SYRACUSE – A bid at more history for the Christian Brothers Academy football team was nearly turned back at the final hurdle. Brayden Smith and Darien Williams would not allow it.

Smith’s 35-yard pass to Williams on the game’s final play allowed the Brothers to defeat Albany CBA 41-40 Saturday night at the JMA Wireless Dome and, in a miraculous manner, earn a second consecutive state Class AA championship and third state title in four years.

Williams called the moment “a blessing”, while Smith said it was a perfect example of his team overcoming serious adversity as CBA Syracuse trailed by as much as 12 points in the fourth quarter before pulling back within range, 40-35, and making a fourth-down stop at its own 22-yard line with 42 seconds left to keep CBA Albany from running out the clock.

Out of time-outs, Smith, after a short completion used up several seconds, found Daunte Bacheyie for a 28-yard completion. A penalty on the ensuing spike gave the Brothers five yards and, after an incompletion, Smith again threw to Bacheyie, reaching the CBA Albany 35 with three seconds left.

One play remained – one which will live forever for every player and fan who witnessed it unfold.

CBA Syracuse lined up four receivers on the right, but had Williams on the left. At the snap, Smith initially stayed in the pocket, then drifted left to buy himself some time before sending the ball to the end zone.

Despite five CBA Albany players waiting to break up the pass, it sailed over them and Williams, who had slipped behind them, caught it, triggering a wild celebration on the CBA Syracuse sideline as its players poured onto the field while the opposing side reacted with sadness and shock.

CBA carried a heavy edge of experience from playing and winning big games before. Aside from its 27-game win streak there was also a 42-1 in its last 43 games dating back to the 2021 state Class A championship run.

Yet this did not discourage CBA Albany, who made an opening statement on a pass from Archie Jones to Anthony Coluccio that covered 55 yards and set the tone for an evening full of great performances from both sides.

From its own 6, CBA Syracuse put together a drive which consumed more than nine minutes of clock. The Brothers converted a second fourth down with a run from Quinten Lewis that set up his own six-yard touchdown in the opening minute of the second period, but The extra point was missed.

Less than two minutes later CBA Albany answered and took a 7-6 lead. Two completions by Jones to Coluccio and Jake Marra put in on the CBA Syracuse 29 where Jones, with an effective play-action fake, drew in the entire defense and threw to a wide-open Marra for the score.

CBA Syracuse went three-and-out and a bad punt snap led to a short kick and CBA Albany again converted when, from the 23, Jones found Lucius Anderson in the end zone.

The 14-6 deficit was the largest CBA Syracuse had faced all season, but it had a emphatic response, driving 71 yards mixing runs and passes until Isaiah Coleman scored from three yards out. The two-point pass from Smith to Keighlin Hicks tied it 14-14.

Again CBA Albany countered, sparked by Amare’ Coffil, who went 34 yards on a catch-and-run to spark a 65-yard drive that he finished catching a four-yard TD pass from Jones with 49 seconds left in the half.

But offering a preview of what it would do at game’s end, Smith drove CBA Syracuse from his own 30 sparked by a 37-yard pass to Williams. Four plays later at the CBA Albany one with 11 seconds to play, Smith found Bacheyie in the end zone, and the state final went to halftime 21-21.

Neither team had committed a turnover, but that changed when J.T. Vogel picked off Smith early in the third quarter and returned it to the CBA Syracuse 26. Jones then threw his fourth TD pass of the night 14 yards to Coluccio before the extra point was blocked, neither side imagining how important that would be later.

Then it was Marra’s turn, diving to intercept a tipped Smith pass at midfield and then, as the quarter wound down, striking again when he caught a 37-yard TD pass from Jones to stretch CBA Albany’s advantage to 33-21.

Lacking big plays most of the game, CBA Syracuse finally got one when Austin Ariola broke loose for a 35-yard TD run with 10:43 to play, the extra point cutting the deficit to 33-28.

Jones scrambled 25 yards on a third-down-and-23 just when it looked like CBA Syracuse would get the ball back. Instead, two plays later Jones hit Coffil for a 37-yard strike that set up Anderson’s three-yard TD run with 6:54 left.

Refusing to go away, CBA Syracuse cut it to five, 40-35, with a drive from midfield that Smith converted by scoring on a four-yard scramble with 5:06 to play. Jones then made another great escape with a 27-yard pass to Coffil which, combined with Thomas Toher’s big gains on the ground, allowed CBA Albany to run the clock down to less than a minute.

That was enough time, though, for CBA Syracuse’s defense to force Jones into a fourth-down incomplete pass. Seventy-eight yards and 42 seconds later, Smith and Williams had the final say.