CENTRAL NEW YORK – Twice this season the Liverpool football team found itself in an adverse situation late in a game, only to get rescued by its defense.
So it happened again last Thursday night at Mike Messere Field, where an 18-point first-half lead on West Genesee nearly vanished, but the Warriors did just enough to defeat the Wildcats 35-32.
Still at no. 21 in the state Class AA rankings after its defeat to CBA on Oct. 4, Liverpool looked, for a while, to have completely worked past those troubles.
By the latter part of the second quarter, the Warriors led WG 21-3, its offense shredding a previously solid WG defense and appearing to give more than enough to its own unit to protect.
Allie Rivera scored just 3:21 into the game on a one-yard run. Just as the first quarter ended, John Sindoni found Jayden Devereaux on a nine-yard TD pass, with Rivera finding the end zone again from four yards out.
However, the Wildcats adjusted, closed the gap to 21-10 by halftime, and then scored twice more in between a big play from Liverpool, Sindoni going deep and finding Antonio Rivera for a 73-yard TD strike.
Clinging to a 28-25 edge midway through the fourth quarter, the Warriors needed a big play – and got it when John Sindoni went 19 yards to Antonio Rivera for a touchdown that, as it turned out, proved the game-winner.
WG again answered, moving within three on Jack Wade’s fourth TD pass of the night, a 10-yard strike to Brian Simmons, and then recovering an onside kick.
Just in time, though, the Warriors’ defense forced the Wildcats to fumble and Braylon Otis recovered – the same player whose fumble recovery sealed Liverpool’s tense 6-0 win over Cicero-North Syracuse in September.
Sindoni threw for 311 yards on 17-for-25 completions, with Antonio Rivera scoring twice while gaining 134 yards on just three catches. Allie Rivera also had a pair of TD’s while rushing for 61 yards on 17 carries.
Dom Carroll’s 12 tackles again paced the Warriors’ defense. Antonio Rivera put up seven tackles, while Jayden Devereaux recorded an interception to go with his four tackles.
As for C-NS, it had to wait until Saturday to play at Utica Proctor, where it had to keep responding to all of the Raiders’ challenges before emerging with a 35-28 victory.
It didn’t help C-NS that Proctor’s Dominique Cook returned an interception 80 yards for a TD in the opening minutes, but by the end of the first quarter the Northstars had found the end zone three times.
Anthony Johnson scored first, on an eight-yard run, followed quickly by Miy’jon McDowell Reid doing the same and then sprinting 45 yards for another TD.
Johnson scored from 20 yards out which spread C-NS’s lead to 28-12 by halftime, a cushion that proved helpful as the Raiders mostly contained C-NS in the second half, the only exception a drive leading to McDowell Reid going three yards for his third TD of the day.
All told, McDowell Reid gained 177 yards on 20 carries to complement Johnson’s 166 yards on 25 carries. Marcus Reed stood out on defense, earning 10 tackles as Johnson and Connor Bednarski had six tackles apiece, Bednarski adding a fumble recovery.
C-NS is back home this Friday to face Fayetteville-Manlius, while Liverpool travels to Henninger. Both games kick off at 6:30.
