All that Carl Sanfilippo really cared about was that the Baldwinsville football team opened its 2017 season by putting away the Corning Hawks 35-7 in Thursday night’s Kickoff Classic at the Carrier Dome.
Of course, everyone else focused in on the fact that the win pushed the Bees’ long-time head coach to the 200-win plateau. As soon as the clock hit zero, B’ville fans in the Dome waved red “200” signs as Sanfilippo accepted congratulations from current and former players, plus family members, including his two grandchildren.
“That’s a lot of games,” said Sanfilippo. “But it’s not me – it’s the kids and it’s the community. But it’s pretty exciting. If you stick around long enough, you can do something like this.”
Win no. 200 was like so many others in Sanfilippo’s tenure, in that there was the usual ground game, but it was mixed with broad hints of an aerial attack. Plus, B’ville’s defense put up a strong resistance from the outset and kept working to keep Corning off the board until the game’s final minute.
B’ville wasted little time asserting control. Nate Jaquint’s 37-yard return set up a short field that the Bees converted into seven points, Ben Dwyer going the final yard on fourth-down-and-goal in a drive mostly done on the ground.
But the Bees flashed its passing attack on its second drive, a 68-yard march keyed by a trio of third-down conversions, including a 28-yard screen pass to E.J. Edmonds and a 13-yard toss to tight end Gabe Horan. Dwyer again finished it off by scoring from eight yards out.
Up 14-0, the Bees were also strong at the outset on defense, not allowing a Corning first down until the second quarter, and even when that happened, Judson Fletcher’s third-down sack forced another Hawks punt.
Yet it wasn’t all smooth, as ill-timed B’ville penalties wiped out both a touchdown and a long punt return, and a fumble stopped another scoring chance. Worse yet, a knee injury on the first series of the game sent offensive lineman Tanner Judkins to the sidelines, not to return.
Garrett Selover, who went five-for-five on extra points, missed a 43-yard field goal in the last minute of the half, keeping it 14-0 going to the break.
“We started pretty well, and then we sputtered,” said Sanfilippo. “These are the little things we’ll have to clean up.”
First, though, there was the matter of winning this game. Corning turned generous on the first play of the third quarter, botching the snap that Judson Fletcher fell on at the Hawks’ 22. It took just four plays for the Bees to turn it into points on Dwyer’s third touchdown run, a one-yard plunge.
Dwyer returned later in the period to scramble 28 yards that, one play later, led to Edmonds going 18 yards for his first TD of the season. And the Bees’ defense kept on working with a goal-line stand early in the fourth quarter.
What followed proved symbolic of Sanfilippo’s coaching style – a 99-yard drive that consumed most of the fourth-quarter clock, Aquari Warner going the final 10 yards for the touchdown.
B’ville has its home opener at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium next Friday at 6:30 when it meets another Section IV opponent, the Elmira Express.
