SYRACUSE – Typically, if all a football team gives up is a single field goal in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, then it’s done enough to win. Also, if a team has a 100-yard rusher, it’s in fairly good shape.
Both things applied to the Baldwinsville football team in Friday’s game at Corcoran – and it still lost.
Able to move the ball, but unable to make its way to the end zone, the Bees suffered a 3-0 defeat when the Cougars’ Asaru Pearson connected on a 32-yard field goal with nine seconds left.
B’ville was attempting to recover from the 40-7 pounding it took at the hands of Cicero-North Syracuse a week earlier and, by doing so, climb back into second place in the Class AA standings.
Corcoran, meanwhile, had lost its season opener 20-14 to Utica Proctor on Sept. 11, but then had won back-to-back games over Nottingham (34-12) and Henninger (47-13) to secure Syracuse city bragging rights.
What was quickly apparent in this game was that no one would have an easy time of it, as numerous Cougars drives were halted by a revived B’ville defense.
Nick Foster, with 10 tackles, set the pace, with Fred Pickard recording nine tackles. Sam Mellinger had six tackles as Amir Akins, Vincent Samoraj and Nick Huhtala had five tackles apiece. Ethan Haust contributed four tackles and Kaleb Paul had a fumble recovery to go with his four tackles.
When it was on offense, the Bees relied most on Mellinger, who gained 142 yards on 18 carries. However, the Cougars stifled the rest of the B’ville ground game, holding it to minus-10 yards.
Caden Cox tried 20 passes, completing nine of them for 65 yards with an interception, unable to spring the big throw that might have turned the game’s fortunes, though Nick Wellman caught two passes for 31 yards.
Deep into the fourth quarter, it remained 0-0, the game relying on which side could put together the drive it needed to decide matters before it went to overtime.
It was Corcoran that did so, moving to B’ville’s 15-yard line in the waning seconds after a short Bees punt and pass from Pearson to D’adj Love-Adair.
Though the drive stalled and no field goal in high school is a guarantee, Pearson’s kick was true, and the Cougars, with its first field goal in two seasons, had its third win in a row.
Now at 3-2 overall (2-2 league), B’ville knows that next Saturday’s game at Utica Proctor might go a long way to determining where it will stand once the Section III playoffs roll around.
