In order to take the first step in another championship quest, the Christian Brothers Academy football team had to lean on its most reliable traits – namely, the ability to make big plays, on both sides of the ball.
The Brothers, taking full advantage of a rash of early Henninger turnovers, scored all of its points in the first half of Sunday night’s 41-0 victory over the Black Knights in the Kickoff Classic at the Carrier Dome, with senior quarterback SirVocea Dennis displaying just how much he brings to the field.
Henninger, on a quest to improve from a rough 2016 season, was impeded from the start since its quarterback, Zion Spara, was out with an injury, forcing the Black Knights to go to backup Alex Doughty.
CBA took advantage of this situation, overcoming an early Dennis interception by pouncing on a bad snap that Doughty could not handle. Tim Denham recovered the fumble in the Henninger end zone.
When the Black Knights fumbled again on its next possession, Alex Poindexter fell on it, and the Brothers made it 14-0 as Dennis scrambled 11 yards for the touchdown.
A third Henninger turnover came when Dennis made a leaping, one-handed interception at the Black Knights’ 27. Moments later, Dennis threw to the end zone and found Hasan Bridges-Beyah for CBA’s third TD in the game’s first nine minutes.
Dennis hit Bridges-Beyah again on a 24-yard catch-and-run scoring play early in the second quarter. As if all that wasn’t enough, Dennis broke free on a 76-yard dash to the end zone that made it 35-0 as Nate Torrance made his fifth consecutive extra point.
When Dennis found Othman from six yards out for his third TD pass just before halftime, it capped a night where the CBA signal-caller completed just three passes, but all went for touchdowns, and he also gained 151 yards on the ground.
Amid all this, Stevie Scott was glad to anchor his team’s defensive effort. The quick string of scores didn’t leave much time for Scott to run the ball, but he still gained 85 yards on eight carries and rested for most of the second half.
In Friday night’s home opener, CBA welcomes West Genesee to Alibrandi Stadium. The Wildcats, winners of just one game in the last two seasons, claimed a tense 13-12 victory over Nottingham in the Dome a day before the Brothers handled Henninger.
