ONONDAGA COUNTY – Only on the second weekend of September did all of the area’s high school football teams find their way to the field – and each of the three Class A sides emerged victorious in their own unique manners.
Fayetteville-Manlius hosted Carthage and, led by T.J. Conley, poured on the points in a 54-14 win over Carthage, while East Syracuse Minoa outclassed Central Square 28-8 and Christian Brothers Academy erased an early double-digit deficit against Whitesboro, pulling away to prevail 34-18.
Prior to the season, F-M head coach Dan Sullivan had said his team’s depth was its main selling point, and Carthage found this out as the Hornets would run for more than 300 yards behind its veteran offensive line.
Conley flourished, carrying the ball 18 times for 170 yards and scoring five touchdowns. He didn’t do it alone, though, as Jacob Porzucek got 72 yards on just four carries and Denim Hall broke a pair of big runs amounting to 66 yards.
All of this helped the Hornets steadily build a 33-14 halftime lead, and after some early struggles F-M’s defenses kept the Comets off the board in the last two periods while its offense converted three more times.
ESM had played at the outset of Labor Day weekend, traveling to Waverly on Sept. 3 and absorbing a 31-7 defeat to the Wolverines, the only points coming from Rocky El’s 78-yard TD run in the second quarter.
Against Central Square a week later, it turned around, the Spartans getting a first-quarter TD on Tyler Bell’s 21-yard pass to Luike Shamy.
Bell scored himself on a five-yard run to extend the lead and later added a second TD run of four yards, all but clinching the game after Jackson Palumb scored from four yards out.
Defensively for ESM, Izaha Hayden had a had in 14 tackles, with Mekhi Carroll (who forced a fumble), Dan Gilkey and Devon Jones earning seven tackles apiece. Michael O’Brien had six tackles.
Then there was CBA getting underway against Whitesboro, a long-time Class A power that flexed early muscle before the Brothers’ speed and skill proved too much.
The Warriors had the only points of the first quarter when Colin Skermont found DaShawn Hutchinson on a 48-yard TD pass. Then, early in the second period, Skermont went out wide, caught a pass from Kyle Meier and went 63 yards to the end zone to make it 12-0.
Now the Brothers began to get on track as Jordan Rae ran for 30 yards on a scoring march where he finished it with a 16-yard scoring pass to Syair Torrence. CBA’s defense then forced a turnover and, with the short field, found the end zone again on Rae’s one-yard dive.
Leading 14-12 at the break, the Brothers gave up that lead when a fumble deep in its own end led to Skermont’s 20-yard TD pass to Meier, but from there CBA didn’t give up any points.
Rae’s 10-yard scoring dash late in the third quarter put the Brothers ahead for good. Then he hit Dan Anderson on a swing pass that Anderson took to the end zone 28 yards later with 7:21 left before an interception set up one more TD in the closing minutes.
Bishop Grimes, again playing eight-man football, started earlier than it first anticipated with an added game last Friday at Sauquoit Valley, a side that moved into the eight-man division late in August.
And it was the newcomers emerging on top, Sauquoit beating the Cobras 42-24 in a game where the Indians did not lead for good until it put up 20 unanswered points in a three-minute stretch of the fourth quarter.
Grimes took an 8-6 lead in the first quarter, only to have Sauquoit go back in front. In particular, turnovers hurt the Cobras as it gave the ball away three times in the first half.
They traded scores in the third quarter, with the Indians finding the end zone only to have Dominic Rossi’s pair of TD passes plus a couple of two-point conversions produce a 24-22 Cobras lead.
On the move again midway through the fourth quarter, Grimes saw the game turn when Ethan Benn picked off a Rossi pass and returned it 70 yards for six points with 6:11 to play.
Yet another turnover led to yet another Indians TD when Angelo DeBrango returned a fumble 35 yards to the end zone. Benn then hit Andrew Walker on a 40-yard scoring pass to clinch it.
