ONONDAGA COUNTY – In their own manners, the Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy football teams have climbed to the top two spots in the Class A American division.
Whether they stay there for two more weeks before their regular-season finale on Oct. 22 remains an open question.
When it traveled to West Genesee Friday night, F-M played a superb first half on both sides of the ball, only to give most of it away in the second half before hanging on to beat the Wildcats 21-20.
By stark contrast, CBA went to East Syracuse Minoa and seemed to improve as the night went along, eventually earning a 41-19 victory over the Spartans.
Coming off an impressive home win over Whitesboro Sept. 24, F-M had sneaked into the no. 27 spot in the state Class A rankings, and was determined to spoil West Genesee’s Homecoming festivities.
Not even a blocked field-goal attempt late in the first quarter fazed the Hornets. While WG’s players froze, George LaCombe picked up the loose ball and then outraced the Wildcats 19 yards to the end zone.
Sparked by that effort, F-M dominated the rest of the half, its defense limiting WG to just one first down while it deftly mixed in T.J. Conley’s runs with well-timed pass plays.
Chris Hoalcraft threw 25 yards to a wide-open John Giuffrida early in the second quarter. Then, with 1:22 left in the half, Conley dashed 42 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown that, with the extra point, made it 21-0 at the break.
WG roared to life early in the third quarter, a short F-M punt setting up a scoring drive where, on fourth down, River Oudemool found Colin McAvan over the middle for a 15-yard touchdown.
But the extra point was missed, a crucial factor because F-M turned the ball over twice and, with a series of penalties, allowed the Wildcats to stay within range.
With 2:56 left, Oudemool hit Dom Burris on a 12-yard TD pass, but the Hornets defense stopped them just short on the two-point try to leave it at 21-12.
WG recovered an onside kick, only to have LaCombe intercept Oudemool on the next play. There was still time for the Wildcats to get it back and, with 27.7 seconds left, cut the margin to one when Oudemool again found Burris in the end zone from 16 yards out and Vincent Firenze caught a two-point pass.
But one more onside kick rolled out of bounds and F-M ran out the clock, improving to 3-1 overall as it got ready to face ESM this Friday.
The Spartans welcomed a CBA side sitting at 2-0 and no. 15 in the state Class A rankings, and promptly shut them out in the first quarter, taking a 3-0 lead on Tyler Bell’s 37-yard field goal.
Mixing it up on offense, the Brothers struck twice in the second period. Jamier Handford scored on an 18-yard run and Jordan Rae found Amarri Pitts in the end zone from 15 yards out.
Another Bell field goal kept the Spartans within range, 14-6, going to halftime, but CBA continued to move the ball at will and pulled away in the game’s latter stages.
Handford gained 166 yards on just 12 carries and scored on second-half runs of eight and 44 yards. Rae added 75 yards and a TD on eight carries and completed 10 of 18 passes for 213 yards, including a 30-yard scoring strike to Syair Torrence.
ESM did convert twice in the fourth quarter on a Bell sneak and five-yard run by Jackson Palumb. Overall, Bell was 22-for-31 for 183 yards through the air, adding 53 rushing yards.
As the Spartans and Hornets meet next Friday, CBA goes for four in a row in a big test at Indian River, who has played just twice but won both games and were no. 22 in last week’s state Class A poll.
