ROME – Having waited long enough to play meaningful football in 2022, the Baldwinsville football team saw that wait extended a little bit when its bus was late to Friday night’s season opener at Rome Free Academy.
Once it hit the field, though, the Bees made the Black Knights pay for any possible thought that its tardiness would translate into poor performance.
Six unanswered touchdowns, along with three different players topping 100 yards on the ground, were among the features of B’ville’s 55-13 victory at RFA Stadium.
A combination of traffic and a wrong turn delayed the kickoff, yet once play got underway the Bees didn’t take long to go in front, Brandon Levin scoring on a 46-yard run on his team’s third play from scrimmage.
Levin returned to the end zone on a 20-yard dash a few minutes later, and Greg Marinelli added a big play of his own by going 70 yards for a TD before the first quarter was done.
During the second period, Levin, who finished with 185 yards on 12 carries, scored for the third time, his 27-yard run matched by teammate Anthony Noda a few minutes earlier.
Then Levin made it 42-0 early in the third quarter, breaking free on a 60-yard scoring dash. Noda returned in the fourth quarter to add two more TD’s on runs of 10 and 22 yards.
Gaining nearly 500 yards on the ground overall, B’ville saw Noda go for 101 yards on 14 carries, while Kaleb Young had a strong night, too, with 16 carries for 111 yards behind a dominant Bees offensive line.
Defensively, Trevor Valenti and Toby McIntyre led the way, each recording eight tackles. Marinelli had four tackles as he and Andre Rathbun both picked up interceptions. Nick Fosster, Kaleb Young and Lucas Fawcett earned four tackles apiece.
And it leads to the Bees’ first big game this season,next Friday’s visit by Liverpool to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium for a 6:30 kickoff.
Now coached by Joe Sindoni, the Warriors had an impressive opening win of its own, blasting Henninger 59-24, and will be looking to avenge last year’s 20-14 defeat to B’ville at LHS Stadium.
