferocious defense.
F-M just wanted to forget the month of September – four games, four defeats, 193 points allowed. Star backs like Malik Burks (Baldwinsville), Ismail Brooks (Auburn) and Greg Bell (Liverpool) had run the Hornets ragged.
October brought a chance at redemption. Even with an 0-4 mark, the Hornets could still make a run at the Class AA playoffs – but it had to first beat Henninger, nursing its own 2-2 mark and its own need to win to avoid post-season uncertainty.
In front of a massive Homecoming crowd on Senior Night, the start looked too familiar – and bleak – to F-M fans. Henninger moved through the rain and twice scored on short runs by Langston Lambert, seizing a 16-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Mike O’Neil offered an answer, throwing a 34-yard TD pass to Ari Waffle to cut the deficit to 16-8, and it looked like the Hornets’ defense had made a key stop as the game rolled toward halftime.
But on the last play of the half, Henninger quarterback Shawn Bryant rolled right and threw to the end zone – finding Cole King for an 18-yard scoring strike as the clock showed 0:00.
Such a play, which put F-M down 22-8 at the break, can do two things to a team already in the midst of major struggles. It can be destructive – or it can be a rallying point.
For the Hornets, it was the latter. From the second-half kickoff onward, F-M exerted its will on Henninger, mostly through long scoring drives where running back Kyle Greer slogged through the mud, on his way to 156 yards on 27 carries.
It was Greer scoring on a three-yard run in the third quarter, cutting it to 22-15. Then O’Neil returned for his biggest pass of the night, a 29-yard scoring pass to Mike Lee that, combinedwith Zach Tavolaro’s extra point, tied the game 22-22 going into the fourth quarter.
Greer’s second TD, on a five-yard run early in the fourth quarter, pushed F-M out in front. And even though Henninger made a stand near its goal line with less than five minutes left to stay alive, F-M made two more defensive stops – and the celebration was underway.
For F-M to guarantee a playoff spot, it will have to win both of its last two games, starting with next Friday’s trip to Utica Proctor. Game time is 7 p.m. The Raiders are also 1-4, following a 33-20 loss to Corcoran.
