Having spent eight long years on the receiving end of one-sided defeats to its next-door neighbors from Liverpool, the Cicero-North Syracuse football team had no qualms doing the same thing.
By drubbing the Warriors 34-0 Friday night at Bragman Stadium and claiming its first win in this rivalry since 2007, the Northstars not only seized possession of the ‘Star Wars’ Cup, it firmly established itself as favorites in both the Class AA-2 division and the Section III ranks.
For the moment, though, C-NS players like senior Landry Rogers just reveled in something none of them had felt as varsity players.
“We’ve never beaten Liverpool, so it’s special,” said Rogers.
Both sides came into the game with 2-0 records, but the Northstars had just shut out Corcoran 27-0, the very same team the Warriors had struggled to beat in its Sept. 2 opener before beating Rome Free Academy 49-35.
So C-NS believed that, at the very least, it had made up ground with the defending sectional champions, but as it showed from the opening kickoff, it had done much more.
On the game’s first drive, the Northstars burned more than seven minutes of clock marching 72 yards. Mostly, it was done on the ground, with tailback Erik Pride steadily gaining ground behind an offensive line that dominated the line of scrimmage. Kyle Cody capped the drive by scoring on a one-yard plunge.
When Liverpool went three-and-out, C-NS immediately gave itself another chance with Omar Mere’s kick return deep into Warrior territory. The short drive that followed ended with Pride’s first touchdown on a six-yard run early in the second quarter.
Now trailing 13-0, Liverpool found itself in real trouble because its ground game could not do much against a quick, aggressive C-NS defense. In fact, the Warriors would go the entire first half without earning a first down.
C-NS spent seven more minutes piecing together another scoring drive late in the half. Head coach Dave Kline praised his front five of Lorenzo Thompson, Rocco Rachetta, Adam Mosher, Reis Spicer and Kaleb Woodcock for pushing back Liverpool’s front seven.
Though again most of the yards were gained on the ground, on fourth-and-five from the Warriors’ six Conner Hayes rolled out and threw to the end zone, where Pride made a diving catch. A two-point run by Pride made it 21-0 going into halftime.
As if the point wasn’t made, C-NS added to its margin early in the third quarter when a bad punt snap put the Northstars inside the Warriors’ 10, and Pride netted his third TD on a five-yard run.
Rogers stood out, too, pinning Liverpool inside its own 10 with one punt and then, after a bad snap sent him back to the end zone, running out to the 20-yard line to preserve the shutout.
Early in the fourth quarter, Hayes offered a final touch when, on fourth-down-and-12 from the Warriors’ 33, he threw to the end zone and found Rogers open for his second scoring pass of the night.
C-NS faces another big game next Friday when it hosts another 3-0 team, Auburn, at 7 p.m. The Maroons defeated Nottingham 40-28 to open league play and, led by running back Nasir Smith, have scored a total of 144 points in its first three wins.
Meanwhile, Liverpool has to try and bounce back at home against another big rival, Baldwinsville, who shows up next Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff at 2-1 and fresh off a 41-28 win over Utica Proctor in its league opener. And just like C-NS, the Bees are out to avenge playoff defeats to Liverpool each of the last two years.
