A trio of area high school football teams faced major challenges in the opening round of the Section III playoffs, each of them going on the road – and each of them meeting defeat.
In Class A, East Syracuse Minoa made its earliest playoff exit since 2012, falling 41-0 to three-time defending champion Whitesboro, while Jamesville-DeWitt went to Carthage and took a 38-15 loss to the Comets.
Up in Class AA, Christian Brothers Academy, despite a 1-6 regular season, made it to the playoff field, but met an early exit, too, unable to score an offensive touchdown against West Genesee as the Wildcats beat them 38-8.
Of the three games, ESM’s visit to Whitesboro carried the most intrigue. They had plenty of post-season history between them, including the 2015 sectional final at the Carrier Dome that the Warriors won 30-12.
Yet when they met Sept. 28 at Spartan Stadium, it was far from one-sided, Whitesboro prevailing 7-0 on a second-quarter touchdown. ESM went into the playoff rematch believing that, if it put together a similar defensive effort, it could make things interesting.
But the Warriors wanted no part of drama, putting together its fourth shutout in eight games this fall and scoring all of its points in the first three quarters.
Jeff Cubino got Whitesboro going with a five-yard TD run, the only points of the first quarter. Late in the second period, Cubino scored again, from 15 yards out, set up by Lucas Casab’s 40-yard run.
Joey Pannucio, who converted all three of his extra points in the first half, made it 21-0 just 25.6 seconds before intermission with a scoring pass to Tom Morreale, who beat two ESM defenders to grab it.
Big plays broke it open during the third quarter. Zach Hoage broke free on TD runs of 49 and 81 yards, and Cubino scored a third time from 25 yards out two plays after a blocked punt.
Whitesboro advanced to the sectional semifinal against Carthage, who got there by handling a J-D side it had beaten 36-14 two weeks earlier, but had earned a playoff spot by beating ESM a week later.
Unlike the Spartans, the Red Rams would not get shut out, putting itself on the board in the second quarter with Evan Dougherty’s 37-yard dash to the end zone.
However, that came after Carthage had gone in front 14-0, scoring on Jake Demko’s 10-yard run and Nick Cavalier’s 44-yard pass to Calvin Harper. Then Cavalier found Harper on another 44-yard scoring strike after Dougherty’s TD, and the Comets were up 21-7 at halftime.
Though J-D had time to catch up, it did not convert again until Adam Honis scored from two yards out in the fourth quarter, and by then Carthage had the game out of reach.
Honis only completed 14 of 36 passes for 151 yards and was intercepted twice. Demko led the Comets with 115 yards on 27 carries, scoring a second time on a 10-yard run after Cavalier threw a TD pass to Luke Peroli and Casey Farrell hit a 35-yard field goal.
Meanwhile, in Class AA, CBA was the guest at West Genesee’s first playoff home game since 2011, and found itself in catch-up mode from the game’s opening minutes.
The Brothers fumbled on its first possession at its own 32-yard line. Having created a turnover, the Wildcats saw it turn into points when, on the very next play, Tyler Cook threw deep – and found tight end Chandler McAvan, who went to the end zone.
Riley Small converted the extra point, and Small returned later in the first quarter to cap off another WG drive with a 25-yard field goal that made it 10-0 going to the second period.
Mixing runs and passes well, the Wildcats further extended its lead with 7:07 left in the half when Brad May broke free up the middle for a 15-yard touchdown dash.
Not content with that, WG put together another drive as the first-half clock wound down, reaching the Brothers’ three before Cook found Ben Rustay in the end zone with 2.3 seconds to play.
Though May, from five yards out, and Eddie Hebert, from nine yards out, would add touchdown runs in the second half, the bigger story was another superb performance by the Wildcats’ defense.
For the fourth time this season, WG’s first-team unit did not allow any points, the lone CBA score coming on a Jack Szatkowski interception return in the fourth quarter.
