In their own manners, football teams from Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool got off to quick starts on Labor Day weekend.
At SUNY-Brockport on Saturday afternoon, the Northstars, winners of the last five Section III Class AA titles, put together a comprehensive performance in defeating Section VI’s West Seneca West 34-14.
A night earlier, on home turf at LHS Stadium, Liverpool unleashed a much-improved offense on Section II’s Ballston Spa, piling up points throughout the evening and defeating the Scotties 61-44.
Returning several stars on offense from 2022, C-NS broke things open with West Seneca West by netting 21 points in the second quarter to emerge from a 7-7 tie.
The combination of quarterback Jaxon Razmovski and receiver Davine Bennett had already connected for a 32-yard touchdown pass in the opening period, and then combined twice more, on scoring passes of 17 and 30 yards.
Right before halftime, Razmovski scored on a one-yard plunge, which made it 28-7. And while the offense cooled down, the Northstars’ defense stepped up, even as it broke in a group of new starters.
Clinching it in the third quarter, C-NS had Tristan Johnson intercept a West Seneca West pass and return it 70 yards for a touchdown. The Northstars are back at Bragman Stadium next Friday to meet Corning in its home opener.
Liverpool, seeking to improve from last season’s 2-6 struggles, found, against Ballston Spa, that it might have an explosive attack centered around quarterback John Sindoni and running back Owen Brown.
Breaking out to a 13-0 first-quarter lead, the Warriors had Sindoni throw a TD pass to Jordan Grandinetti and scramble four yards for another score.
Twice in the second period, Sindoni found Gradinetti for scoring passes of nine and 16 yards after Ny’Quez Madison got points on the board for the defense by returning a Scotties interception 44 yards for a TD.
With a 34-12 halftime lead, the Warriors turned to the ground game in the second half, which was necessary, since Ballston Spa would put up 30 points the rest of the way.
Brown frequently got the ball, ultimately carrying the ball 30 times for 205 yards and netting three touchdowns, the longest of them a 15-yard run. Sindoni, who was 19-for-28 for 207 yards, added a fourth TD pass of five yards to Jayden Devereaux.
Similar to C-NS, Liverpool has a Section IV opponent for its second game of the season, visiting Elmira on Friday night.
