Late-October action for the Baldwinsville football team has normally meant plunging into the Section III Class AA playoffs and seeing how far it could go.
But after getting to the sectional finals at the Carrier Dome in 2017, the Bees only went 2-5 this fall and missed out on the post-season, though it would recover from that disappointment during crossover games.
B’ville hosted Nottingham Thursday night at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium. got production in all three phases – offense, defense and special teams – and needed every bit of it to defeat the Bulldogs 31-27.
A quick start helped the Bees, who broke out 14-0 in the first quarter as, after Willie Strong scored on a one-yard run, Mike Letizia picked up a Nottingham fumble near midfield and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown.
Between them, Strong, who had 109 yards on 20 carries, and Letizia, who had 95 yards on 13 carries, provided balance to B’ville’s ground attack, and Letizia broke loose on a 41-yard TD run early in the second quarter.
That, along with Garrett Selover’s 39-yard field goal, helped the Bees withstand Jason Howard’s pair of TD passes that helped the Bulldogs keep it tight, the visitors only trailing 24-14 at halftime.
Nottingham got within 24-20 with the only points of the third quarter, a drive that resulted in Howard’s one-yard scoring plunge. It took one more fourth-quarter march for the Bees to earn the winning points, Strong finding the end zone from three yards out.
