Jaydakis Scott personally made sure that the Liverpool football team was not ceding local bragging rights to Cicero-North Syracuse – at least not in 2014, anyway.
Scott’s breathtaking effort – 309 yards on 26 carries, five touchdowns – helped the Warriors roll past the Northstars 39-12 Friday night at a jam-packed LHS Stadium and maintain possession of the “Star Wars” Cup for another 12 months.
Whether it was toss sweeps, straight hand-offs or direct snaps in “Wildcat” formations, Scott kept finding room, kept making big gains – and kept finding the end zone as Liverpool built a 19-0 first-half lead and would never get caught.
“There was a lot of hype for this game, but we just came out and played well,” said Scott.
Liverpool head coach Dave Mancuso said that this was his team’s most complete effort of the season, something that was encouraging, especially with a big showdown next Friday against defending Section III Class AA champion CBA at Alibrandi Stadium looming.
The buzz for this particular chapter of the Liverpool-C-NS rivalry was louder than in seasons past, given the Warriors’ 3-0 start and the Northstars entering the game with a 2-1 mark.
Much of the game was billed as a duel between C-NS’s high-scoring offense and a Liverpool defense that had not given up a point since a second-quarter touchdown against Corocran in the Sept. 5 opener – a span of 10 consecutive periods without anyone getting on the board against the Warriors.
And in the opening minutes, with C-NS driving straight down the field to Liverpool’s 10-yard line, it looked like the shutout streak would end. But a fumbled snap by quarterback Dom Fiorini got pounced on by Warriors defensive end Robert Newman at the 11.
What followed was a game-defining, 14-play, 89-yard drive that covered more than six minutes of clock. Thirteen of those plays were runs (all except Matt Sala’s 30-yard pass to Joe Scro), with both Scott and Audey Ashkar making big gains before Ashkar went the final two yards to give Liverpool a 7-0 lead.
From there, Scott really took over. Of course, he had help from an offensive line that, from start to finish, proved more physical than their C-NS counterparts.
From center Ben Widas to guards Zach Mentel and Jeremiah Ferrante to tackles David Carnie, Alex Donegal and Marcus Cooke, the Warriors’ front pushed the Northstars around.
“They opened up some big holes for us,” said Mancuso. “We didn’t have that all the time in our earlier games.”
Scott took full advantage of the space, going 29 yards for his first TD of the night in the waning seconds of the first quarter. Then, as the half wound down, Scott took his first direct snap from the Northstars’ 25 and was barely touched on his way to the end zone.
Up 19-0 at halftime, Liverpool’s shutout streak finally ended when C-NS recovered a Warriors fumble early in the third quarter and drove 74 yards to a TD, scored on Nick Golembieski’s two-yard run.
A mere 16 seconds later, though, the Warriors restored its margin thanks to another of those direct snaps that Scott took down the left side of the field, not caught until he had gone 66 yards for a TD.
Though C-NS would cut its deficit to 26-12 with Fiorini’s nine-yard TD pass to Jordan Schafer, the Warriors put the game away with Scott going six yards for another score at the end of the third quarter and with yet another direct snap that Scott took 44 yards for his final points of the night.
Just as impressive as the Warriors’ offense was the way its defense never let the dangerous Golembieski break any long runs. A combination of speed and toughness helped the Warriors easily preserve its hold on this big rivalry, and dream of bigger things ahead.
While Liverpool gets its shot at CBA, the Northstars finally return home and christen the new turf at Bragman Stadium against unbeaten, state Class AA no. 12-ranked Henninger Friday night.
