ONONDAGA COUNTY – If there was nothing else other than the “Star Wars” Cup on the line, the annual football game between Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool would carry plenty of emotion and passion.
Now, though, a sense of urgency surrounds next Friday’s renewal of this rivalry at LHS Stadium, based on what just took place.
In their first encounter since last November’s Section III Class AA final Friday night at Bragman Stadium, C-NS lost 34-18 to Christian Brothers Academy, the Northstars done in by missed opportunities in the early stages and a key absence.
Not far away, Liverpool, once 3-0, took its second consecutive defeat at the hands of another rival, Baldwinsville, who pulled away in the late stages to beat the Warriors 26-15.
At C-NS, the highly-anticipated showdown between the 5-0 Northstars and 5-0 CBA would turn against the hosts on two fronts.
Even before kickoff, the Northstars learned it would not have kicker Jakob Purdy available, meaning that, whenever it got near the end zone, it would have to go for touchdowns and two-point conversions rather than having the option to kick for points.
More importantly, though, was that C-NS, with a chance to go in front two different times in the first half, could not do so, first by seeing an eight-plus minute opening drive stall at the CBA 20-yard line.
Then, after a blocked punt late in the second quarter, the Northstars, trailing 7-6, again drove inside the Brothers’ 20 and, again, were stopped on fourth down.
Right after, CBA drove down the field and scored on a 30-yard pass from Porter Matt to Jason Brunson, then took the second-half kickoff and, mostly on the running of Jamier Handford, drove to the C-NS 12, from where Isaiah Coleman scored to make it 21-6.
All night long, Handford hurt the Northstars. His interception at midfield early in the second quarter set up the Brothers’ first TD, a two-yard run by Handford after he had gained all the yards on a 48-yard march.
Early in the fourth quarter, after he fumbled at the C-NS five to give the Northstars, down 21-12, a chance to inch closer, Handford made up for it by sacking Jaxon Razmovski and forcing a fumble that Marquan Saddler returned 20 yards for a decisive TD.
C-NS did make some big plays, Razmovski throwing TD passes of 24 yards to Tristan Johnson and 18 yards to James Magda, along with a 72-yard kickoff return by Miy’Jon McDowell Reid that set up another score, but it wasn’t enough.
As this went on, Liverpool, attempting to bounce back from a 62-0 defeat to CBA six days earlier, met a B’ville side that had started 0-4 but had just got its first win of the season over Utica Proctor.
During a low-scoring first half, the Warriors, down 6-0, seemed to suffer another setback when, late in the second quarter, quarterback John Sindoni left the game with an injury, only to see Dom Carroll, his replacement, lead his team down the field and throw a 10-yard scoring pass to Jordan Grandinetti.
The Bees answered with a quick drive deep into Liverpool territory and, just before halftime, John Widrick converted a field goal and B’ville took a 9-7 advantage to the break.
Sindoni returned, leading another Liverpool scoring drive early in the third quarter as Owen Brown got the TD. From there, though, the Bees’ defense shut the Warriors down while, on the other end, the Bees put together three different scoring drives to go in front for good.
As a whole, Liverpool’s passing game struggled in the rain, but the ground attack was solid with more than 200 yards. Brown led the way with 16 carries for 114 yards, with Gradinetti catching four passes for 51 yards.
