Just as planned, the East Syracuse-Minoa football team has maneuvered its way to the top of the Class A American division, while Jamesville-DeWitt goes into October still in search of its first win in 2014.
The Spartans went to Cortland Friday night and, propelled by a big first half, rolled past the Purple Tigers 40-12, while the Red Rams lost at home to defending Section III Class A champion Carthage 40-18.
It hasn’t taken long for ESM to shake off an 0-2 start that included defeats to Vestal and Indian River. Now, having beaten J-D 41-0 the week before, the Spartans nearly matched that point total in the first half and quickly put away Cortland.
RiQuelle Othman provided the spark with a big first quarter. Three times, ESM had the ball in that period, and every time it found the end zone, with Othman scoring on touchdown runs of six, 36 and 20 yards, in that order.
That produced a 20-0 lead, but the Spartans were far from content. Brandon Breen scored on a one-yard sneak and threw a 30-yard TD pass to Brandon Santillo, while Fred Johnson chimed in with a 29-yard sprint to the end zone.
All of this helped ESM build a 40-0 halftime lead, and while Cortland did score twice in the fourth quarter, it came against the the Spartans’ reserves, with the game out of reach.
Back at J-D, the Red Rams were facing a Carthage side determined to bounce back from a 42-20 defeat to Indian River on Sept. 19 in the rematch of last fall’s sectional final.
With a large home crowd on hand, J-D thrilled them when Joe Murphy found Ben Wipper on a 70-yard TD pass in the first quarter, giving everyone a brief glimpse of optimism.
But then Josh Capers took over for Carthage. Just as Othman did against Cortland, Capers found the end zone on runs off 11, 69 and 48 yards, wearing out the Red Rams’ defenses for the rest of the evening.
That created a 20-6 margin, and though J-D contained Carthage the rest of the half, things blew open in the third quarter when Capers scored for the fourth time on a 10-yard run and got his fifth TD on a 75-yard dash.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Rams got on the board again, with Murphy scoring on a two-yard run and Jhakeer Jamison finding the end zone from five yards out. Ernest Shaw led J-D with 106 rushing yards on 11 carries.
J-D would get its chance against Cortland next Friday, while ESM, after its third win in a row, pays a visit to Oswego.
