Week after week, the Baldwinsville football team is putting players, coaches and fans through a full range of emotions, only to emerge relatively unscathed – and now, alone atop the Class AA-2 division.
By making one stop at one big moment, the Bees were able to hold off Utica Proctor 35-34 Friday night at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium, handing the 4-0 Raiders its first defeat of the season while going to first place in the AA-2 standings with a 3-0 mark and improving to 4-1 overall.
None of B’ville’s four consecutive victories, from struggling past Union-Endicott to rallying from a 26-0 deficit to stun Auburn to fighting off Fayetteville-Manlius 45-42 to this tense battle with Proctor, have proven easy to attain.
Those nerves got jangled again when the Bees, tied 28-28 with Proctor after a back-and-forth battle, put together a strong drive that Jack Buis finished off with a six-yard touchdown run with 2:46 to play, Ben Dwyer earning the extra point.
Down by seven, Proctor again came back. Just 39 seconds after Buis had put the Bees in front, Raiders quarterback Logan Wilcox threw to the end zone, where Jamarius Morgan caught it for six points, and moved his side within one.
Up to that point in the game, Proctor kicker Nick Abraham had gone four-for-four on PAT kicks. But the Raiders decided to go for two, and the Bees’ defense, stepping up when it had to, made the stop short of the goal line, which proved the difference.
Having scored 95 points in its previous two games, B’ville continued to roll in the first quarter against Proctor, scoring on three consecutive possessions. Dwyer finished off one drive with a one-yard plunge before Ryan Ingerson sped 55 yards to the end zone and scored again a few minutes later, from 14 yards out.
Before it got away, though, Proctor roared back to life late in the first quarter, thanks to Morgan, who broke loose on a 55-yard scoring run with 1:45 left in the period. From there, the game settled down, each defense making a series of stops that kept the Bees in front 21-7 going to halftime.
B’ville’s offensive struggles continued in the third quarter, giving the Raiders time to catch up. Twice, Anthony Graham found the end zone on TD runs, and suddenly it was 21-21 – a tie that the Bees broke when Ingerson netted his third TD early in the fourth quarter on a 15-yard run.
All told, Ingerson ran for 199 yards on 34 carries, with Buis adding 80 yards on 12 carries, plus seven tackles on defense, and Brandon Schmid getting 16 carries for 72 yards. Dwyer completed seven of 12 passes for 92 yards as Dan Bridge picked up five tackles and Darrien Bort earned an interception.
Though atop the AA-2 standings, B’ville still has Cicero-North Syracuse (2-1 league) right behind them, and the two meet Oct. 16 at Bragman Stadium.
Before that, though, the Bees will honor its seniors next Friday when it hosts Henninger at 6:30, and could lock up the top playoff seed with a win over the 0-5 Black Knights and a C-NS loss to F-M.
