Anyone still on the East Syracuse Minoa football team that was around in 2017 and 2018 did not require any kind of motivation for Friday night’s game at Jamesville-DeWitt.
Defeats in each of the last two seasons against the Red Rams left the Spartans quite eager to turn things around – which it did, marching onto J-D’s home turf and shutting them out 30-0.
Both teams were operating off a short week, though ESM’s Sept. 7 game was an easy win over Rochester Edison Tech and J-D had gone two overtimes in a 27-26 defeat to Westmoreland/Oriskany.
With all the energy a neighborhood rivalry provides, the two defenses took charge during a scoreless first quarter, but everything changed once the second period started.
A decisive 23-point barrage began with ESM moving to the Rams’ three-yard line and sophomore quarterback Tyler Bell finding Nolan Palmer in the end zone on a slant pass across the middle.
Much the same play was used a few minutes later when the Spartans, situated at midfield, again threw short of a middle – and saw a fellow 10th-grader, Rocky El, take the short pass and use his sprinter’s speed to outrace everyone for a touchdown.
El also caught two-point conversions after both of those scoring plays, which made it 16-0, and just before halftime the margin grew further with a march to J-D’s three-yard line and Mikai Combs scoring from there.
Even if ESM cooled down on offense in the second half, its defense continued to make things miserable for J-D, holding them to just 91 rushing yards all night, so it only figured that the last touchdown came from that unit as Nate Pullano recovered a Rams fumble in the end zone.
Improving to 2-0 on the season, ESM faces PSLA-Fowler next Friday at 5 p.m. at Corcoran High School as J-D heads north to face Carthage at 7 p.m.
