What started in steady rain, and ended in misty rain, included, in between, Christian Brothers Academy’s Stevie Scott raining plenty on the plans of Fayetteville-Manlius.
Scott’s trio of first-half touchdowns, combined with a defense that made key stops and forced three turnovers, would help the state Class AA no. 10-ranked Brothers blank the Hornets 41-0 Friday night at Alibrandi Stadium.
With that win, CBA seized sole possession of first place in the Class AA-1 division, but just as importantly announced to the other AA contenders that they would need something close to perfection in order to thwart the Brothers’ championship quest.
F-M didn’t do that, and what made it more frustrating for the Hornets was that it could not have started better, taking the opening kickoff on its own 25-yard line and driving all the way to CBA’s six, mostly on the runs of senior tailback Eric Coley, and consuming nearly six minutes of clock.
When it counted, though, the Brothers’ defense held tight and, on fourth-and-goal, Jaden Mitchell intercepted Henry Josephson’s pass in the end zone, returning it to the 24.
Now it was Scott’s turn. Without a doubt, the junior had heard plenty about Coley’s recent exploits (12 touchdowns in the last two weeks as F-M beat Rome Free Academy and Henninger), and was determined to make his own loud statement.
With CBA having moved it to the Hornets’ 35 late in the first quarter, Scott took a handoff, bounced off two tackles and ran over another while sprinting to the end zone for the game’s first points.
More was to follow, as Scott, undaunted when another long TD run was called back due to a holding penalty on the first play of the second quarter, capped another Brothers drive with a more modest 15-yard scoring dash, which made it 13-0.
F-M’s best chance to climb back in the game followed as, again, it drove inside CBA’s 20 and, again, got nothing out of it, hurt by penalties before Coley’s halfback option pass got picked off in the end zone by Dowdell.
Just two plays later, Scott, from his own 32, ran right, picked up blocks, and instead of running over defenders, simply outran them to the end zone for his third TD of the half.
Now leading 20-0 at halftime, the Brothers didn’t need as much from Scott, but that just left room for other CBA stars to make their own mark on this Homecoming evening.
Mitchell again intercepted Josephson early in the third quarter, setting up a short field and an eventual six-yard scoring pass to Dowdell from Sirvocea Dennis.
Dowdell returned to score from 10 yards before the period ended, and Dennis, in the fourth quarter, made two remarkable scrambles while chased by F-M defenders before throwing downfield to Reed DelFavero – one pass covering 45 yards, the other going 17 yards for a touchdown.
Despite this, it was still Scott’s night, as he amassed 263 yards on the ground on just 18 carries – and had another long run called back on a flag, or the number might have jumped above 300 yards. Dennis ran for 62 yards on eight carries, completing four of six passes for 83 more yards.
CBA’s seniors will get honored next Friday before the last regular-season home game against 0-5 Rome Free Academy, while F-M returns home and faces 0-5 West Genesee, knowing that wins over the Wildcats and Corcoran (On Oct. 14) guarantees a sectional playoff home game.
