What was scary about the East Syracuse Minoa football team’s 3-0 start this fall was that it had not put together a full effort for four quarters, even though it had outscored its opponents by a combined 57-0 margin in the second half of those three games.
That full effort arrived Friday night – at the expense of Jamesville-DeWitt, the Spartans’ neighbors and closest challengers for Class A American division supremacy.
In front of a loud, raucous Homecoming crowd, the Red Rams were run over by the power, precision and efficiency of ESM, who dominated on both sides of the ball and rolled to a 36-7 victory.
“We played our first complete game of the season,” said Spartans head coach Kevin DeParde.
On offense, that meant sticking to a ground attack anchored by a young offensive line and featuring three dangerous runners – quarterback Jeff Loder, tailback Greg Buck and fullback Ny’Zhier Jefferson, each of whom would score a touchdown on this night.
Defensively, the Spartans had, according to Loder, emphasized tackling during the week’s practices following some inconsistency in that department in previous games.
“We harped on it (tackling), and it definitely showed today,” said Loder.
It also helped to play with a lead for much of the night. On ESM’s first possession, it marched 80 yards, most of it on the ground, capped when Jefferson powered into the end zone on a four-yard run.
But Jefferson made a bigger play late in the first quarter. J-D had stopped the Spartans on fourth down at its own 30-yard line, a gamble that could have given the Rams crucial momentum – but Jefferson, three plays later, intercepted Adam Honis at his own 35.
“If we didn’t stop them then, they would have momentum,” said Jefferson. “That pick was big for us.”
That was the second big blow J-D had to absorb, having seen its one of its top lineman, Lavaj Kearse, leave with an injury on the second play from scrimmage. Another came early in the second quarter when an ESM punt rush led to a short drive and Buck’s one-yard scoring plunge on fourth-and-goal.
Right before halftime, the Spartans made it 20-0 with another long march on the ground, covering 70 yards and ending when Buck scored from five yards out. Then it took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched to another touchdown with nothing but running plays, and Loder scored on a two-yard plunge.
Perhaps the only mistake ESM made was a blown coverage that led to the Rams’ lone points in the fourth quarter, a 57-yard TD pass from Honis to Mike Anderson. Yet even that came in between the Spartans tacking on points with Alec Kerestedjian’s 26-yard field goal and Loder going 19 yards for the final touchdown of the night.
By then, the large J-D student section that had filled the bleachers was filing out, and their ESM counterparts were celebrating another rise to first place in the American division.
ESM hosts Fowler next Friday at 6:30, while J-D looks to rebound at Cortland for a 7 p.m. kickoff. More importantly for the Spartans, it filled the hole in the schedule when Oswego dropped its varsity season, and will take on Massena the weekend after it faces the Falcons.
