While the Section III football playoffs officially begin this weekend, it’s already been going on for the Henninger Black Knights for two full weeks.
When the Black Knights came off the field following its stunning defeat to 0-4 Fayetteville-Manlius on Oct. 2, it knew it had to turn things around, or it would not get a chance to defend its Class AA title.
And even when Henninger knocked off Class AA-2 division leader Auburn 30-19 on Oct. 9, it still wasn’t safe. Only a victory on Saturday over Utica Proctor at Sunnycrest Field would insure the Black Knights a place in the post-season.
Perhaps getting accustomed to high-pressure settings, the Black Knights came through, romping past the Raiders 52-22 to earn a spot against Liverpool in Friday night’s opening round at the Carrier Dome.
Remarkably, Henninger’s point total came after a scoreless first quarter and the fact that Proctor got on the board first, with Brad Jones throwing a 23-yard touchdown pass to Matt Freeman.
Henninger answered with Shawn Bryant’s own TD toss, 35 yards to Cole King. After Proctor built the margin to 14-6, though, the Black Knights took charge.
Twice, Henninger would find the end zone with long drives and short TD runs — a two-yard plunge by Langston Lambert, then a one-yard run by Reggie Robinson. In both cases, Bryant followed up with two-point passes to Tom Wilson, and with that, the Black Knights took a 22-14 lead to the break.
Not stopping there, Henninger added two more touchdowns in the third quarter, moving at will against Proctor’s defense. Bryant hit Wilson 22 yards for one score, and Robinson added his second TD on a one-yard run.
Still, Henninger only led 38-22 going into the fourth quarter, where it finally pulled away. Bryant finished off a 267-yard passing day by going deep for scoring passes of 46 yards (to Wilson) and 35 yards (to King), and the Black Knights were playoff-bound.
Corcoran is also going to the AA playoffs — but it wanted to go there as outright AA-2 division champs. That was before the Cougars ventured to Auburn’s Holland Stadium last Friday, and everything seemed to go wrong in a 54-14 loss to the Maroons.
Auburn bolted out to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter and pulled away with 28 points in the fourth quarter, in no small part due to the Cougars proving quite generous, committing a season-worst seven turnovers to set up many of those points.
This more than negated the fact that Corcoran held Auburn’s star running back, Ismail Brooks, to a season-low 154 yards on 22 carries. Brooks still had four touchdowns, though, one of them a 45-yard pass from Dave Jacobs.
Corcoran’s only points came on TD runs by Jerry Adams in the first and fourth periods. Something more than that might be required if the Cougars want to beat Cicero-North Syracuse in Friday’s AA playoffs opening round. Game time is 6 p.m.
Nottingham is going to the Class A playoffs, but had a shot at a first-round home game Friday night at East Syracuse-Minoa before taking a 56-37 loss to the Spartans.
Though able to make lots of big plays on ESM’s defense, the Bulldogs’ biggest mistake was spotting the Spartans a 14-0 lead through Tyler Johnson’s short TD run and a 39-yard scoring pass to Bobby Campese.
From that point forward, Nottingham spent lots of time moving the ball and finding the end zone. Jawan Simmons ran for two TD’s in the first half, then threw for three more in the second half, all on passes of 25 yards or longer, two of them to Sean Adams.
Yet even when Simmons came up with something big — say, a 61-yard TD pass to Kyle Agnew in the third quarter — ESM would answer, in this case Ken Cannon returning the ensuing kickoff 77 yards for six points. The Spartans’ star running back, Dustin Moss, added 186 yards on the ground.
Nottingham, as the fourth-place finisher in the Class A American division, has to visit unbeaten, state no. 4-ranked New Hartford in Friday night’s opening round.
Fowler could not get into the playoffs, and its regular season ended last Friday at home with a 50-26 loss to Indian River.
It was 22-0 before the Falcons got on the board, as Markeen Chaplin returned a fumble 50 yards for a TD. That, plus Kelvin Amparo’s 55-yard scoring pass to London Odister, helped Fowler pull within 22-12.
But the Warriors didn’t let Fowler get closer, as Andre Green scored three times in the third quarter on runs of 54 and 16 yards, plus a 73-yard kick return after Amparo got Fowler’s second defensive TD on a 65-yard fumble return. Amparo also threw a 65-yard scoring pass to Josh Cruz.
Fowler will play Camden in a crossover game Wednesday night at 6:30 on the Corcoran turf, two days before the Cougars’ playoff game with CNS.
