CENTRAL NEW YORK – All through its first three games, the Fayetteville-Manlius football team dealt with a fair amount of excitement, each of those games decided in the last minute or in overtime.
Having gone 1-2 in those contests, the Hornets were eager to have a respite from late-game dramatics, and got it last Friday when it went to Jamesville-DeWitt and rolled past the Red Rams 35-12.
With the Hornets back at the .500 mark, attention turned to two high-profile games involving Class A foes on Saturday afternoon.
East Syracuse Minoa, whose April 8 game with F-M was canceled when the Spartans went on a COVID-19 pause, intended to play three games by month’s end.
And it began last Saturday with the Spartans up against undefeated Whitesboro, who proved that its 3-0 mark was legitimate with a first-half scoring blitz that proved decisive as ESM lost, 45-21, to the Warriors.
A week removed from a dramatic 29-28 OT win over archrival New Hartford, Whitesboro did not have a letdown, scoring four times in the first half while bolting to a 28-6 advantage.
Jeff Cubino’s pair of short touchdown runs were followed, in the second quarter, by James Kraeger throwing a 39-yard TD pass to Stephen Dorozynski and a five-yard scoring strike to Ryan Bushey.
Only ESM’s defense kept it from getting worse, Ben Cesarini intercepting a Kraeger pass and returning it 67 yards for the lone Spartans points of the half.
When Rocky El caught a four-yard TD pass from Tyler Bell early in the third quarter, ESM pulled within 28-13, but the Warriors got away for good with two more big plays – a 57-yard TD pass from Colin Skermont to Dashawn Hutchinson and Cubino scoring again from 21 yards out.
Bell would add a late 21-yard TD pass of his own, to Nate Pullano, on a day where he completed 18 of 30 passes for 178 yards as Mikal Combs ran the ball 22 times for 108 yards.
If all goes as planned, ESM would have its own game Saturday against J-D followed by an April 28 finale against Indian River.
Christian Brothers Academy rode a two-game win streak to Holland Stadium Saturday, where it faced 3-0 Auburn and, in yet another game decided in the final minute, fell 20-14 to the Maroons.
One-point defeats to F-M and West Genesee had steeled the Brothers, who dominated the first quarter at Auburn with a pair of drives that led to touchdowns – a five-yard run by Tristan Kofronta and a 21-yard run by Davion Irby.
Down 14-0, Auburn began to battle back, scoring to cut the margin to eight, but seeing Alex Smith force a fumble deep in CBA territory that allowed the Brothers to go to the break still up 14-6.
Midway through the third quarter, Troy Churney connected with DeSean Strachan, just as he had a period earlier, on a screen pass that turned into a 36-yard TD dash, but Auburn again missed the conversion.
So it was still 14-12 in CBA’s favor when, as time wound down, the Maroons drove to the Brothers’ 38. There, Churney threw down the sideline and found Zach Gabally, who kept his feet inbounds and reached the end zone with 53 seconds to play.
That still gave the Brothers time, and it drove to Auburn’s 27, only to have Demetrius Herndon break up a possible pass to the end zone as the clock ran out. CBA closes its season Friday against Fulton.
