All the excitement and buzz built up by the Christian Brothers Academy football team in two lopsided victories to open the 2023 season nearly was silenced in Friday night’s game against Corning.
It took a fourth-quarter comeback for the Brothers to put away the Hawks 49-40, an outcome not expected when Corning was routed by Cicero-North Syracuse 48-8 a week earlier.
Right away, though, state Class AA no. 8-ranked CBA’s defense faced struggles containing the Hawks, who used a pair of touchdowns and two-point conversions to lead 16-9 after one quarter.
Through the game’s middle stages, the Brothers would move the ball at will, only to see Corning do the same, the sides exchanging touchdowns and momentum shifts.
As the final period started, CBA trailed 40-38, but it was finally able to make a key stop in the closing minutes after the Brothers reclaimed the lead for good.
Enjoying a career-best performance, Brothers quarterback Porter Matt completed 21 of 32 passes for 342 yards, an average of better than 11 yards per completion, along with five TD passes.
Not far away, East Syracuse Minoa was able to get its first victory of the season, pulling away in the late going to get past PSLA-Fowler 47-24.
If anything motivated the Spartans, it was a late first-quarter drive where, up 6-0 thanks to Mikah Combs’ 14-yard TD run, it fumbled at the Falcons’ seven and watched Bryan Aponte return it 93 yards for a score, the two-point conversion giving Fowler an 8-6 edge.
Determined to take care of the ball, ESM did so and promptly scored four touchdowns in the second quarter, two of them by Combs on a 20-yard dash and one-yard plunge after Damon Jones scored on a 10-yard run and 24-yard pass from Nick Commisso.
Ahead 34-24 at the break, ESM adjusted on defense, kept the Falcons quiet and pulled clear with two prolonged drive that led to short TD runs – one by Commisso, the other by Combs.
In eight-man football, Bishop Grimes, finally playing its first full game of 2023, found itself in a tense defensive battle against South Lewis, but prevailed 14-6 over that group of Falcons.
Late in the first quarter, the Cobras got on the board with Avery Pankow’s two-yard scramble and a two-point pass to Antonio Fletcher, and neither side would score for the rest of the half.
Not until the latter stages of the third period did Grimes make it 14-0, driving to the South Lewis nine before Dario Nicotra found the end zone.
And though Tyler Clark answered with a Falcons TD from eight yards out, Grimes resumed its strong defensive effort and saw the game out, the Cobras to take on Onondaga next weekend.
Back on Thursday night, Fayetteville-Manlius had its second game of the season against Rome Free Academy, and while again it was solid on offense, the defense could not contain the Black Knights in a 33-20 defeat.
F-M had displayed that its ground game was still solid in its season-opening loss to Horseheads on Sept. 8, where Colin Clark had gained 226 yards on 20 carries, following it up with 177 yards on the ground against RF.
An active first half saw the Hornets get on the board with Owen McCarthy’s first-quarter TD, but that came as RFA converted twice.
Clark would strike twice in the second period, taking a short Jack Hearn pass and turning into a 72-yard scoring play that cut the Black Knights’ lead to 14-13.
Again, RFA would convert, and again F-M answered, driving to the Black Knights’ one before Clark got his second TD that inched the Hornets in front 20-19.
But Evan Caidan-Stephenson’s 48-yard TD pass to Jaiden Holmes late in the half gave RFA the lead for good, and the Black Knights contained F-M in the second half , adding a third Holmes TD late in the third quarter.
Any result, though, was overshadowed by concerns raised when F-M offensive lineman Francis Barr suffered a serious injury. For more than 10 minutes, Barr was attended to, ultimately going to the hospital, where he was responsive and was expected to make a full recovery.
Jamesville-DeWitt, so close to victory in its Sept. 8 opener against Newark, found a far different result six nights later when it lost 48-0 to Cortland.
Daesean West’s 30-yard fumble return for a TD off a Red Rams turnover led to a 21-point second quarter for the Purple Tigers as its defense constantly thwarted whatever J-D attempted.
Robert Atkins threw for a score and joined teammate Wyatt Tinker with a pair of rushing TD’s, Atkins completing seven of nine passes for 148 yards as Gage Burlingame ran for 141 yards on 17 carries.
