Football sides from East Syracuse Minoa and Jamesville-DeWitt went to the north country at the outset of Labor Day weekend with the express purpose of establishing their respective credentials as Section III Class A title contenders.
In the first game of a doubleheader, ESM met Indian River, the 2014 state champions, and relied on an opportunistic defense that forced seven turnovers, enough to produce a 21-7 victory over the Warriors.
The game was played at Carthage, so IR didn’t have a true home-field advantage. And ESM didn’t mind this fact, going right to work on defense by twice getting takeaways in the first quarter, one of them an interception by Malachi Underwood.
Neither of those turnovers led to points, and it remained 0-0 until the midway point of the second period. That was when Greg Buck, who has taken over the main running back duties after Jeremy Perry graduated, scored from three yards out on a sweep.
More ESM defense followed from Ny’Zhier Jefferson, who stripped an IR player and returned the fumble 30 yards deep into Warrior territory. Buck took it from there, going 20 yards to the end zone for his second touchdown in less than three minutes.
Even with a 14-0 lead, the Spartans couldn’t relax, for IR cut the margin to 14-7 just before halftime, and kept it there throughout a scoreless third quarter where both sides were turned back.
Again, though, the Spartans’ defense came through. Sam Jenkins’ interception at the Warriors’ 35 with eight minutes left was immediately followed by Jefferson nearly reaching the end zone on a 34-yard dash. Jefferson did score a play later, his touchdown coming with 7:15 to play.
Any chance of an IR comeback got dashed when Underwood and Buck both recorded late interceptions.
Once ESM was done, it was J-D’s turn to face the host team from Carthage. Quite unlike the first game, it turned into a wild, high-scoring contest with multiple lead changes. And unlike the Spartans, the Red Rams could not quite prevail, falling to the Comets 34-27 in a game that proved costly beyond the mere loss of a single game.
J-D surrendered the only points of the first quarter when Carthage’s Jacob Lillie scored on a four-yard run. But the Rams answered with Mike Anderson’s two-yard TD run early in the second period, only to have the extra point blocked.
After Caleb Null’s one-yard plunge extended the Comets lead to 14-6, J-D unleashed a big play, Josh Kowalczyk throwing deep and finding Anderson on a 69-yard connection.
Unfazed, Carthage again plowed through J-D’s defense and, when Lille found the end zone on an eight-yard run, the Rams trailed, 21-12, at the break, and worse yet, it had to continue without Kowalczyk, injured late in the half.
With Jake Wright taking over under center, the Rams still connected on two more long scoring passes in the third quarter, Wright going 56 yards to Anderson, then 66 yards to Jai Benson – temporarily giving J-D a 27-21 lead.
After the last of those plays, though, a special teams breakdown really hurt J-D as Lillie took a short kickoff at his own 15 and, picking up blocks, went all the way to the end zone.
A successful PAT put Carthage ahead for good, 28-27, and its defense stepped up late, thwarting any Rams comeback. A long Comets drive led to Null’s second one-yard TD of the night with 3:22 to play, and J-D couldn’t answer it.
Both J-D and ESM come home next Friday to face teams that won their season openers as the Red Rams take on Watertown and the Spartans meet its namesakes from New Hartford. They each kick off at 6:30.
