A nervous, shaky start by the Cicero-North Syracuse football team in 2015 was understandable. It also didn’t last too long.
Twenty-two unanswered points in the second quarter turned around the Northstars’ opener against Kingston Thursday night in the Kickoff Classic at the Carrier Dome, leading to a 35-14 victory in the first game for new head coach Dave Kline.
For his part, Kline credited the victory to a dominating effort by both the offensive and defensive lines (21 different players started for C-NS) that wore the Tigers down.
“We settled down, ran the ball and played physical,” said Kline.
Between the big plays from a young core of offensive players, to a defense that forced six Tigers turnovers, C-NS accomplished plenty – but it sure didn’t start well.
With the opening kickoff, Kingston tried a reverse, and Donte Nardi tore down the right sideline, cut to the middle of the field and didn’t stop until he was in the end zone 85 yards later.
Down 6-0 just 15 seconds into the game, C-NS looked for a quick response. Instead, it fumbled on both of its first two possessions, and needed its defense to force a turnover of its own, plus a fourth-down stop at its own 35, to keep the Tigers from getting further ahead.
“I knew that our kids were going to rebound when they faced adversity,” said Kline.
Offensively, C-NS turned to boldness late in the first quarter, twice converting on fourth downs, including a 15-yard completion to Landry Rogers at the two-yard line, setting up Vinnie Pitonzo’s one-yard scoring plunge that, combined with the extra point, put the Northstars in front 7-6.
When Nardi returned another reverse kickoff to the C-NS eight, the Tigers had a chance to reclaim the lead early in the second period, but C-NS again turned Kingston back, this time at the 11.
What followed was an offering of what the Northstars could do on the ground. Solid runs by 5-foot-6, 145-pound sophomore Erik Pride set up Pitonzo bouncing outside on third-and-short and chugging 62 yards to his second TD of the night.
Kingston finally put a scoring drive together and regained the lead, 14-13, when Tanner Davis threw a 15-yard scoring pass to Connor Reid, set up by a longer 47-yard connection from Davis to Nardi, and Brandon Albertson got the two-point conversion.
But C-NS was now moving the ball with ease on the Tigers, and Pride did most of the work on a 54-yard scoring drive, rushing for 51 yards, including the last two for the score. Conner Hayes’ two-point run had the Northstars in front 21-14, and there was still 6:31 left in the half to add to it.
Glad to do so, the Northstars forced a third turnover with a Keegan Wright interception near midfield, and a short drive that led to Pitonzo’s third TD on a one-yard plunge. And just 22.2 seconds before halftime, Hayes made it 35-14 with an 11-yard scoring pass to Wright.
Despite allowing some big plays, the Northstars’ defense added three more turnovers in the second half to prevent any Kingston comeback – one on Rogers’ juggling interception at his own 10, another on a tipped pass that Pitonzo picked off, sealing an effort where he was named the game’s MVP, running for 71 yards to complement Pride’s 145 yards on 20 carries.
What is close to a guarantee was that C-NS faces a much larger obstacle when it returns to Bragman Stadium next Friday, going up against Liverpool in the ‘Star Wars Cup’ game. The Warriors beat the Northstars twice in 2014, including the opening round of the Section III Class AA playoffs.
