ONONDAGA COUNTY – As it is lining up, the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse football teams will sit second and third, respectively, in the Class AA football standings at the conclusion of the regular season.
This means that, if their form holds, the two rivals can already anticipate a Section III semifinal against one another with the prize a berth in the Nov. 16 final at the JMA Done.
All of this was still well in the future, though, even after both the Warriors and Northstars earned victories last week.
In Liverpool’s case, it was a Saturday-afternoon game at Henninger that quickly turned into a festival of big plays and scoring drive for the Warriors as, by a 54-8 margin, it bashed the Black Knights and improved to 6-1 overall.
Toying with Henninger’s defense, John Sindoni threw for a career-best six touchdowns, most of them in a first half where Liverpool bolted out 28-0 in the opening period and made it 47-0 by halftime.
Completing 18 of 23 passes for 312 yards, Sindoni threw three of those scoring passes to Antonio Rivera, who had four catches overall for 93 yards. Christian Washington’s pair of catches covered 70 yards as he, along with Owen Brown and Oakley Keegan, each found the end zone once.
The early lopsided score allowed most of the Warriors’ roster to see some playing time, especially on defense, where no single player had more than Bailey O’Connor’s total of four tackles as he added a fumble recovery. Ty’Kere Jones also recovered a fumble and Sam Benzinger had an interception.
C-NS played back on Thursday night at Bragman Stadium against Fayetteville-Manlius, who had won two in a row since an 0-4, but a big effort from Miy’Jon McDowell and Owen Ellis helped the Northstars pull away late and subdue the Hornets 36-12.
All through the first half F-M did a solid job of containment, limiting C-NS to a single McDowell TD of two yards and Jakob Purdy’s 35-yard field goal.
What was more, the Hornets, trailing 9-0, found the end zone twice and found itself holding a 12-9 lead before McDowell truly took over.
From the F-M 27, McDowell dashed to the end zone, giving the Northstars the lead for good. Then a quick defensive stop and long Ellis punt return led to McDowell’s third TD from 12 yards out.
Ellis struck for his own long TD run on a 41-yard sprint early in the fourth quarter, with McDowell going nine yards to score for a fourth time and seal the victory.
McDowell finished the game with 174 yards on 24 carries, while Brennan Tyler, getting his turn under center, completed four of 11 passes for 74 yards.
Connor Bednarski and Xander Provost gave the Northstars defense nine tackles apiece. The unit also recovered four fumbles, one each by Provost, Marcus Reed, Donovan Chaney and Omar Waller, with Reed and Anthony Dillarcipretto each netting eight tackles, Chaney getting six tackles and LaCuzio Wright five tackles.
C-NS hosts Baldwinsville next Friday in the regular-season finale at 6:30 as Liverpool is home Saturday to face Utica Proctor at 1 p.m.
