Ask members of the Fayetteville-Manlius football team on Saturday afternoon if the seven-month wait for a season was worth all the stress and struggles, and they’ll answer in the affirmative.
It could not have turned out more exciting for the Hornets, who gave new head coach Dan Sullivan a victory in his debut by rallying several times and then, with a successful two-point conversion in overtime, prevailing 34-33 over Christian Brothers Academy at Alibrandi Stadium.
That it even got to OT was exciting enough.
CBA held a 26-18 lead with less than a minute to play, but F-M, pinned on its own 27-yard line, saw Chris Hoalcraft throw deep and find T.J. Conley, who dashed 73 yards to the end zone.
Then it was Hoalcraft beating the Brothers’ defenders to the goal line on a two-point run that tied the game, 26-26, and forced it into the extra period, where each team gets a possession at the 20-yard line.
The Hornets won the coin toss, deciding to play defense first. That didn’t last long as CBA quarterback Jordan Rae found Amarri Pitts on an 18-yard touchdown pass and Tristan Korfonta added the extra point.
With its own OT possession at the 20, the Hornets moved the ball to the eight, from where Conley scored to cut the margin to 33-32.
Having missed on three previous conversion attempts, a tying kick was no guarantee, so F-M went for the win – and saw Conley run outside and make his way to the end zone one last time to win it.
It was Conley who had put in the lone TD of the first quarter to give F-M a 6-0 lead, only to have the Brothers score twice in the second period as Rae threw 10-yard scoring passes to Jack Szatkowski and Amarri Pitts.
A third TD pass by Pitts, 20 yards to Sayir Torrence, was part of a third quarter where the Hornets twice saw Jack Nucerino find the end zone , once from 18 yards out, the second time on a one-yard plunge.
When Korfonta scored on a two-yard run early in the final period, CBA stretched its margin to 26-18, but as it turned out, the missed conversion kept it a one-score game, leaving F-M just enough room for a memorable comeback.
It marked the second time in as many weeks that CBA had a game decided by the outcome of a two-point try.
Seven days earlier at Mike Messere Field, the Brothers nearly completed a fourth-quarter comeback at West Genesee before falling to the Wildcats 33-32.
Three different times in the first half, the Brothers went out in front, Nate Smith and Jack Szatkowski finding the end zone before Syair Torrence’s 80-yard TD on a kick return put CBA in front 20-13 right before halftime.
WG then put up 20 uanswered points. Trailing 33-20 in the fourth quarter, the Brothers would turn to Jordan Rae, who hit Szatkowski on a 10-yard scoring pass to cut the deficit in half.
Then, as time wound down, Rae drove CBA to the Wildcats’ 20, where on the last play he threw to the end zone and hit Szatkowski, cutting the margin to one. The Brothers chose to go for two points and the win, only to get turned back by WG’s defense.
After F-M and CBA squared off, East Syracuse Minoa travels Tuesday to face Rome Free Academy at RFA Stadium before hosting Fulton on Saturday, just as F-M travels to West Genesee. That same Fulton team would serve as Jamesville-DeWitt’s season-opening opponent on Tuesday, with the Red Rams going to Auburn on Saturday.
