As they meet again next weekend with the ‘Star Wars’ Cup at stake, the Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool football teams still find themselves on separate paths, with the Northstars well ahead of where the Warriors want to be.
Both teams opened Friday night against local Class AA foes – C-NS hosting Christian Brothers Academy, Liverpool venturing to Fayetteville-Manlius.
But while the Northstars were trouncing the Brothers 47-6, the Warriors, engaged in a fierce defensive battle, gave up just one score – and it was enough to take a 7-0 defeat to the Hornets.
As things got underway for C-NS, the main concern of the Northstars was whether its offense, with four new starters on the line and plenty of new starters at the skill spots, would live up to its high 2017 standards.
Against CBA, the points kept flowing, with the Northstars roaring to a 34-6 halftime lead and scoring twice more in the third quarter.
Jaiquawn McGriff stood out on both sides, twice scoring on runs and adding an interception return for a touchdown. Conner Hayes threw a pair of TD passes, one each to Shy’rel Broadwater and Nate Geloff.
At F-M, Liverpool showed that the defensive improvement it showed late in the 2017 season was not an aberration. For three-plus quarters, it stifled the Hornets’ potent ground game and prevented any kind of big plays.
Yet the same was true on the other end. Liverpool quarterback Alex Ruston only completed nine of 19 passes for 88 yards, and the ground game wasn’t much better, Cade Clouthier only getting 63 yards on 21 carries.
So despite pleasant weather and a clean Field Turf to work on, the game stayed 0-0 until early in the fourth quarter. Only then did someone break through, the Hornets making a crucial fourth-down conversion before Owen Neuman, from the Warriors’ 12, found Trevor Porzucek in the end zone.
Trying to answer, the Warriors put together its best drive of the night, moving to F-M’s 14-yard line before Ruston threw into traffic – and F-M’s Brandon Heyman intercepted it.
