To be sure, the Fayetteville-Manlius football team did not want to keep repeating the bad feeling it got from the 28-14 defeat it took to Liverpool on Sept. 21.
But since it did happen, the Hornets made sure it recovered in a timely manner, jumping all over visiting Rome Free Academy Friday night as it easily defeated the Black Knights 50-7.
Sean Bright, in particular, was back in top form. Held under 100 yards by Liverpool, the senior tailback kept finding his way to the end zone – six times in all – as F-M built a 47-0 lead through three quarters on an RFA side yet to win in 2012.
To begin his 22-carry, 221-yard effort, Bright notched three touchdowns in the first quarter alone, on runs of 19, 35 and four yards, the Hornets zooming ahead 21-0.
Twice more, F-M would find its way to the goal line in the second period – and both times, Bright finished things off, sprinting 18 yards for one TD and plunging two yards for another.
Before exiting in the third quarter, Bright tacked on one more TD on a one-yard run. Jake Wittig also enjoyed a productive evening, throwing a 41-yard scoring pass to T.J. Wheatley and kicking a 25-yard field goals, besides making five of seven extra-point attempts.
With the win, F-M improved to 2-1 in the Class AA-1 division, and 4-1 overall. In league play, Liverpool sits in first place at 3-0 after a wild 56-45 win over Utica Proctor, while the Hornets share the same league mark as Proctor and Baldwinsville, who routed Auburn 56-12.
F-M travels to Proctor next Friday night. A win there, plus one over Auburn in the regular-season finale Oct. 12, would assure, at worst, second place in the league and a first-round home playoff game. And a share of first place is still possible if the Hornets win out and Liverpool falls to B’ville next Friday.
At the other end of the spectrum was Bishop Grimes’ 49-20 home defeat to Weedsport on Saturday afternoon, which dropped the Cobras to 1-4 on the season.
Tyler Carbonaro’s 26-yard scoring pass to Casey Evans tied the game 7-7 in the first quarter. Still, the Warriors pulled away with 28 unanswered points in the second period, the key blow Malique Wright’s 30-yard interception return for a TD in the middle of that blitz.
Grimes battled to the end, as Evans broke loose for scoring runs of 21 and 69 yards in the second half, but Weedsport, who improved to 5-0 on the season, stayed well out in front. The Cobras are home again this Saturday to face Oriskany at 1 p.m.
