Challenges surrounded the Fayetteville-Manlius football team even before it set foot in the Carrier Dome Saturday night to face Cicero-North Syracuse in the Kickoff Classic.
Now, in the wake of the Hornets’ 42-28 defeat to the Northstars, more problems need to be addressed, from a defense that allowed C-NS running back Nick Golembieski to score six touchdowns and gain 305 yards on the ground, to seeing what will happen on offense if senior quarterback Jake Wittig is sidelined.
Golembieski’s effort made everyone forget the controversy that preceded the game.
C-NS had self-reported a rules violation that took place Aug. 22. Amid the chaotic situation of moving practices to two different venues – first Central Square, and then North Syracuse Junior High School – and seeing an assistant coach get injured, coaches handed out full pads to the players, and some wore them, a day before state rules said they were supposed to.
Even though no full-contact drills took place until Aug. 23, the rules violation was reported, and Joe Sindoni, the Northstars’ head coach, had to miss the F-M game, leaving Nick Commisso to serve as interim coach for this appearance in the Dome.
But none of the players were affected, including Golembieski, who would tilt the field – and the game – in his team’s favor.
Golembieski began carving up the Hornets late in the first quarter. With C-NS trailing 7-0, and facing a fourth-down-and-one at F-M’s 24, Golembieski got the first down and then, one play later, plowed through the middle 20 yards for his first TD, though the missed conversion kept it 7-6.
C-NS proceeded to dominate the second quarter on both sides of the ball. Defensively, its front four constantly overwhelmed F-M’s offensive line and pressured Wittig into quick throws and scrambles, leading to incompletions and a handful of sacks.
Meanwhile, with C-NS’s offensive line of Jake McArdell, Jared Hemingway, Tyler Mosher, Ross Mathewson and Marcus Thompson offering the same imposing presence on its front, Golembieski burned the Hornets for three more touchdowns before halftime.
After Dom Fiorini’s 21-yard pass to Vinnie Ianuzzo on a slant, Golembieski scored on a 30-yard run midway through the period, and Fiorni found Connor Evans for two points to make it 14-7.
Then, after defensive lineman Jordan Schaefer recovered a Wittig fumble, Golembieski got his third TD on a 31-yard run just 53 seconds later. And as the half wound down, Golembieski used another 30-yard dash to set up his own two-yard plunge that, with a two-point pass from Fiorini to Keegan Wright, gave C-NS a 28-7 edge at the break.
F-M would not surrender, though. Just as the Northstars owned the second period, the Hornets controlled the third quarter, reviving on defense and putting together a pair of scoring drives.
Wittig eluded several defenders on a spectacular 30-yard scoring run that made it 28-14, and after an exchange of possessions, F-M cut the margin to 28-20 as Wittig’s 40-yard pass to Jared Shaw set up his own one-yard TD plunge.
Both sides now were engaged, but Wittig had to leave the game with an arm injury, with the left-handed Shaw replacing him at quarterback. That didn’t seem to matter much when Golembieski broke out of a brief slump and took off on a 45-yard dash to the end zone with 4:24 left, extending C-NS’s lead to 35-20.
Again, the Hornets refused to give in. Just 58 seconds later, Shaw found John Cote on a 33-yard TD pass, and then ran in for two points to make it 35-28, with enough time to catch up if it could make one defensive stop.
Just as he had done all night, though, Golembieski ran away from the Hornets’ pressure, breaking loose on the left side as he scored from 52 yards out with 2:38 left to complete his masterpiece. Darnell Rucker intercepted Shaw a minute later to seal it.
The extent of Wittig’s injury is unknown, but with or without him, F-M hosts Utica Proctor Friday night at 7 p.m. The Raiders were impressive in its opener, defeating Fowler 51-16 as seven different players scored touchdowns by night’s end, a stark contrast to the way C-NS’s Golembieski conquered the Hornets.
