ONONDAGA COUNTY – In their own manners, the Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy football teams made strong home statements on Friday to move near the top of the Class A pecking order.
The Hornets, again propelled by T.J. Conley’s success on the ground, held off Whitesboro 28-20, while the Brothers, displaying its most potent offense in years, humbled Auburn 40-6.
Off a loss to Indian River on Sept. 17, F-M returned home and found itself in a tense first-half duel with Whitesboro, each side netting a single touchdown in the first two periods.
Conley’s first TD, on a 23-yard run, helped the Hornets gain a 7-6 edge. And from midfield Conley dashed 48 yards to the end zone in the second period, but the Warriors scored and got a two-point conversion, leaving it 14-14 at the break.
In the pivotal third quarter, Conley’s third TD, a 22-yard run, was not the only strike. Chris Hoalcraft rolled out right and found Ethan Powell on a 40-yard scoring pass.
Those points were neded since Whitesboro, down 28-14, scored in the closing minutes to move within eight and then, after an unsuccessful conversion, recovered an onside kick. F-M’s defense was able to make the final stop.
What made CBA’s effort all the more impressive was that it had only played once (beating Whitesboro Sept. 10), while Auburn had three games in the books and had gone 2-1.
Still, it took barely three minutes for the Brothers to jump out in front, driving to the Maroons’ 23 before Jordan Rae took off and scrambled to the end zone.
Less than two minutes later, it was 13-0, an Auburn fumble quickly leading to more CBA points as, one play later, Rae found James Bell for a 14-yard TD.
Even after the Maroons cut it to 14-6, the Brothers, on the next play from scrimmage, scored again, Rae this time unloading to Amari Pitts on a 59-yard strike.
From there, the margin just got bigger. Rae hit on his third and fourth TD passes in the second quarter, going 52 yards to Dan Anderson and seven yards to Syair Torrence.
All the while, the Brothers’ defense stifled Auburn over the last three quarters, Tez Thomas tacking on a late 80-yard TD run as CBA backed up its no. 17 state Class A ranking.
While all this was going on, East Syracuse Minoa hosted West Genesee, who was playing its first game in three weeks, but still stepped up to defeat the Spartans 27-11.
This was also the Wildcats’ first game since the events of Sept. 18, when in a junior varsity game against Carthage Comets freshman Tyler Christman fell injured and, three days later, passed away at age 14.
In the week that followed, the West Genesee community rallied around Christman’s family, from establishing a scholarship fund in his name to most of the high school students wearing red on the day of Tyler’s death. And the football team would wear a red-and-white “TC” patch when it returned to the field against ESM.
Tyler Bell’s 28-yard field goal was the only score for either side in the first quarter. WG’s defense stifled ESM the rest of the half and, in the second quarter, it went in front as River Oudemool found Dominick Burris for a 13-yard TD pass.
The Wildcats then seized command with a 93-yard scoring drive in the third quarter. Mixing runs and passes, WG got to the Spartans’ 10, from where Kenneth Davis converted.
ESM closed the gap to 14-11 on Bell’s touchdown pass to Jackson Palumb and a two-point conversion, but the Wildcats responded and clinched it when Davis scored again on a five-yard run with 1:26 left.
For the game, Bell was 19-for-35 for 208 yards. Rocky El had five catches for 92 yards, with Mikah Combs earning seven catches for 75 yards.
At 2-2 on the season, ESM hosts CBA this Friday just as F-M travels to West Genesee.
Bishop Grimes achieved a milestone in its history of eight-man football last Saturday when it defeated Weedsport for the first time.
The Cobras’ 46-22 victory was sparked by Logan Quackenbush’s trio of first-quarter TD runs covering 43, 13 and three yards. Karmelo McKelvin found the end zone in the second period and Grimes led 30-14 at halftime.
When Weedsport threatened to rally late, Dominic Rossi threw a pair of TD passes to Jon Corl covering 21 and 27 yards. Grimes improved to 2-1 and will visit Thousand Islands on Friday night.
