LIVERPOOL – All the hard lessons and setbacks the Baldwinsville football team endured in the first four weeks of the season have taken hold, creating a resilience and a chance to still make 2023 special.
If nothing else, the Bees maintained the upper hand in a long-time rivalry when it went to Liverpool Friday night and, with strong play in all phases of the game, defeated the Warriors 26-15.
Liverpool had started the season 3-0 before a 62-0 defeat to CBA on Sept. 30. Now, on a short week, the Warriors were facing a B’ville side newly energized after a road win at Utica Proctor broke its four-game skid.
During a low-scoring first half, the Bees, up 6-0, appeared to gain another advantage when, late in the second quarter, Liverpool quarterback John Sindoni left the game with an injury, only to see Dom Carroll, his replacement, lead his team down the field and throw a 10-yard scoring pass to Jordan Grandinetti.
Now trailing by a point, the Bees answered with a quick drive deep into Liverpool territory and, just before halftime, John Widrick converted a field goal and B’ville took a 9-7 advantage to the break.
Sindoni returned, leading another Liverpool scoring drive early in the third quarter. From there, though, the Bees’ defense shut the Warriors down, led by Dylan Garcia’s seven tackles as Greg Marinelli and Aaron Clark had five tackles apiece.
On the other end, the Bees put together three different scoring drives and gradually wore Liverpool down. Two of those drives led to touchdowns, the other resulting in a second Widrick field goal.
All told, B’ville gained 205 yards on the ground, with Kaleb Young earning 79 yards on 21 carries. Anthony Noda added 45 yards on seven carries and scored a touchdown.
Marinelli completed eight of 16 passes for 127 yards, including a 27-yard scoring pass to Brady Garcia. He also ran for 48 yards and a score as Nico Wellman had five catches for 83 yards.
B’ville will be favored again next Friday at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium against 0-5 Fayetteville-Manlius, with the possibility that the Oct. 20 regular-season finale at Christian Brothers Academy could decide first place in the Class AA division standings.
