BALDWINSVILLE – All the concerns, questions and unknowns seemed gone for the inaugural Baldwinsville girls flag football team, replaced by a singular confidence that, for the entire first month of the season, no other local side could match.
Six games took place in April, and the Bees won them all by lopsided margins – only to run into trouble on the first day of May in the form of a revenge-minded Syracuse East.
The end result was a 13-2 defeat, with B’ville just as strong on defense as when it prevailed 28-14 in their first meeting April 4, but unable to get anything going on offense.
Neither side was able to put drives together most of the way. The Bees got on the board with a safety, but that was all, and East sprinted to the front thanks to quarterback Legacy Huggins.
Finding her way past B’ville’s defenders, Huggins scrambled 13 yards for one touchdown and, when unable to run, threw deep to find Ta’Kai Baker for 55 yards and what proved to be a clinching score.
Before all this, On consecutive Monday night (April 22 and 29), B’ville hosted games and won them big, first by turning back a strong challenge from Syracuse West in a 12-0 decision, the team’s third shutout of the year.
But when the Bees faced Syracuse Academy of Science last Monday night, it was far different. Four times in each half, B’ville found the end zone, setting a new mark for points as it won 56-6 over the Atoms.
This was the first of three games in five nights, all at home, and at least in theory the big one appeared to be Friday’s game with Cicero-North Syracuse, whom it beat 13-2 earlier this spring.
The loss to Syracuse East, though, meant that B’ville, for the first time, would see how it responded to adversity, and the answer came Friday night against Cicero-North Syracuse.
It was “Senior Night” for the group of players in the Class of 2024 – nine in all, including Bri Dzuba, Ella Holtman, Maddy MacCollum, Sadie Phelps, Aubrey Rizzo, Madayia Simons, Gabby Valentine and Ava Wickes.
And led by those seniors, B’ville put together a trademark defensive performance that resulted in a 12-0 shutout of the Northstars, the team’s fourth shutout of the spring which meant a 7-1 record going into games this week against Liverpool and Oneida.
