Even though it was assured of a return to the Section III Class AA playoffs, the Fayetteville-Manlius football team was not pleased with itself, given the back-to-back defeats it took at the hands of Indian River and Central Square.
Rome Free Academy would feel the full brunt of the Hornets’ displeasure Friday night, especially during a first half where F-M ran wild and piled up 43 points on the way to beating the Black Knights 57-7.
As a result, the Hornets tied Christian Brothers Academy for third place in the Class AA-1 division. The Brothers had a chance at a share of the regular-season league title and a top playoff seed, only to run into Corcoran, who came to Alibrandi Stadium and pulled away to beat the Brothers 41-14.
Out at RFA Stadium, F-M cared little about RFA’s 1-5 record and attacked from the outset. With an overwhelming advantage at the line of scrimmage, the Hornets pushed the Black Knights aside on three different first-quarter scoring drives.
Owen Neumann ended the first of those drives with a one-yard touchdown plunge. Zach Page, enjoying a career night, scored from 10 yards out, and Trevor Fallon broke loose on a 57-yard dash to the end zone that made it 21-0 going to the second quarter.
Page returned to go 58 yards for a second TD, part of a half where he gained 213 yards on the ground and F-M, as a whole, ran for 416 yards by the time they reached intermission.
Even the defense got involved when linebacker Tim Shaw intercepted a pass deep in RFA territory and returned it 24 yards for six points. This, plus a three-yard scoring run from Deion Travis, made it 43-0 by halftime.
Before going to the bench in the third quarter, F-M’s starters scored twice more, Fallon finding the end zone from 13 yards out and Armando Adrian dashing 43 yards for another TD.
While F-M was running wild, CBA, still without Stevie Scott or SirVocea Dennis in the lineup, faced high stakes against Corcoran – either win, and get a top playoff seed, or take a defeat and plunge all the way to fourth place.
Thanks to Alex Poindexter’s one-yard scoring run in the first quarter, the Brothers got on the board, answering Khalil Robinson’s four-yard TD run, but a missed extra point kept the Cougars in front, 7-6.
Throughout the second quarter, Corcoran put together a pair of drives and found the end zone on both occasions, Jaquail Everson scoring on a six-yard run and Tyrice Williams throwing a 12-yard TD pass to Branden Denham.
When Hasan Bridges-Beyah scored from five yards out and Poindexter threw a two-point pass to Malcolm Jackson in the third quarter, the Brothers could ponder a comeback, but the Cougars had a quick answer.
Robinson’s 52-yard TD run began the getaway, Corcoran tacking on two more scores when D.J. Wiggins returned a Brothers fumble for six points and Everson netting another TD on a five-yard run.
All of this meant that CBA tied F-M for third in AA-1, but since the Hornets won head-to-head, it has the higher playoff seed and will go to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium to face Baldwinsville next Friday at 6:30 in the sectional opening round. The winner gets to the semifinals against Central Square or Liverpool.
And it also means the Brothers have to go to Bragman Stadium to face unbeaten Cicero-North Syracuse, a rematch of the 2016 sectional final, which kicks off Friday at 7 p.m. Corcoran or Utica Proctor will meet the winner in the AA semifinals.
