In the end, the Baldwinsville football team made it to the Section III Class AA playoffs because of what it did in the first half of two different games that it split against West Genesee and Fayetteville-Manlius.
Of course, the Bees could have taken away all possible stress by winning at F-M Friday night, but it could not hold on to a fourth-quarter lead in a 42-35 defeat to the Hornets.
Still, when the final Class AA-2 division standings shook out, B’ville, F-M and West Genesee (who defeated Rome Free Academy 27-14 on Friday) all finished with 2-3 league records, tying for third place behind Utica Proctor (5-0) and Cicero-North Syracuse (3-2).
When three teams tie and their records against each other are even, the tie-breaker is points differential in the first half. As such, B’ville had a plus-eight point margin, WG had plus-four and F-M had minus-12.
By that margin, the Bees ended up in the third spot, the Wildcats advanced and the Hornets missed out despite its valiant comeback against a B’ville side that again proved potent, but once more struggled on defense.
Braden McCard struck first- but not from under center. Instead, he returned an Alex Dauksza interception 55 yards for a touchdown in the opening minutes, the only B’ville points of the first quarter.
F-M answered with a scoring drive that Alex Dauksza finished off with a one-yard TD plunge and then twice took the lead in the second quarter thanks to scoring runs of five yards by Jack Nucerino (who finished with 181 yards on 25 carries) and 32 yards by Will Duncanson.
Both of those times, B’ville provided an answer, Willie Strong dashing five yards for one TD and Pat May catching a 20-yard pass from McCard for another, which left the two sides at 21-21 going into halftime.
May’s second TD came on a 14-yard run in the third quarter to give the Bees a 28-21 lead. F-M pulled within one as Dauksza scored from three yards out, only to have the Hornets miss the conversion.
So when McCard hit May on a 37-yard scoring pass early in the fourth quarter and Joe Kenney added his fifth consecutive extra point, the Bees had a 35-27 edge, but would not score again.
It was Dauksza’s 15-yard TD pass to Jake Leuze, plus a two-point run from Duncanson, that tied it 35-35, and when the Hornets finally made a key defensive stop, it drove once more to the goal line, where Duncanson’s one-yard plunge won it.
Strong had a fine game in the backfield, carrying the ball 22 times for 156 yards. McCard completed nine of 13 passes for 113 yards as May caught six of those passes for 87 yards and threw a 27-yard completion, too.
Aside from that, May had a part in 17 tackles, 11 of them solo efforts. Kolby Hahn had 13 tackles (nine solo), with Nate Robinson adding 10 tackles. Dan Fabrizio (nine tackles), Colton Lacey (eight tackles) and Dan Ewald (seven tackles) were close behind.
After Corcoran beat Henninger 20-14 in overtime last Saturday to finish second in the AA-1 division, the Bees’ first-round playoff match with the Cougars at Corcoran Stadium this Friday was set, the winner to get Utica Proctor or CBA in the semifinals.
