When paired together Friday night as part of the annual Kickoff Classic in the Carrier Dome, the Fayetteville-Manlius football team outscored East Syracuse-Minoa.
The only problem was that they were playing different opponents – and had far different outcomes.
In the Spartans’ case, a large point total was plenty, as it rolled past Section VI representative West Seneca West 40-15. As for the Hornets, it put up enough against defending Section IV champion Corning to win just about any other game, but still lost to the Hawks in a wild 62-50 shootout.
ESM took its turn first on the Carrier Dome, a place it fully expects to return to in two months’ time. The Spartans, with most of its starters back from 2010, are considered one of the odds-on Section III Class A favorites, and did little against West Seneca West to dispel that notion.
In an otherwise scoreless opening period, quarterback Tyler Johnson broke loose for a 40-yard touchdown run, the appetizer for a second period where it would bash West Seneca West for 21 points.
Jordan Barton got it started, with a two-yard scoring run. Then Johnson went to the air, finding All-Central New York wide receiver Bobby Campese on a 56-yard scoring strike to answer the Indians’ only touchdown of the half.
Johnson, who was nine-for-12 for 191 yards through the air, connected his second TD pass, this one 26 yards to Buddy Frigon, and ESM took a 28-7 lead to the half.
During the third quarter, Johnson and Mike Gorney connected on a 15-yard TD pass to make it 34-7, and tailback Jeff McDuffie capped it off with a 60-yard scoring run in the final period.
All game long, Campese put his multiple skills on display. He caught five of Johnson’s nine passes for 108 yards, converted three extra points, and went over to defense to make an interception and record 10 tackles.
As soon as this game was done, F-M hit the field, ready to take its shot at Corning, but quickly realizing that the defense, so great in its 8-1 campaign of 2010, had a whole lot of work to do.
During a long first half filled with big plays on both ends, F-M scored six touchdowns – and still trailed 42-36 at the break. No play was bigger than the first score of the night.
The Hornets had Corning pinned on its own three-yard line, but Tanner Morse tore through a hole in the F-M defense and went 97 yards for a touchdown, all part of an effort where he picked up 200 yards on 16 carries, four of them TD’s.
And that wasn’t all, as Corning quarterback Brandon Griffin added 177 yards on the ground and three scores, while fullback Zach Moore had 126 yards, including the one-yard score in the fourth quarter that gave the Hawks more of a cushion.
In his first varsity start, F-M’s junior quarterback, Wolfgang Shafer, did not disappoint. He completed 11 passes for 266 yards, including scoring strikes of 38 and 56 yards to Austin Perez and a 13-yard TD pass to Ryan Simmons. To balance it out, Andrew Fletcher managed a career-best 182 yards on the ground, including TD runs of 52 and 11 yards.
Somehow, F-M has to find its defense again before a rugged Class AA-2 division opener next Friday at Utica Proctor at 6:30. The Raiders rallied past Corcoran 29-28 to start its season and remembers that the Hornets gave Proctor its only league defeat a year ago.
As for ESM, it makes a long trip to the north country to face Carthage, who took out New Hartford 28-18 in its season opener. Game time is 7 p.m.
