SYRACUSE – Accustomed to having its way with everyone, the Christian Brothers Academy football team had quite a different experience in Friday’s Section III Class AA championship game at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Cicero-North Syracuse maintained the game’s suspense into the fourth quarter with an outstanding all-around effort, but the Brothers did enough, especially down the stretch, to prevail 21-13, repeat as sectional champions and win its 23rd game in a row.
“This game showed that we could really push through adversity,” said senior wide receiver Darien Williams.
Quarterback Brayden Smith, who threw for one touchdown and ran for another, agreed, saying this was the “type of challenge that makes us grow as a team.”
Twelve months had changed the entire dynamic between CBA and C-NS. Now it was the Brothers as the established favorite, the reigning state champions, no. 2 in the state rankings and an accompanying aura of inevitability.
Yet C-NS did not carry the same volume of distractions (a suspended quarterback, a head coach who resigned) that it brought to last year’s title game, and was vastly improved from the side CBA beat 28-0 back in September at Alibrandi Stadium.
It was clear what the Northstars wanted to do – run as much as possible behind an imposing offensive line while, on defense, keep CBA from the big plays it had used to put away so many previous opponents.
Much of that plan would work for much of the evening, creating suspense greater than the Brothers had faced all season.
C-NS’s defense forced two turnovers on CBA’s first two drives deep into Northstars territory. Marcus Reed intercepted Brayden Smith just inside the Northstars’ 20-yard line, and when the Brothers reached the three on its next drive Smith fumbled a snap and Lacuzio Wright recovered.
A third CBA push deep into the C-NS end was stopped, too, when the Brothers could not convert fourth down inside the Northstars’ 10 early in the second period to keep it 0-0.
At the same time, though, CBA’s fast, relentless defense held C-NS to two first downs on its first three drives, never letting it reach its own 25 on any of those possessions.
On its fourth attempt CBA finally broke through, the key play a 20-yard pass from Smith to Javon Edenfield which set up Smith’s own nine-yard TD scramble with 41 seconds left in the half.
Down 7-0 at the break, C-NS was not discouraged, instead taking the second-half kickoff and putting together a 59-yard march that covered more than six minutes of clock.
A lot of It was on the ground with Miy’Jon McDowel and Anthony Johnson, especially near the end as Johnson powered 10 yards on third-and-eight and then went 17 yards for the TD that, with the extra point, tied it 7-7.
Now the Brothers were in a real fight, and were about to give up the ball deep in its own end when, on fourth down, it was bailed out by a roughing-the-kicker penalty on C-NS.
Then Williams took over. On the same Dome turf where he had 236 yards and three TD’s in his last appearance in the 2023 state final against Carmel, Williams went 17 and 21 yards on consecutive short passes to push the Brothers toward the goal line.
Early in the fourth quarter, Williams returned to catch Smith’s three-yard TD pass and put CBA back in front to stay.
A quick three-and-out followed and the Brothers, aided by more penalties and a key 32-yard completion from Smith to Daunte Bacheyie on third-and-12, doubled its margin to 21-7 when Austin Ariola scored on a one-yard plunge with 3:53 to play.
Helped by several CBA penalties the Northstars would close the gap to seven on Johnson’s three-yard TD run with 45 seconds left, but Ariola fell on the onside kick to clinch it.
Now it’s back to the state Class AA tournament. At C-NS’s Bragman Stadium next Saturday at 6 p.m. CBA meets Section IV’s Elmira in the regional final, a team the Brothers beat 40-0 in October.
