Two weeks of eight-man football has produced two lopsided victories for the Bishop Grimes Cobras.
In its home opener last Saturday afternoon, the Cobras welcomed Pulaski, and proceeded to roll to a 42-18 victory over the Blue Devils in large part due to what it did in the second quarter.
Through one period, Grimes led 8-0 thanks to Dan Namutereza’s 10-yard touchdown run and a two-point run by Tyler Wait, but then it jumped all over Pulaski for 28 points in the run to halftime.
A.J. Burnett was the catalyst, throwing a 20-yard scoring pass to Nate Gay and then twice scrambling to the end zone on TD runs of nine and 14 yards.
In between this, the Cobras’ defense earned some points when Dalton Damuth recovered a fumble at Pulaski’s eight-yard line and quickly dashed to the goal line.
All of this helped Grimes take a 36-6 lead to the break, and it tacked on another score in the third quarter when Burnett ran 10 yards for his third TD of the game.
Grimes and South Lewis are both 2-0 in the eight-man “Original Six” division, with the Cobras going north this Friday to face the Falcons at 7 p.m.
A night earlier, East Syracuse Minoa hosted Class A newcomer Auburn, and the Spartans could not get much going on offense as it took a 20-6 defeat to the Maroons.
After a 2-0 start, the Spartans had lost at Vestal Sept. 14, and now dealt with an Auburn side moved from Class AA to A for the 2018 season. The kickoff got moved up two hours to beat threatening weather, which it managed to do.
Still, heavy winds all but rendered the two sides’ passing games ineffective, so they stuck to the ground and worked through a scoreless first quarter.
ESM appeared to get momentum when it stopped Auburn on fourth-and-goal at the one-yard line, only to fumble on the very next play, setting up an easy Maroons touchdown as Quesharr Bowman scored from two yards out and Troy Churney threw to Shaheed Beal for two points.
This was only the start for Bowman, who from midfield minutes later burned the Spartans with a 50-yard touchdown dash, extending Auburn’s lead to 14-0, where it stood at halftime.
Only once did ESM get on the board, with a third-quarter drive that Nolan Penoyer finished with a two-yard run, but down 14-6, it saw Auburn’s Luke Lukowski block a punt in the fourth quarter, leading to Bowman’s third TD on a 26-yard run.
All told, Bowman ran for 201 yards on 30 carries. Penoyer led the Spartans with 84 yards on the ground as it must host 4-0, three-time defending sectional Class A champion Whitesboro this Friday at 6:30.
Another undefeated Class A team, Indian River, visited Jamesville-DeWitt last Saturday night, and the Warriors proved too much, prevailing over the Red Rams 43-13.
In particular, Guillermo Rosario-Acosta overwhelmed J-D’s defense, helping the Warriors go in front 14-0 in the first quarter with a 13-yard TD run and a 71-yard dash to the end zone.
Rosario-Acosta added a third TD in the second quarter as IR built a 28-7 margin by halftime, the Rams only breaking the shutout when Adam Honis threw a 62-yard scoring pass to Kaleb McCloud.
Honis added a second TD toss to McCloud in the third quarter, only to have the Warriors pull further way with two more scoring drives of its own as Rosario-Acosta found the end zone for the fourth time. J-D will visit Holland Stadium this Friday to face Auburn.
