CENTRAL NEW YORK – It took until the third game of the 2022 season for the Fayetteville-Manlius football team to surrender a point.
In fact, the Hornets gave up plenty of points in last Thursday’s home game against West Genesee, but thanks to an unstoppable ground attack, it still beat the Wildcats 29-20 to move to 3-0 overall.
Those shutouts of Auburn and Watertown by a combined 97-0 margin were quickly forgotten when, on WG’s third play from scrimmage, Vincent Firenze threw deep and found Dom Burris for a 69-yard touchdown pass.
However, once F-M had the ball, it quickly found that it could gash the Wildcats for large chunks of yardage, regardless of whether T.J. Conley or George LaCombe was carrying it.
Conley and LaCombe each netted short TD runs that gave the Hornets a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter, only to have WG pull even again when Firenze connected with Burris on a 40-yard scoring pass.
Early in the third quarter, Conley’s second TD again put the Hornets in front, and again WG answered, leaning on tailback Francisco Cross (12 carries, 160 yards) to set up the air attack.
Firenze’s third TD pass, 11 yards to Rob Newell, on the first play of the final period pulled the Wildcats within one, but it decided to try for two points and the lead.
F-M stopped it and, with that momentum, drove again down the field. LaCombe scored a second time and, when the Hornets did convert a two-point play, it put the game out of reach.
Conley’s 23 carries for 207 yards was nearly equaled by LaCombe, who set a career mark with 193 yards on 23 carries.
This weekend, F-M takes on East Syracuse Minoa, who sought its first win of the season last Friday against New Hartford after close defeats to Corcoran and Auburn (in overtime).
But ESM could not get on the board in this Spartan clash, falling 20-0 as New Hartford scored single touchdowns in each of the last three quarters, two of them by Alex Collver, who controlled the game thanks to his 216 rushing yards on 28 carries.
Bishop Grimes had opened its eight-man football season Sept. 10 with a 38-22 loss to New York Mills, a game where the Marauders had 30 unanswered points in the second and third quarters to take control.
Bruno Kinsey completed seven of 14 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns, both to Dario Nicotra, who had four catches for 95 yards. Kinsey also ran for 71 yards and a score as, on defense, Nicotra and Chol Mo both had 10 tackles, with Kinsey adding nine tackles.
Then, in Saturday’s home opener, Grimes struggled again, falling to West Canada Valley 79-28 as it awaited another home game with Thousand Islands this weekend.
Jamesville-DeWitt took on Nottingham last Friday in the Independent division, with the Red Rams only able to score twice in a 46-12 defeat to the Bulldogs.
Single scores in the second and third quarters kept things close, but Nottingham, up 25-12, began to get away with Havier Martin’s 22-yard fumble return for a TD early in the fourth quarter.
