On the first two days of October, all four of the city’s Class AA high school football teams were facing each other – and the best of them remained unblemished in advance of its most important game of the season.
Corcoran made it 5-0 by dominating the second half of Saturday’s game at Henninger’s Sunnycrest Park, prevailing 27-7 over the Black Knights. This came just after Nottingham improved to 2-3 on the season with a hard-fought 26-21 victory over Fowler.
The fact that it was playing Henninger made sure that the Cougars could not possibly look ahead to its showdown with unbeaten Fayetteville-Manlius. A rough first half would further enforce that point.
Three times, Corcoran would turn the ball over, including a fumble and a pair of interceptions thrown by Shakem Buckmon. Henninger’s Darryl Mercer had that fumble recovery, plus one of the interceptions, as Shakim Clark got an interception of his own just before halftime.
Offensively, Henninger probed with short runs and did little with it until late in the first quarter, just after Mercer’s interception. From the Cougars’ 43-yard line, Eryc Dykes threw a short pass over the middle that Chris Hicks grabbed in full stride, and Hicks sprinted up the middle all the way to the end zone. Andres Abadie’s extra point made it 7-0.
Corcoran did hang on to the ball once in the second quarter, putting together a 53-yard drive. Chao Porch’s 23-yard run got it going, and from the Black Knights’ 12 Buckmon scrambled left, escaped trouble and found Anthony Heard in the end zone. Calvin Corriders added the PAT, and it was 7-7 going into halftime.
It didn’t take long in the third quarter for the Cougars to assume control, helped by a dropped Henninger punt snap that put Corcoran on the Black Knights’ 15. Porch scored a few plays later, putting his team in front for good.
A fierce Corcoran defense led to another punt, and the Cougars followed up with a methodical march, 40 yards that ate up more than six minutes until Jeremy Derby scored from the one in the final seconds of the period. Buckmon’s two-point run made it 21-7.
Henninger could not move the ball anywhere in the second half, and the Cougars’ defense sealed its dominance with Porch getting an interception, then scoring on a 27-yard run in the closing minutes. On the offensive side, Jerry Adams led the way with 82 rushing yards.
So the Corcoran-F-M clash is set, with the game to start at 7 p.m. The Hornets have outscored its five opponents 206-56, while the Cougars have beaten its foes a combined 175-34. Even if Corcoran wins here, it still might have to beat Utica Proctor on Oct. 15 to get the league title outright.
Fowler, by contrast, had a more modest goal in mind when it played Nottingham – to get a victory after a winless September. But the Bulldogs wouldn’t even give them that much satisfaction.
Marty Clanton’s big night began for Nottingham when he ran 16 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, but his opposite number for Fowler, Kelvin Amparo, would push his team in front.
First, Amparo ran 11 yards for a TD, and Daquan Coleman’s two-point run gave the Falcons an 8-6 lead. Early in the second quarter, Amparo threw a 12-yard scoring pass to Markeem Chaplin, followed by Darrius Hayden’s extra point.
Now trailing 15-6, the Bulldogs got some key points before halftime when Clanton, from the Falcons’ 25, threw deep and found Kaseem Mitchell in the end zone. Clanton hit Charles Gary for two points, cutting the deficit to 15-14 as the two sides went to the break.
The Bulldogs seized the lead for good in the third quarter as Clanton threw his second TD pass, 12 yards to Phil McCarthy. Another scoring drive followed early in the final period, and Clanton capped it off with a five-yard scoring run to make it 26-15.
Fowler battled to the end, Amparo running 11 yards for another TD to cut the margin to five, but Nottingham held on from there.
Also on Saturday, Institute of Technology Central saw its record fall to 2-3 when it took a 43-0 loss to Pulaski. The Eagles are still 2-2 in Class C West division play, carrying faint playoff hopes as it meets Altmar-Parish-Williamstown this weekend.
Other city games feature Henninger going to West Genesee (with the winner likely to reach the Class AA playoffs), Nottingham hosting Liverpool (another game with major playoff implications) and Fowler going to Utica Proctor.
