Twelve minutes remained in the Christian Brothers Academy football team’s game at Central Square on Friday night, and the notion of the Brothers not making the Section III Class AA playoffs, once an astonishing consideration, was inching closer to cold reality.
Just in time, though, the Brothers saved its season with a fourth-quarter surge that included 19 unanswered points and a series of timely defensive plays that helped produce a 33-20 victory over the Red Hawks.
Having finished third in the AA-1 division, CBA will face the second-place finisher in AA-2, Baldwinsville, Friday night at 6:30 at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium in the opening round of the sectional playoffs, with the winner to face Liverpool or West Genesee in next weekend’s semifinals.
Even with its 48-6 romp over West Genesee on Oct. 10 at Alibrandi Stadium, CBA, at 3-2 in Class AA-2 division play, was not completely safe for the post-season. Only a win over Central Square, who had a 2-3 league mark, would guarantee a berth for the defending sectional champions.
It started out as if the Brothers would keep on rolling, thanks to a pair of first-quarter scoring drives. Jack Brotzki, getting more comfortable in his quarterback’s role for CBA, capped one drive with a 27-yard scoring pass to Andre Dowdell, and Stevie Scott got a second touchdown on an eight-yard run.
Central Square, who had scored plenty in a 56-50 win over Rome Free Academy the week before, would not stay quiet for long, hitting on a pair of big plays.
First, Dom Godici went deep and found Nick Myers on a 67-yard scoring pass. Then, in the second quarter, Myers, from his own 41, took a handoff and tore through the Brothers’ defenses on a 59-yard dash to the end zone, adding the two-point conversion.
So it went to halftime tied, 14-14, and maintaining its momentum, the Red Hawks moved out in front during the third quarter with a solid defense that kept thwarting the Brothers, plus a scoring drive that netted Myers’ third TD, a six-yard pass to Mitch Vincentini.
As the fourth quarter began, CBA trailed 20-14, but that deficit vanished when Scott, who has turned into a force in the ground game late this season, broke free on a 34-yard TD run that tied it, 20-20.
Then Dowdell took over. The Brothers moved to Central Square’s 15-yard line, from where Dowdell sprinted to the end zone for his second TD of the night.
Andrew Kolceski’s extra point made it 27-20, and after another CBA defensive stop, Dowdell found the end zone again on a 50-yard run that all but clinched it. He finished with 123 yards on 13 carries, while Scott managed 74 yards on nine carries.
Unlike CBA, Fayetteville-Manlius is not going to the sectional playoffs, but it did find one more bright moment on Friday in a 41-22 victory over Fowler at Corcoran High School’s turf.
For a half, it was tight, Fowler erasing the lead the Hornets had gained on Jeff Martin’s three-yard TD run when Pat Myers scored in the second quarter for 62 yards out.
Jared Shaw countered with a 41-yard scoring pass to Matt Truman, but when Myers threw deep and found Chris Melchoir on 44-yard TD connection, the Falcons, 0-6 going into the game, had tied it up, 14-14, going into halftime.
Mad at this, F-M took control with 20 unanswered points in the third quarter. Shaw fired his second scoring pass, 11 yards to David Stegemann, and Martin earned his second TD on a 10-yard run. Jackson Delmarsh capped off the run, giving the Hornets a defensive touchdown when he returned a fumble 32 yards for six points.
Delmarsh added another TD in the fourth quarter, while the Hornets’ defense settled down and blanked Fowler until Myers threw a late 76-yard scoring pass to Melchoir in the waning minutes.
