Right at the moment the ball settled in Ryan Courtwright’s hands, the Fayetteville-Manlius football team punched its unlikely ticket to the Section III Class AA playoffs.
Courtwright’s overtime interception proved the climactic moment in the Hornets’ 28-21 win over West Genesee Friday night at Wildcat Stadium in Camillus.
By winning, F-M, who started 0-4, ended up as the fourth seed from the Class AA-2 division, which means a first-round AA playoff date at unbeaten Baldwinsville.
The defeat also completed a stunning fall by West Genesee. State champions in 2007 and a sectional finalist last fall, the Wildcats now find itself out of the playoffs after a 1-6 regular season where it lost three times by a touchdown or less.
Fittingly, the F-M game fit into that category, a contest where both teams had leads it could not hold on to, and 48 minutes did not prove enough to settle things.
The exchanges began early. F-M seized a 7-0 lead on Kyle Greer’s one-yard touchdown run, but WG responded with its own scoring drive and Connor Zeman throwing a seven-yard scoring pass to Sirron Wright.
When Wright found the end zone a second time on a two-yard run in the second quarter, Mike Moran missed the extra point, but WG will inched ahead 13-7.
Now it was the Hornets’ turn, with another steady march behind Greer, who had a team-best 95 yards on 18 carries. Greer’s second TD run, another one-yard plunge, tied it, and Zach Tavolaro’s extra point helped F-M go back in front 14-13, a number that held until halftime.
For a second time, the Wildcats rallied, getting the only points of the third quarter. Zeman moved his team to the Hornets’ 19, then threw to the end zone and found Moran – first for a touchdown, then again for a two-point conversion.
Deep into the fourth quarter, F-M trailed, 21-14, but one huge defensive play would change everything.
Mike O’Neil stepped in front of a Zeman pass and returned the interception 60 yards to the brink of the Wildcats’ goal line. Greer scored on the next play, his third TD of the night, and Tavolaro hit the tying PAT.
It would stay tied, 21-21, as regulation ended. In overtime, each team gets one possession on the opponent’s 20-yard line, and WG won the toss, forcing the Hornets to go first on offense.
Using pure power, F-M worked its way to the three-yard line, from where Matt Moro scored and Tavolaro converted another PAT to create a seven-point margin.
WG now had to score a touchdown, and when Zeman forced a throw to the end zone, Courtwright came up with that clinching interception.
F-M’s “reward” is a trip to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium. Led by Malik Burks (1,714 yards, 23 touchdowns), Baldwinsville has gone 7-0, including a 49-27 win over the Hornets at F-m back on Sept. 11. The winner plays Cicero-North Syracuse or Corcoran in next weekend’s semifinal round.
