CENTRAL NEW YORK – A fifth consecutive Section III Class AA championship for the Cicero-North Syracuse football team will require it to defeat the Baldwinsville side it topped one year ago to make it four in a row.
These two sides battle this weekend at Bragman Stadium having already done so in September, a game the Bees led late in the first half before a critical Northstars touchdown, and a fourth-quarter getaway, allowed C-NS to prevail 41-19.
C-NS had no trouble with Friday’s opening-round game against Henninger, netting most of its points in the first half on the way to a 54-14 victory over the Black Knights.
As this went on, B’ville rushed for nearly 400 yards in a 58-20 romp over Rome Free Academy, with Brandon Levin getting 202 yards and Kaleb Young adding a career-best 127 yards.
A day later, Liverpool ventured to Utica Proctor, looking to avenge a regular-season defeat the Raiders and earn a spot in the semifinals against unbeaten Christian Brothers Academy, who had a first-round bye.
And this would prove to be a tense, exciting struggle, with the Warriors a few minutes from gaining victory, only to have Proctor rally and ultimately prevail 20-14 in overtime.
In no way did Liverpool’s defense resemble the unit that gave up 24 unanswered points to the Raiders in a 32-20 defeat the first time they met on Sept. 30.
Making several stops, the Warriors kept the first quarter scoreless, and remained solid even when Proctor took an 8-0 lead late in the half on Todd Abraham’s 46-yard scoring pass to Joe Depaul and a two-point pass to Jerquell Henderson.
When the third quarter got underway, Liverpool seized the momentum, first getting a big pass play when John Sindoni threw a 43-yard TD strike to Shawmeer Bradwell, cutting the Raiders’ lead to 8-6.
Then, a few minutes later, it was the Warriors moving inside Proctor’s red zone before Sindoni, from the 18, found Jah’Deuir Reese, who took it for a go-ahead score.
That, along with a two-point play, meant Liverpool was up 14-8, where it stayed deep into the final period, the Warriors only needing one or two more stops.
But with less than four minutes left, Depaul ran 16 yards for the tying TD, though Liverpool recovered to stop a possible go-ahead conversion.
Regulation ended 14-14. In high-school football OT, each team gets a possession on the opponent’s 20.
Try as it could, the Warriors could not convert its chance, while Proctor moved to the seven before Abraham found Henderson in the end zone for what would prove to be the clinching points.
