CENTRAL NEW YORK – For the second consecutive Friday night, the Fayetteville-Manlius football team kept an opponent off the scoreboard.
About the only contrast was that this time around, the game was on the road, at Watertown, where the Hornets, nearly echoing its shutout of Auburn the week before, roared to a 49-0 victory over the Cyclones.
It only took a couple of minutes for F-M to get on the board, Denim Hall scoring on a three-yard run, just the warm-up for another onslaught of Hornets offense.
A blocked Watertown punt led to a short field and T.J. Conley’s first touchdown on a one-yard plunge. Then Conley converted twice more on consecutive 15-yard dashes that made it 28-0.
By the middle of the second quarter, the margin was larger as D.J. Concannon found Hall on a short pass that turned into a 40-yard TD sprint. When Conley scored a fourth time, F-M took a 42-0 advantage to halftime.
With the game well in hand, reserves played most of the second half, though Colin Clark converted from 37 yards out as F-M looked ahead to this Thursday night’s showdown with West Genesee, who is 1-1, having split two one-point games with Whitesboro and New Hartford.
Meanwhile, Christian Brothers Academy is also 2-0, the Brothers taking a second consecutive trip east and, in its Class AA division opener, rolling past Utica Proctor 44-6.
Having beaten Shaker at nearby Utica University a week earlier, the Brothers found this game far less stressful, racing out to a 28-0 halftime lead on the Raiders and not giving up points until its starters were resting in the fourth quarter.
Jordan Rae scored on a four-yard run and threw 13 yards to Amarri Pitts for another TD in the opening period. Much the same thing happened in the second quarter, Rae following up a 14-yard scoring dash with a 32-yard TD pass to Jason Brunson.
Overall, Rae was 10-for-15 through the air for 203 yards, adding a third TD pass to Syair Torrence with a 27-yard scoring strike in the third period. Tez Thomas scored on a 21-yard run and Everett Gilchrist banged a 42-yard field goal.
All of this leads CBA to its showdown next Friday at Alibrandi Stadium against the reigning four-time sectional Class AA champions, Cicero-North Syracuse, off to its own 2-0 start thanks to wins over Horseheads and Monroe-Woodbury.
Out at Holland Stadium Friday night, East Syracuse Minoa got its second close call in as many weeks, taking Auburn to overtime before a 12-6 defeat to the Maroons.
Trying to bounce back after a 12-7 defeat to Corcoran in the Sept. 2 opener, the Spartans got its only points in the first quarter, only to have Auburn pull even, 6-6, by halftime.
Much of the game proved a defensive struggle, including an entire second half where neither side could break the deadlock, ESM stymied by an Auburn defense that registered seven sacks, three of them by Dominic London, who had 14 tackles overall.
It went to OT, where each team gets a possession on the opponent’s 20-yard line. Going first, ESM was stopped on downs, while the Maroons drove to the Spartans’ one where Kemauri Perry scored the game-winner. Perry finished with 140 yards on 21 carries.
