CICERO – A potentially towering season for the Christian Brothers Academy football team is a single victory away from ultimate fulfillment.
What was supposed to be the Brothers’ biggest test, against Buffalo Bennett in Saturday night’s state Class AA semifinal at Cicero-North Syracuse’s Bragman Stadium, turned into a 21-8 victory that proved memorable for reasons other than what happened on the field.
Late in the second quarter, with CBA already up 14-0 and on the verge of adding to that lead against the reigning state Class AA champion Tigers, frustration on the Bennett sideline boiled over.
Already hit with a series of costly penalties and unable to move the ball against a ferocious Brothers defense without its top player, Ja’Meer Thomas (who had 21 touchdowns on the season) on hand, Bennett head coach Steve McDuffie and some of his assistants began loudly protesting another personal foul called on the Tigers.
Soon it was Bennett athletic director Michael House entering the argument, and it got more heated, enough so that security had to be called in to restrain House and others.
Several more minutes of arguments followed, though, with House saying he wanted to protest the game and officials telling him he could not do so.
When things still didn’t cool down, officials sent both teams off the field, amid some talk that Bennett might forfeit the game. A long break followed, with players and fans mostly hanging out under the bleachers, awaiting word either way.
Finally, it was decided that House would be ejected, McDuffie would return to the field and the game would resume.’
All of this took more than an hour to settle. On the first play after the 70-minute delay, Jamier Handford repeated what he had already done twice – score on a short touchdown run, making it 21-0.
Before the delay, the Brothers had physically overpowered Bennett, allowing Handford and Syair Torrence to break off large chunks of yardage, helped by short fields set up by poor Tigers snaps and one blocked punt.
After Handford’s third TD, though, CBA cooled off, not quite able to have the same kind of dominant rhythm it had showed before the long delay.
Bennett would get on the board in the third quarter with Sherrad Bennard’s 56-yard TD pass to Aaron Roseboro and a two-point Bennard run, but the Brothers’ defense, with several timely sacks of Bennard and a fourth-quarter interception by Jalen Brunson near his own end zone, made sure the game got no closer.
Handford finished with 180 yards on 28 carries, with Porter Matt completing seven of 11 passes for 77 yards. Torrence, who had three sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery, and Amir Butler led the defense, each getting 11 tackles as Nolan Schimpff and Marquan Saddle had six tackles apiece. Riley Clemons-Butenko added five tackles.
Still, it was another instance of CBA seeing its own accomplishments overshadowed by what happened to the other team – something it hopes does not happen when it faces Section I’s Carmel for the state title next Sunday at 3 p.m. at the JMA Dome.
The Rams, who beat Albany CBA 35-27 in the other state semifinal, won the AA championship in 2021, the same year the Brothers won it all in Class A. Thus, it’s guaranteed that someone will win a second state title in three years.
