CENTRAL NEW YORK – Having locked up their respective league championships, the Christian Brothers Academy and Fayetteville-Manlius football teams had nothing at stake in their respective regular-season finales.
Still, both wanted to go into the Section III playoffs undefeated, but only the Brothers were able to do so, dominating the first half against visiting Pittsford (Section V) Friday night and topping the Panthers 33-7.
CBA wasted little time, twice driving down the field in the first quarter and twice finding the end zone on short scoring runs of two and five yards by running back Tez Thomas.
Then the passing game got showcased as the Brothers, up 12-0, saw Jordan Rae move his team to the one and then find Jason Brunson in the end zone before throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Amarri Pitts.
Not content with that, Rae added a 36-yard scoring run right before halftime that made it 33-0, the Brothers then backing off during the second half as starters rested for the upcoming post-season.
As for F-M, it made a trip to face Section IV’s Elmira holding the no. 6 state Class A ranking, but finding itself unable to slow down the Express in a 31-16 defeat.
The Hornets never got on the board until Elmira had built up a 31-0 advantage. A pair of touchdowns and two-point conversions erased half the deficit, but it proved too late.
That wasn’t the wildest game of the night, though. East Syracuse Minoa had it against Carthage, dragged to four overtimes before it lost, 49-43, to the Cougars.
Down 14-7 after three quarters, the Spartans rallied to tie it, 21-21, leading to OT, where in high school each team gets a possession on the opponent’s 20-yard line.
Neither defense could stop the other as ESM and Carthage both recorded touchdowns and extra points in the first two extra periods.
Starting in the third OT a team has to go for two points if it gets a TD. The Spartans were successful, earning eight points – but so were the Comets, which made it 43-43.
Only in the fourth OT did the Spartans get stopped, and a Carthage touchdown decided matters, Josh Bigelow leading the Comets by gaining 141 yards on 37 carries and netting three TD’s.
And it overshadowed quite a game from ESM’s Mikah Combs, who set career marks with 227 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Damon Jones caught seven passes for 122 yards as Nick Commisso completed eight of 20 passes for 142 yards.
Jamesville-DeWitt went up against Central Square Friday and took a 43–0 defeat to the Redhawks, who bolted to a 37-0 halftime lead led by Anthony Miga and Bradyn Chapman, who each got two touchdowns.
Bishop Grimes got another win in eight-man football on Saturday, the Cobras edging South Lewis 38-34.
Chol Mo and Dario Nicotra both scored in the first quarter, Nicotra on a 23-yard run. Then Logan Quackenbush found the end zone and Bruno Kinsey, who broke his own school record for tackles in a season, dashed 55 yards for a TD.
All this gave Grimes a 26-14 halftime lead on the Falcons. Despite this, and even with Kinsey adding a second TD on a 16-yards run, South Lewis went in front in the fourth quarter.
However, one more Cobras drive went to the South Lewis one before Quackenbush converted what proved to bet the winning touchdown, Grimes improving its overall record to 4-3.
