Whatever turmoil and struggles that the Christian Brothers Academy football team had faced so far in 2014 would feel more tolerable if it could muster a win against unbeaten Liverpool last Friday night at Alibrandi Stadium.
And for three periods, all looked to be good – but late in the fourth quarter, the Warriors came to life and, with a pair of scoring drives and clutch defensive play, knocked off the Brothers 19-16 to take control of the Class AA-1 division race.
They entered that final period with CBA out in front, 16-6. Not only was Liverpool’s attack sputtering, it had just surrendered a safety to a Brothers defense bent on atonement after giving up 50 points to Corcoran in its last home game two weeks earlier.
Early in the quarter, CBA threatened to get away, driving to the Warriors’ 13-yard line. At just that moment, though, the Warriors made a vital stop, took over on downs, and began to assert its own will.
And that meant plenty of carries for Liverpool’s star tailback, Jaydakis Scott. Coming off a 309-yard, five-touchdown efforts against Cicero-North Syracuse in a 39-12 win on Sept. 25, Scott had mostly struggled on this night, but now, on this drive, he managed 40 yards on four carries.
That, mixed in with some timely passes from Nick Sisto, got the Warriors moving, and when Scott scored on a 16-yard run with 5:31 to play, the margin was 16-12.
Now it was the Warriors’ defense taking its turn. With terrific pursuits, Liverpool forced CBA into a three-and-out, and the ensuing punt put the ball on the Warriors’ 25 with 3:45 left.
Nothing fancy was done here. Again, the Warriors’ offensive line pushed aside the Brothers’ front four, giving Scott and Audey Ashkar room to run – which they did, the ball gradually moving inside the CBA 10-yard line in the final minute.
It was Scott going the final 13 yards for the touchdown with 52.9 seconds left, and the extra point gave the Warriors a three-point margin. Though CBA had time to answer, Joe Scro snuffed it out, intercepting Jake Brotzki’s pass to seal a big Liverpool win.
The meaning of this game went beyond the standings, of course. CBA had drilled Liverpool last fall in the sectional Class AA semifinals, and the returning Warriors remembered the pain of that defeat and falling just short (again) of getting to the Carrier Dome for the title game.
But the standings did matter, too, for if CBA won, it would create a three-way tie atop the Class AA-1 division with these two teams, plus Corcoran. Liverpool wanted to avoid that scenario.
Scott’s first TD had come in the opening period on a 15-yard run after CBA’s Andre Dowdell put his team on the board with an eight-yard scoring run.
A missed conversion kept the Brothers in front, 7-6, and that lead grew to 14-6 when Dowdell went 18 yards for a TD in the second quarter.
That was the last time CBA would reach the end zone, though. Liverpool’s defense made sure that Dowdell (who had 126 yards on 15 carries) and fellow back Stevie Scott (113 yards on 18 carries) didn’t find open space outside, keeping them from big gains. Just in time, Scott and the Warriors’ offense would reward that effort.
All of this provided a theme similar to the struggles of Fayetteville-Manlius, which continued last Thursday night as red-hot Auburn, claiming its fourth victory in a row, utilized a well-balanced attack to defeat the Hornets 35-7.
Auburn took charge with 21 first-half points. Two of the Maroons’ touchdowns came from Justin Valentino passes – 39 yards to Trevor Ash, 10 yards to Seth Lewis – that put his team in command.
Once in front, Auburn depended more on its ground game, and F-M’s defense could not do much to stop it. Nasir Smith notched a pair of TD runs, one of them a 21-yard jaunt, while Mike Charles scored from six yards out.
F-M would not find much relief in trying to break its skid Friday against 5-0, state Class A no. 6-ranked Indian River, while CBA would need to beat visiting West Genesee (3-2) on its Senior Night if it wanted to move up the Class AA-1 division standings.
