Great as the West Genesee football team felt in the wake of defeating Nottingham 13-12 in the Sept. 2 Kickoff Classic at the Carrier Dome, the reality hit six days later.
It came in the form of a trip to Alibrandi Stadium, where defending Section III Class AA champion Christian Brothers Academy proved efficient in defeating the Wildcats 35-16.
WG did catch the Brothers on a short week, since it had played Sunday in the Dome, shutting out Henninger 41-0. The Wildcats were not kept off the board, but by the time it did, CBA was in control.
SirVocea Dennis got CBA on the board with the only points of the first quarter on a seven-yard TD pass to Hasan Bridges-Beyah, and threw a 28-yard scoring pass to Malcolm Jackson in the period.
In between, Stevie Scott broke loose on a 42-yard TD run, and the Brothers had a comfortable 21-3 lead by halftime as WG did put together a drive that led to Brendan Hammerle’s 25-yard field goal.
Liam Barry threw a 20-yard scoring pass to Ben Rustay in the third quarter, but that was sandwiched in between two scoring drives by CBA that Dennis finished with a five-yard TD scramble and a three-yard pass to Bridges-Beyah, which put the game away. Tyler Cook scored from three yards out in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Bishop Ludden won at home for the second consecutive week, handling Westmoreland in a 46-7 victory over the Bulldogs.
Originally, the Gaelic Knights were supposed to face Sauquoit Valley, but schedule changes caused by shifts of some teams to eight-man football ultimately sent Sauquoit home to face South Jefferson, where it beat the Spartans 28-20.
Ludden, for its part, didn’t care who was on the other side, and Westmoreland proved quite generous on the game’s first play from scrimmage, a fumble that Joe Connor returned 25 yards for a touchdown.
The Bulldogs got a defensive TD of its own when Dominick Russello returned Shi’kem Lee’s interception 47 yards to the end zone, and Lee got picked off again minutes later – but after a Ludden defensive stop, the hosts began to settle down.
In fact, the Gaelic Knights scored twice more by the end of the first quarter. Lee ran 11 yards for one TD and threw 11 yards to Connor for another, all of which made it 22-7 going to the second period.
Minutes after Lee threw a third interception, Ludden’s defense forced a punt, and Tamir Rowser broke free on a 47-yard dash to the end zone with 7:49 left in the half.
Leading 28-7 at the break, the Gaelic Knights broke three big plays in the second half. Two came from the offense, including Lee’s 35-yard scoring pass to Connor and Rowser’s second long TD, a 69-yard run.
Having done such a great job erasing Ludden’s mistakes throughout the night, it only figured that the Gaelic Knights’ defense scored the final points as Se’vaughn Williams returned a fumble 70 yards to the goal line.
Rowser proved the main engine of the Ludden attack, rushing for a career-best 238 yards on just 14 carries. Lee, despite the interceptions, completed nine of 17 for 78 yards.
A big Class D showdown looms next Friday when Ludden visits Sandy Creek, also 2-0 and led by running back Joe Benedict, who has gained 505 yards and scored six touchdowns in his first two games. West Genesee has its home opener against Fayetteville-Manlius, who is also 1-1.
Jordan-Elbridge joined the 1-1 crowd on Saturday afternoon, going to Hannibal and bouncing back from its lopsided season-opening loss to Skaneateles by routing the Warriors 48-7.
Even though Hannibal had beaten Morrisville-Eaton 20-12 in its opener, the Eagles quickly gained control through a pair of first-quarter scoring drives, each of them ending in short TD runs – seven yards by Hunter Brunelle, five yards by Nate Melfi.
J-E doubled that output during the second quarter. Three different times, J-E drove down the field as Melfi not just got his second TD on a 12-yard run, but also went in on three straight two-point conversions. Aidan Carpenter added a three-yard scoring run as Dominic Walborn threw a 20-yard scoring pass to Brunelle.
By halftime, the lead was 36-7, and not content with that, the Eagles tacked on two more touchdowns as Walborn went 47 yards to Jeremiah Sparks and Marion Quigley scored from five yards out. Walborn was six-for-12 for 120 yards through the air and matched Carpenter with 84 yards on the ground. J-E hosts Marcellus next Friday at 7 p.m.