Those were seven long days for the Christian Brothers Academy football team, with constant reminders of the 50 points Corcoran had scored on them Sept. 19 at Alibrandi Stadium, leaving a 1-2 mark and all kinds of questions of where this season was headed.
At least for one game, things quieted down as the Brothers went east on Friday night, to Rome Free Academy, and put together a 51-20 victory over the Black Knights to jump right back into the Class AA-1 division race.
At 2-1 in league play, the Brothers will host unbeaten Liverpool next Friday, with the winner taking charge of the league title race. To make that happen, though, CBA first had to reassert itself against a Black Knights squad still in search of its first win of 2014.
It started modestly, with Gavin Collins scoring the lone touchdown of the first quarter on a two-yard run, but the game broke open when the Brothers tagged RFA for 18 unanswered points in the second period.
Andre Dowdell found the end zone from 12 yards out, and then CBA’s defense, battered by Corcoran, offered a big play of its own by forcing a fumble to thwart a Black Knights drive and seeing Daryl Nixon return that fumble 74 yards for six points.
As if one big play wasn’t enough, the Brothers offered a back-breaking play when Noah Jordan-Williams, fielding a punt at his own six-yard line, wove through RFA tacklers and took off, 94 yards to the other end zone. That made it 25-0 going into halftime
Stevie Scott took over in the third quarter, finding the end zone on runs of 54 and 32 yards. And he added a third TD on a four-yard run as Scott finished with 165 yards on 10 carries. DeAndre Dowdell broke free on a 69-yard scoring run late in the game.
But while CBA recovered, Fayetteville-Manlius again struggled against a top-flight opponent, going to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium and taking a 39-6 defeat to unbeaten, state Class AA no. 20-ranked Baldwinsville.
F-M put up a decent effort and kept the game close for much of the first half, only to get worn down by B’ville’s fine all-around play and the work of its top running back, Cameron Skipworth.
Skipworth got his team on the board, scoring the lone points of the first quarter on a 49-yard touchdown run that, with Tom Scarfino’s conversion, had B’ville in front 7-0.
A wild sequence in the second period would prove decisive. F-M was forced to punt deep in its own end and Skipworth, taking the ball on the Hornets’ 40, would return it for his second TD.
Seconds later, Jeff Martin answered with his own kick return to the end zone, making it 13-6, but B’ville promptly went on another scoring march that Skipworth finished with a 15-yard jaunt to the end zone, and it was 19-6 going into halftime.
Any doubts were erased by the Bees scoring twice in the third quarter, including Skipworth’s fourth TD on a 20-yard run and a score from Sam Mahar, but it was Josh Smith offering the exclamation point by dashing 69 yards to the end zone in the final period.
Meanwhile, B’ville’s defense constantly put pressure on the Hornets, sacking quarterback Jared Shaw four times in in the first half, and also consistently containing the ground game, too.
F-M is back home on Friday to face Auburn, who lost to B’ville in its Sept. 5 opener, but has rebounded with three straight wins to enter Class AA-2 division contention.
