If anyone needs a tutorial in how much things can change in high school football in the course of 12 months, look no further than the divergent paths of Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool.
Once resigned to mediocrity or worse, the state Class AA no. 13-ranked Northstars, by defeating Utica Proctor 42-22 Friday night at Bragman Stadium, went to 7-0 and secured the first undefeated regular season in program history.
Meanwhile, the Warriors, who won a Section III Class AA title in 2015 and advancede all the way to the state semifinals, won’t even make it to the post-season this fall in the wake of Friday’s 30-0 defeat at Auburn.
C-NS has the far happier story to tell. Having already locked up the top seed out of the Class AA-2 division thanks to its 20-7 win over Baldwinsville on Oct. 7, the Northstars now wanted the outright league title, and got it against a Proctor side that, like Liverpool, was fighting to keep its season alive.
The fight didn’t last too long. C-NS led 14-0 after one period thanks to a pair of scoring drives, one ended by Erik Pride on a one-yard plunge, the other when Connor Hayes threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Days.
Not letting up, the Northstars opened the second quarter with Hayes throwing deep and finding Peyton Watts, who turned into an 80-yard scoring reception.
And Hayes continued to hurt Protctor through the air, getting his third TD pass on a 20-yard strike to Lucas Merluzzi before going deep again to find Watts for a 55-yard connection that, with Brad Davies’ fifth consecutive successful extra point, made it 35-0 going into halftime.
Again, the C-NS defense used its speed and aggression to stop anything the Raiders tried to establish. All of Proctor’s points would come in the fourth quarter on a trio of Jamarious Morgan runs, two of them 55 and 58 yards, but that was with the Northstars’ starters on the bench.
As this was going on, Liverpool was at Holland Stadium, and the assignment was clear. Since Proctor lost to C-NS and Nottingham fell to Baldwinsville 23-7, the Warriors could still earn a playoff berth with a win over Auburn and move up to third place in the AA-2 division standings.
And Liverpool did get a chance to go in front after an Auburn turnover on the third play from scrimmage, but its drive stalled and Patrick DelGobbo’s 40-yard field-goal attempt fell short.
They were still 0-0 deep into the second quarter, but then the Maroons broke through when it drove to Liverpool’s seven-yard line and Nasir Smith scored from there, Deon Clark adding a two-point conversion.
Smith, who rushed for 138 yards on 21 carries in the first half (he finished with 206 yards on 35 carries), also intercepted a pass right after his TD, keeping the Warriors behind, 8-0, going into the break.
A big turning point came when Liverpool fumbled the second-half kickoff and Auburn’s Devin Walker recovered on the Warriors’ 35. Smith scored on a 26-yard run moments later to make it 14-0.
That Warriors deficit grew when Tyrese Walker threw a 22-yard scoring pass to Evan Donovan late in the third quarter and then Walker ran in for two points.
Auburn’s defense would do the rest, Smith recording a second interception and then, in the fourth quarter, seeing Luke Lukowski picking off a tipped pass and bringing it back 63 yards for a TD.
While Liverpool plays crossover games over the next two weeks, C-NS gets to host Henninger in next Friday’s opening round of the sectional Class AA playoffs.
The Northstars beat the Black Knights 25-15 in a penalty and mistake-filled Sept. 1 opener at the Carrier Dome. Now the two square off again with a berth in the semifinals against Corcoran or Auburn at stake.
