CENTRAL NEW YORK – Now safely nested in the state Class AA top 10, the Christian Brothers Academy football team set its sights on finishing a second consecutive undefeated regular season.
And it did so – but it proved far more difficult and stressful than anyone associated with the Brothers wanted it to be.
Baldwinsville came to a rain-soaked Alibrandi Stadium Friday night and silenced CBA in the first half. Then, after a second-half comeback, the Brothers had to hang on late to finally defeat the Bees 20-17.
To at least some degree, this wasn’t a big surprise. B’ville had won three in a row since starting the season 0-4. What was more, the Brothers did not have Syair Torrence in the lineup, taking away a standout on both sides of the ball.
This, combined with the soggy conditions, gave the Brothers problems right from its first possession, when a fumbled snap led immediately to Caleb Young running 24 yards for the touchdown and a 7-0 B’ville lead.
All through the early stages, the Bees loaded up the line of scrimmage, confident that CBA would struggle passing in the rain – which it would, ultimately limiting Porter Matt to just 19 yards through the air.
B’ville added to its lead when Young broke several tackles on a 43-yard run which set up John Widrick’s 20-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the half.
Trailing 10-0 at the break, CBA faced its biggest deficit of the season, but it didn’t last long.
A turnover by the Bees midway through the third quarter set up Jamiel Handford’s nine-yard TD run. Then, on the first play of the final period, Handford struck again, dashing 37 yards for the go-ahead score, though the extra point was missed.
Even when Porter Matt was intercepted by Greg Marinelli deep in Brothers territory, a quick defensive stop led to a short field and Handford barreling 25 yards for his third TD of the night with 5:32 to play.
Now it was the Bees staring at a 10-point deficit, but it quickly moved down the field and, with 2:12 left, moved within three when Marinelli found Brady Garcia for a 25-yard scoring pass.
Attempting to run out the clock, CBA, on third-down-and-long, chose to throw -and Garcia intercepted Matt at midfield, giving B’ville a chance to win, but three incompletions was followed by a long fourth-down throw that Zion Green intercepted to clinch it for the Brothers.
As that went on, East Syracuse Minoa went to Central Square and lost, 22-6, to the Redhawks, while Fayetteville-Manlius put up points against visiting Liverpool, yet took a 34-22 defeat to the Warriors.
Back on Thursday night, Jamesville-DeWitt traveled to Mexico and, despite finally seeing its offense show some life, still took a 42-20 defeat to the Tigers.
Bryce Dadey scored on a one-yard run and, when Terrell Willis found the end zone from 12 yards out early in the second quarter, the Red Rams had a brief 14-7 advantage.
But Mexico proceeded to put up 21 unanswered points the rest of the half . Despite Zion Garelick’s 33-yard TD run in the third period that cut it to 26-20, the Tigers scored twice late on long runs of 52 yards by Seth Wilson and 63 yards by Brayden Mack.
In eight-man football, Bishop Grimes met Thousand Islands and took a 36-14 defeat to the Falcons to fall to 3-3 overall.
Jason Royal provided a couple of early spectacular moments, sprinting 70 yards for a TD and, after TI tied it 6-6 in the second quarter, returning the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for six points, then adding the two-point conversion.
That 14-6 advantage did not last, though. An 85-yard scoring run by Ryan Calhout and two-point conversion tied it again, 14-14, by halftime, and the Cobras were shut out in the second half as Jackson Ludlow ran for one TD and threw for two others.
Grimes will face unbeaten Frankfort-Schuyler in Friday’s opening round of the Section III playoffs, while in Class A ESM visits Auburn and, in Class AA, F-M visits Baldwinsville and CBA hosts Henninger.
