CENTRAL NEW YORK – In their own ways, football teams from Fayetteville-Manlius and Christian Brothers Academy made strong opening statements on Friday night.
The Hornets, propelled by 29 unanswered points in the second quarter, shut out Auburn 48-0, while at Utica University the Brothers, testing itself against Section II power Shaker, held off the Blue Bison 32-25.
At Hornets Stadium, F-M broke out after a scoreless opening period, led again by T.J. Conley, who would gain 261 yards on the ground on just 11 carries.
Right after a fourth-down stop by the Hornets’ defense at its own 20-yard line early in the second quarter, Conley broke through Auburn’s secondary and, tearing down the sideline, went 80 yards for a touchdown.
Even more damaging was a 22-second stretch initiated when Conley took a swing pass from T.J. Concannon and, breaking two tackles, broke up the middle on an 83-yard dash to the end zone.
When Auburn fumbled on the next play from scrimmage, Jack Dixon recovered and, one play later, Concannon took his turn, following blocks and breaking free 29 yards for another Hornets TD.
As if all this wasn’t enough, George LaCombe took off on a 44-yard TD sprint with 1:24 left in the half, F-M only getting the chance because Auburn committed a 15-yard roughing-the-kicker penalty on fourth down.
More followed in the second half, Rob Madden scoring on runs of 11 and 22 yards before Moneer Alboom added a three-yard TD run in the closing minutes.
Over in Utica, CBA, moved up to Class AA after winning the state Class A championship a season ago, needed to go to the wire to withstand Shaker’s challenge.
It was the Blue Bison scoring first and going up 6-0 before the Brothers tied it with Jordan Rae’s four-yard TD pass to James Bell.
Early in the second period, Rae connected with Sayir Torrence on a 16-yard scoring pass. Again Shaker pulled even, 12-12, before Jamier Handford scored from five yards out and CBA led 19-12 at halftime.
Late in the third quarter, Rae, from the Blue Bison 26, found Jason Brunson, the TD making it 26-12. And after Shaker scored a fourth-quarter TD, Handford answered with a 69-yard scoring dash that, with 8:30 left, proved to be the game winner.
Still, it was tense. The Blue Bison closed within seven and then, getting the ball back, drove into Brothers territory in the closing minutes, only to have CBA’s defense make the crucial fourth-down stop to clinch a victory.
While this was going on, East Syracuse Minoa nearly pulled out a big victory in Brad Keysor’s head coaching debut before Corcoran rallied to beat the Spartans 12-7.
Having moved from Class A, the Cougars were considered a pre-season favorite in Class A, but ESM’s defense did a terrific job containing Corcoran most of the way.
And after a scoreless first half, the Spartans went out in front in the third quarter when Dan Gilkey broke loose on a 30-yard TD run. For the game, Gilkey had 72 yards on just six carries.
Corcoran fought back, though, moving within one on Deviyne Bailey’s seven-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter and then winning it late when Jeff Felton stepped in front of an ESM pass and returned it 45 yards for the TD.
