True, the toughest tests and most important games still await the Baldwinsville football team as the calendar moves from September to October.
But the Bees go there in top form, having won 15 straight games over Class AA opponents, the latest of those wins a 56-14 pasting of Nottingham Friday night at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium that was entirely accomplished on the ground.
B’ville, no. 3 in the state Class AA rankings, never threw a pass all night – and did not need to. Behind the massive line of Jake Margery, Nick Robinson, Matt Moreland, Ryland Jennings and Tom Tanguay, the Bees accumulated 446 rushing yards.
And for the second week in a row, sophomore tailback Tyler Rouse took over. He carried the ball 26 times, earning 278 yards, an average of better than 10 yards per carry, and had a career-best five touchdowns.
During a 21-0 first-quarter blitz, Rouse twice found the end zone, on runs of 46 and three yards. In between, fullback Parker Kiff, back after missing the Bees’ Sept. 17 win over Liverpool due to injury, scored on a 16-yard run.
Even when the Bulldogs got on the board in the second quarter on Marty Clanton’s 28-yard TD pass to Jamar Adams and Charles Gary’s two-point conversion, the Bees continued its ground attack and continued to accumulate points.
Rouse struck for his third and fourth TDs of the night, on runs of 24 and six yards, and Ben Paprocki chimed in with a three-yard scoring run that made it 42-8 going into halftime.
Not wanting to be left out, B’ville’s defense got a touchdown in the third quarter as Collin Twombly returned a Clanton interception 20 yards for a score – this after Rouse got his fifth TD on a 32-yard sprint.
B’ville’s most important game so far will come Friday, at 6:30, when Rome Free Academy arrives at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
The Black Knights are 3-1, its only loss a 24-21, non-league decision to Utica Proctor, and are coming off a 21-7 win over Cicero-North Syracuse. RFA has size and strength everywhere on its roster – just like B’ville, so it promises to be physical.