BALDWINSVILLE – What was billed, at the outset, as a showdown for first place in the area Class AA football ranks quickly turned into another reminder of who still sat on top.
Cicero-North Syracuse marched into Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium Friday night and, long before halftime, established full control on both sides of the ball against Baldwinsville, scoring on its first four possessions and eventually earning a 40-7 victory over the Bees.
Though it was B’ville entering the game undefeated at 3-0, it still only had the no. 24 state ranking, well behind C-NS at the no. 8 spot, a reflection of the respect the Northstars garnered for its three consecutive Section III and regional Class AA titles.
The Bees were determined, in front of a large and loud home crowd on Senior Night, to change that equation, but the plan fell apart on the second play from scrimmage, a fumble that C-NS lineman Jerrod Hills recovered at the B’ville 29-yard line.
With a short field, the Northstars gave it three times to Jamar Ballard, who covered the entire 29 yards, the last three of them for a touchdown just 2:13 into the game.
On its second possession, C-NS again stuck with the ground game, and with Ballard, who carried it on all but one play for 53 of the 64 yards, scoring for the second time from six yards out to make it 14-0.
Having established one part of its offense, the Northstars showcased the other when it got the ball a third time, thanks to sophomore quarterback Jaxon Razmovski.
A 25-yard strike to Mason Ellis, who made a juggling catch, was quickly followed by a 38-yard scoring strike to Vinnie Latanzio in single coverage early in the second quarter.
Again working with a short field, the Northstars, facing fourth-down-and-four at the Bees’ 36, again gave it to Ballard, who charged up the middle and didn’t get stopped until he had scored his third TD of the half.
B’ville did briefly recover with a long scoring drive as Caden Cox threw an 18-yard scoring pass to Nick Huhtala just before halftime, making it 28-7.
And while that created the exact same score as it was when C-NS rallied to beat Liverpool on that same field the last time it played there in the 2019 sectional Class AA semifinal, there would be no comeback this time.
After a scoreless third period, the Northstars locked it up early in the fourth quarter with its other quarterback, senior Anthony Testa, scrambling on some plays and throwing 29 yards to Ellis, who made another spectacular catch, to set up Farouk Ibrahim’s six-yard TD run. Jason Bartlett added a score from two yards out a few minutes later.
Both teams wore special “TC” patches on their helmets to honor Tyler Christman, the 14-year-old Carthage High School freshman who passed away Tuesday, three days after injuries suffered in a junior varsity football game against West Genesee.
C-NS coaches also wore special red sweatshirts with Tyler’s no. 12 on the back, and a moment of silence was held before the game in Tyler’s memory.
What still lies ahead for the Northstars is an Oct. 8 showdown with Liverpool, who rebounded from its loss to B’ville a week ago by going to Nottingham and riding an opportunistic defense to a 34-18 victory over the Bulldogs.
Neither team got on the board until the second quarter, when the Warriors took charge with 21 unanswered points, the second of which was a Nottingham fumble that Bruce Wingate returned for a TD.
La’Quan Lemon, the one-time C-NS star, got his first points for Liverpool on a 15-yard run as Dakari Mack also found the end zone before halftime.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Warriors’ defense twice ran back interceptions for touchdowns in the second half, helping the team improve to 2-2 overall (2-1 league) ahead of next Saturday’s game at Utica Proctor, a day after C-NS hosts Henninger.
