Everything about Friday night’s football clash between Fayetteville-Manlius and visiting West Genesee was special for Hornets fans – everything except the ending, that is.
Ahead three different times in this critical Class AA-2 division clash, the Hornets could not hold any of those leads as the Wildcats, scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, prevailed 35-24.
By doing so, WG secured a first-round home game in the Section III playoffs, leaving F-M to have to beat Baldwinsville in next Friday’s regular-season finale at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium just to be sure of a post-season berth, despite its 4-2 overall record.
None of this was what Hornets fans imagined for its Homecoming festivities. It was a “White Out”, with students wearing white and the players also donning white jerseys at home.
Also, F-M was honoring its Athletic Hall of Fame inductees, one of them Damien Rhodes, who led the Hornets to its last sectional football title in 2001 and even served as the team’s head coach earlier this decade.
Amid all these festivities, F-M worked hard to give the home fans a memorable victory against a high-quality West Genesee side, but was done in by too many missed opportunities.
Twice in the first quarter, the Hornets drove inside the Wildcats’ 20-yard line and did not score any points. Only on the third try did F-M break through, Tim Shaw scoring on a two-yard run on the last play of the period to tie it, 7-7.
Those frustrations carried over into the second quarter as, twice more, the Hornets reached WG territory, yet only managed a 22-yard field goal by John Egnaczyk.
Still up 10-7 in the last minute of the half, F-M was burned when Brian Felix intercepted Owen Neuman near midfield. One play later, WG’s Tyler Cook made a spectacular play, scrambling until he found Brad May on the sidelines, May then going 43 yards deep into Hornets territory.
That gave the Wildcats just enough time to have Cook, from the F-M 12, find John Benson in the end zone with just three seconds to play.
Unfazed by WG taking a 14-10 lead at the break, the Hornets took the second-half kickoff and used its ground game to chew up yards until Tim Shaw scored from one yard out.
Within a minute, the Wildcats went back in front 21-17, moving to F-M’s 41 before Esisas Brumfield took a reverse, ran left, picked up a pair of crunching blocks and tore down the sideline to the end zone.
After a missed Riley Small field goal late in the period, F-M drove down the field and, in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter, reclaimed the lead 24-21 on Mitchell Seabury’s 14-yard TD run.
However, it was the Wildcats, controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, taking charge late.
With the ball on its own 48-yard line, WG executed a perfect call. F-M blitzed, but Tyler Cook beat it with a screen pass to Exavier Brumfield, who went down the right sideline, cut back and made it all the way to the end zone for the go-ahead score.
Of far greater importance was the Hornets’ ensuing drive, where it went to the Wildcats’ 14, seeking the game’s seventh lead change, only to get stopped on fourth down for the third time in WG’s red zone with five minutes left.
Not sitting on its 28-24 lead, the Wildcats quickly moved downfield, aided by a series of Hornets penalties. When Brumfield scored on a seven-yard sweep with 2:16 to play, WG put the game away.
Seabury, returning from injury, ran for 125 yards on 26 carries as Neumann completed 10 of 25 passes for 110 yards. Cook’s precise passing (he was 14-for-22 for 278 yards) was augmented by Exavier Brumfield’s tough running, as he finished with 135 yards on 17 carries.
