As they inch toward their Sept. 23 showdown, the East Syracuse Minoa and Jamesville-DeWitt football teams both found success in their respective home openers last Friday night – but got there in very different manners.
For ESM, it required a 30-point outburst in the second half to erase a double-digit deficit and defeat its fellow Spartans from New Hartford 37-22. For J-D, all that was needed was some strong defense that shut down visiting Watertown for most of the evening and delivered a 13-7 victory over the Cyclones.
Even after a hard-fought season-opening win against Indian River on Sept. 2 where it forced a rash of turnovers, ESM had reason to be wary of New Hartford, and by the end of the first half, that concern had turned into deep trouble.
Twice in the early going, ESM had to make goal-line stands to prevent New Hartford scores. Yet the chances kept coming and, eventually, New Hartford would find the end zone three times in the second quarter.
First, it was a two-yard scoring pass from Dan Torres to Alex Johnson. Then it was Sean Nadeau breaking loose for a 59-yard touchdown run after ESM got on the board with quarterback Jeff Loder’s 25-yard dash to the end zone.
Finally, it was Justin Albert returning an ESM punt 61 yards for six points. Combine that with a pair of Torres two-point plays – one a run, the other a pass – and an Alec Keresredjian extra point, and New Hartford took a 22-7 lead to the break.
All through the third quarter, ESM had to fight hard to keep New Hartford from getting away, making more crucial stops. Then the defense made a big play of its own, a safety that led to a free kick, a short field and a scoring drive that Loder finished with a three-yard scoring run.
ESM still trailed, 22-15, when, in a span of less than four minutes of the fourth quarter, a disaster was turned into delight.
Gradually wearing down New Hartford’s defenses, ESM drove 78 yards, most of it on a long run from Greg Buck, to Loder’s one-yard TD sneak with 7:28 left. A penalty on New Hartford on the ensuing extra-point kick made ESM decide to go for two and the lead – and Buck plowed into the end zone.
Now up 23-22, ESM quickly got the ball back, and Buck, who finished the game with 114 yards on the grounds, broke free for 38 yards to set up his own two-yard scoring plunge with 4:19 to play.
Seconds later, Darian Crossman picked off Torres, and ESM moved it to New Hartford’s 13, from where Buck found the end zone again just 23 seconds after his first TD, clinching the victory in the process.
No such margins were found down the road at J-D. Instead, it was just a Red Rams squad that was determined to rebound from its season-opening 34-27 defeat to Carthage, and would do so against Watertown with its own bit of late heroics.
The two sides traded touchdowns in the first quarter, with the Red Rams finding the end zone on Mike Anderson’s 45-yard run and Matt Cappelletti adding the extra point as the Cyclones converted on Austin Eisenmann’s 11-yard run.
Throughout the second and third quarters, the game was a 7-7 stalemate, with two strong defenses keeping each other from doing too much.
Only in the fourth quarter did J-D put together the drive it needed, moving to Watertown’s five-yard line before Eli Williams put it home for the go-ahead points. From there, the Rams again made key stops to help preserve that six-point margin.
Just before they meet each other, ESM (2-0) and J-D (1-1) first must pass this Friday’s games, with the Spartans taking on Cortland at 6:30 and the Red Rams hosting Fulton at 7 p.m.