ONONDAGA COUNTY – As it worked out, the four Class AA teams that won their respective league openers would all meet one another last Friday to see who would climb to the top of the standings.
When they were done, a familiar side was on top, ready to get challenged in a hostile setting that still carried some historic value.
Liverpool was upended at home 20-14 by Baldwinsville, giving itself a chance with timely big plays, only to get derailed late by its own self-inflicted errors.
the rivalry between these schools is always a special one, and a loud, overflow crowd found itself at LHS Stadium, glad to see what it could not earlier this year.
Back in the abbreviated spring campaign, these two sides had met and the Warriors won, 7-0. Liverpool again got out in front on this night, surprising the Bees midway through the first quarter when, on third-down-and-long, quarterback Jalen Graham sprinted up the middle and went 59 yards to the end zone.
For the rest of the half, though, the Bees’ defense did not allow a single first down, giving its offense ample time to get on track – which it did with a pair of patient scoring marches.
Using up seven-plus minutes bridging the first and second quarters, B’ville drove 89 yards and utilized direct snaps to running back Eagan Lehman for big gains twice on that march, though it was Sam Mellinger going two yards for the touchdown.
Lehman, who led his team with 62 yards on 12 carries, did score on a three-yard run late in the half to cap another time-consuming drive, though it was through the air that the Bees kept it alive as Caden Cox made key completions to Mellinger and Caleb Paul.
Trailing 14-7 at halftime, Liverpool caught up thanks to Jahmir Boutwell, who returned the second-half kickoff 38 yards and then, also taking direct snaps, peeled off a 34-yard run right before scoring from eight yards out.
Again, though, the Bees answered big plays with methodical precision. Using up more than seven minutes of clock, it mixed passes and runs, no play more important than Cox’s 11-yard rollout pass to Griffin Killian on fourth-and-10.
Cox then scored on a one-yard plunge, and while the extra point was missed, it turned out that B’ville didn’t need anything more.
All through the fourth quarter, Liverpool would get tripped up by its own mistakes, committing six penalties, two of which wiped out long runs that may have set up scoring chances, along with two roughing-the-kicker personal fouls.
Meanwhile, the Bees stayed turnover-free and made a critical fourth-down stop as the Warriors’ 40 with 1:29 left, improving to 3-0 overall and setting up a showdown with C-NS this Friday at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
Those Northstars welcomed Utica Proctor to Bragman Stadium for its home opener and, reminding everyone on hand that it still was the team to beat in the area Class AA ranks, roared past the Raiders 33-6.
The last time these two sides had met, C-NS had denied the Raiders its first-ever Section III Class AA championship in a 28-25 thriller in 2019 at the Carrier Dome.
While most of the rosters had changes, the memories lingered, and the Northstars, who had to come from behind in that sectional final, this time got out in front early and stayed there.
Jamar Ballard’s 14-yard TD run was the only score on either side in the first period, but that just set the table as C-NS put up 19 unanswered points in the second period to get away.
Jaxon Razmovski threw deep and found Mason Ellis for a 72-yard scoring strike, followed by Ballard going 25 yards for his second TD and Razmovski scoring himself on a one-yard plunge.
Fullback Farouk Ibrahim found the end zone on a two-yard run in the third quarter, and C-NS’s defense did the rest, blanking Proctor until the fourth quarter.
And now the Northstars would head to B’ville, playing on that Pelcher-Arcaro turf for the first time since it made its memorable comeback to stun Liverpool in the 2019 sectional semifinals. This will happen as the Warriors look to bounce back at Nottingham.
