All season long, the Baldwinsville football team’s hold on the Class AA-2 division was precarious. The Bees kept winning, but had to sweat out every single outcome, never really feeling safe until the clock hit zero.

Things caught up to B’ville in Friday night’s game against Cicero-North Syracuse at Bragman Stadium. With a chance to win the outright league title and a top playoff seed, the Bees could not sustain early momentum and proved unable to contain the multifaceted Northstars’ attack in a 33-14 defeat.

With that result, C-NS tied B’ville atop the AA-2 standings, proving that, under the guidance of former long-time Henninger coach Dave Kline, it had gone from a nuisance to a genuine threat, now and in the near-future, too.

The game’s start was delayed for nearly an hour by thunder and lightning in the area, but even after that, and after Senior Night festivities, C-NS was ready. And the Northstars didn’t get rattled, either, when Ryan Ingerson’s 53-yard run on the second play from scrimmage led to Ben Dwyer’s one-yard touchdown plunge just 2:14 into the game.

Instead, C-NS toughened up on defense, and then made two big plays on special teams that turned the game in its favor.

First, Terrell Harvey blocked a B’ville punt late in the first quarter, setting up the Northstars on the Bees’ 20. That led to the tying score on Drew Flack’s three-yard run. Then C-NS surprised B’ville with an onside kick that Ryan Cummings recovered. Three long runs by Flack set up quarterback Conner Hayes’ one-yard TD sneak and a 13-7 Northstars lead.

The Bees nearly answered, only to fumble at the C-NS four as Cummings fell on the ball. A 96-yard scoring drive followed, featuring a 31-yard pass to Josh Ramirez and more runs from Flack. Hayes found Keegan Wright in the end zone on a 15-yard scoring pass.

Trailing 19-7, B’ville caused a scare on the last play of the first half. Working from the Northstars’ 35, Ben Dwyer threw a screen pass to Brandon Schmid, who picked up blocks on the right sideline, cut back to the middle and found the end zone.

So even with all the big plays C-NS made, B’ville only trailed 19-14 at the break, but even with that, and even with the Bees’ Justin LaRock recovering a Northstars fumble deep in his own territory early in the third quarter followed by a pair of penalties on long Flack runs, the hosts didn’t get rattled.

Instead, Hayes threw a 31-yard pass to Ramirez and, one play later, Cummings scored on a three-yard sweep. And on the first play of the fourth quarter, Hayes went back to Ramirez, who shook off great coverage to catch a 47-yard TD pass, putting the game out of the Bees’ reach.

Now everyone waited to see what happened Saturday when Utica Proctor, who now had a chance to create a three-way tie for first place in AA-2, fared when it hosted Fayetteville-Manlius.

In yet another wild battle, Proctor beat F-M 43-35, the best possible result for B’ville, who owned the first-half points tie-breaker over the Raiders, along with C-NS. As it turned out, that screen-pass Schmid touchdown at the end of the first half against the Northstars saved the day for the Bees.

So B’ville gets one more turn at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium this fall, hosting Rome Free Academy in Friday night’s opening round., and knowing a win will mean a rematch of some kind in the semifinals – either against C-NS, or against Liverpool, who kept the Bees from the Carrier Dome in the 2014 semifinals in a 7-0 decision.