When brought together at the end of September, the Christian Brothers Academy football team proved far too difficult for Fayetteville-Manlius to solve, and the result was a 41-0 shutout.
Once apart, both the Brothers and Hornets would open October with home victories Friday night, though in CBA’s case it flattened Rome Free Academy 59-7 at Alibrandi Stadium, and in F-M’s case it built a big early lead on West Genesee, but had to hang on late to top the Wildcats 41-35.
RFA came into its game with CBA sporting a 1-4 record, but never was going to pose much of a threat to a state Class AA no. 10-ranked Brothers side that was determined to enjoy Senior Night as much as possible.
Stevie Scott is not a senior, but just like he did against F-M, he tore up the Black Knights with plenty of first-half scoring runs, starting with 40 and nine-yard dashes to the end zone as CBA took a 14-0 first-quarter lead.
That margin swelled to 42-0 by halftime thanks to two more touchdowns from Scott, on runs of three and 39 yards, as he would eventually accumulate 150 yards on the ground before exiting the game in the third quarter.
In between, SirVocea Dennis threw a pair of scoring passes, 12 yards to Paul Aversa, and 22 yards to Hasan Bridges-Beyah, part of a night where Dennis was six-for-eight for 115 yards and also scored on a 15-yard TD run.
Even the CBA reserves got on the board thanks to Tim Denham’s one-yard scoring plunge. Mike Matheson was a perfect eight-for-eight on extra points and added a 32-yard field goal.
The Brothers will expect to rack up more points next Friday at West Genesee, where the Wildcats will go into that game mired at 0-6 after it late comeback attempt at F-M.
Without CBA’s defense to worry about, the Hornets once more could run free, and did so starting with Eric Coley’s 76-yard TD run on the first play from scrimmage. Mitch Seabury added a 20-yard scoring run before the first quarter was done.
Even when the Wildcats got on the board with Liam Barry’s 19-yard scoring pass to Marcus Hudgins in the second period, F-M added to its lead with two more TD’s from Coley, who caught a 30-yard scoring pass from Henry Josephson and ran 11 yards for another six.
A 28-7 halftime lead looked safe enough, but even with Seabury breaking free for a 65-yard TD run and Josephson adding a one-yard plunge, the Hornets nearly got caught.
Dan Purcell scored twice for WG, on a six-yard run and a pass from Barry, who also threw a 55-yard scoring strike to Hudgins. A late drive led to Matt Kot’s one-yard TD plunge, but the Wildcats’ rally fell just short.
F-M stays at home this Friday and closes the regular season against Corcoran, looking to improve upon a 4-2 overall record (3-1 league). The Cougars are also 3-1 in league play, so who whoever wins here will host a first-round Section III playoff game next weekend.
