When the Baldwinsville football team christens its new Field Turf at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium next Friday night before the home opener against West Genesee, it will do so not just glad to be home, but also urgent to show that it can recover from an early-season setback.
The Bees were overwhelmed by big plays in Friday night’s season opener at Christian Brothers Academy, surrendering four of them of 50 or more yards, three of them for touchdowns, that led to a 37-6 defeat to the Brothers.
When it ventured to Alibrandi Stadium, B’ville knew quite well that CBA, who lost last year’s Section III Class AA final to Liverpool, brought back considerable talent from that team, and those players were hungry to make a championship run.
As it always does, B’ville’s intention was to establish its run game and prevent the opposition from burning them deep. But that was exactly what the Brothers did after stopping the Bees’ opening drive deep in its own territory.
From the B’ville 42, Sirvocea Dennis, making his first start as the Brothers’ quarterback, threw a swing pass to Noah Jordan-Williams, and the Boston College-bound senior took off, never to get caught in a 58-yard dash to the end zone. Mike Mathison’s extra point made it 7-0.
Dennis did something even more important when the Bees again were threatening to score late in the first quarter. Anticipating a Ben Dwyer pass on third down, Dennis stepped in front of it at the Brothers’ 25 and took off down the same sideline where Jordan-Williams had just sprinted, a 75-yard touchdown.
Even though the PAT was missed, the 13-0 margin brought discouragement to the visitors, which only increased when Dwyer’s knee touched the turf on a punt snap at his own three-yard line. Stevie Scott scored on the next play.
Mathison’s 25-yard field goal was set up by a second B’ville turnover, a fumble that Reed DelFavero recovered. CBA’s defense, tested throughout the game, made another key stop right before halftime, thwarting a long B’ville drive with help from a holding penalty that negated a possible TD pass from Dwyer to Gabe Horan.
Kept relatively quiet in the first half, Scott changed that in a hurry five minutes into the third quarter. Taking a draw handoff at his own 11, Scott cut left and found open turf, outrunning the entire B’ville defense to the goal line to increase the lead to 30-0.
Only in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter did the Bees break up the shutout thanks to Thor Sutphen’s 15-yard TD run. But the Brothers answered a minute later as DeAndre Dowdell had his own big moment, a 52-yard run that set up Nate Torrance’s 27-yard scoring dash a play later.
