Injuries at key spots, along with poor performances, had followers of the Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy football teams concerned in ways far beyond the losses they took in their respective season openers at the Carrier Dome.
By the time their second games were done, though, the concerns had abated – at least for another week, anyway.
F-M, minus senior quarterback Jake Wittig, returned home and, with sophomore Henry Josephson running the show, put away visiting Utica Proctor 41-19, while CBA, making a visit to its neighbors from Nottingham, had no trouble at all on its way to a 51-6 victory.
In the case of the Hornets, the issues went beyond the fact that Wittig, who injured his shoulder in the Dome during his team’s 42-28 defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse, would miss an unknown amount of time. F-M also had a defense that wanted to atone for giving up 306 rushing yards and six touchdowns to the Northstars’ Nick Golembieski.
And it would have to bounce back against a Utica Proctor side that had handled Fowler 51-16 in its Sept. 5 opener, though the Raiders soon found that the Hornets, back in front of a home crowd and determined to prove that it wasn’t a one-man show, was still a formidable side.
Josephson quickly proved he could handle the offense, moving his team to the Raiders’ one-yard line in the first quarter and scoring the TD himself. And even when Proctor’s Jamarious Morgan answered with a 35-yard scoring run, the Hornets maintained its poise.
And in the second quarter, F-M put Proctor away with 28 points. Josephson, who threw an interception that the Raiders returned for six points, also managed a pair of scoring passes, going three yards to Matt Stegemann for one TD and 39 yards to Jeff Martin for another.
In addition to occasional pass-catching duties, Martin settled in to his role as the Hornets’ top tailback, picking up 115 yards on 21 carries, most of them on a single TD run of 65 yards that was part of that second-period outburst.
Even the defense joined in on the scoring, Anthony Nucerino pouncing on a Raiders fumble and returning it 41 yards for a TD, all part of an effort that created a 35-13 halftime lead for the Hornets.
Kyle McGee would score on a one-yard plunge in the third quarter for F-M’s last points of the night, finishing with 55 yards on the ground on nine carries to help Martin as Matt Truman added 63 yards on eight carries.
At CBA, the concerns following a 20-13 loss to Henninger Sept. 5 at the Dome were a bit different, especially on defense, where top linebacker Kane Alletzhauser was out for the season with a broken arm and dislocated shoulder.
But against Nottingham, who had moved up from Class A this fall and had beaten Rome Free Academy 40-35 in a wild Sept. 4 opener, the Brothers quickly found the form that has proven so devastating for opponents through the years.
It all started with a 16-play, seven-minute drive in the first quarter that ended with sophmore DeAndre Dowdell scoring on a four-yard scoring pass from Josh Brown.
And Dowdell was far from done. During the second quarter, CBA notched two more scoring drives, and Dowdell punctuated both of them with touchdowns, one on a six-yard run following a muffed Nottingham punt, the other on a 21-yard sprint that involved cuts which left defenders gasping at air.
Even when Nottingham cut its deficit to 21-6 late in the half, the Brothers didn’t flinch. Instead, the defense tackled Bulldog quarterback Jevon Jones in the end zone for a safety that extended the margin to 23-6 going to the break.
Stevie Scott had a big night, carrying the ball 18 times for 161 yards. Scott joined in during the third quarter, taking off on a 24-yard scoring run. Brown and Logan Wilcox both added one-yard scoring plunges, and the Brothers’ defense struck when Lincoln McGarrity returned a fumble 65 yards for a TD in the fourth quarter.
The Brothers come back to Alibrandi Stadium next Friday for its home opener against Corcoran, who are 1-1 following a 48-7 romp over RFA. F-M, meanwhile, faces 2-0 Henninger, their first meeting since the Black Knights beat the Hornets in last fall’s Section III Class AA semifinal.
