Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012: Maximum efficiency for pair of football winners

   Leading off today: Quality trumps quantity, and don't ever forget it. Week 4 brought evidence of such in a pair of high school football games Friday.

   First, Binghamton ran only 21 offensive plays in the first half, but five of them went for touchdowns during a 55-17 steamrolling of Corning, ranked 21st in Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

   Senior Brian Alexander (10 carries, 142 yards) scored three of his five touchdowns in the first half as the Patriots took a 34-10 lead. His scoring efforts in the opening half included an 80-yard jaunt, then came back in the third quarter and scored on a 29-yard reception and a 2-yard run.

   Binghamton forced three turnovers, including an interception by Brandon Hernandez that he returned 78 yards to set up Alexander’s 4-yard TD run. In addition, Alexander made an interception at midfield and scored four plays later on a 25-yard run.

   Meanwhile, South Glens Falls ran 23 offensive plays in the final 9:42 of the first half to a mere one for Hudson Falls. No matter, however, as Hudson Falls scored two TDs in that span en route to a 20-18 non-league triumph.

   Trailing 12-6, Hudson Falls blocked a punt, and Geno Brancati (21 carries, 157 yards) scored on a 40-yard run on the next play. Three minutes later, Caleb Stevens picked off a pass and returned it 53 yards for a TD , with Steven Burch passing to Brandon Winchell for what proved to be the decisive two-point conversion.

   South Glens Falls rushed for 326 yards in a losing effort.

   A real pitchers duel: Syracuse Corcoran edged Cicero-North Syracuse 2-0 as Adam Aberdeen recorded a safety in the second quarter that stood up the rest of the way.

   Jalen Searight carried 38 times for 138 yards in the win.

   Corcoran turned the ball over on downs at the C-NS 2-yard line before Aberdeen recorded a sack in the end zone to account for all the night's scoring.

   Big win for Forks: Chenango Forks turned two miscues by Greene into second-quarter touchdowns in a 22-14 victory.

   Chenango Forks is ranked 12th and Greene sixth in Class C by the NYSSWA.

   Ahead 8-6, the Trojans fumbled the ball away early in the second quarter. Forks’ Ryan Bronson recovered at the Greene's 7-yard line, and Isaiah Zimmer (113 rushing yards) scored three plays later.    Greene drove deep into Forks territory on its next possession, but Jeremy Flohr came down beyond the end zone after making a grab of a fourth-down pass from Joe Beckwith.

   Chenango Forks then drove to Greene’s 37-yard line in 10 plays with the help of two third-down conversions. Just 18.4 seconds before the half, Colm Sweeney threw 37 yards to Cody DeOrdio for the score, and Zimmer ran in the conversion for a two-score lead.

   Hornell grinds out win: Hornell, ranked No. 1 in Class C, earned its 43rd straight win by turning back Class B No. 14 Livonia 35-22 as Rich Harkenrider went 9-for-12 for 149 yards and two touchdowns.

   The Red Raiders responded to a 10-0 deficit by scored 28 straight points staring with a 35-yard TD throw from Harkenrider to Julian Reinhart.

   Oddity of the day: Joe Capobianco and Eddie Robinson of Lawrence, the state's top-ranked Class A team, hooked up on two TD passes in a 35-13 win at Bethpage.

   "So what," you say?

   Well, check this out:

   Capobianco hit leaping Robinson in the back of the end

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zone for a 10-yard TD pass early in the second quarter for a 13-0 lead.

   Lawrence successfully executed an onside kick and recovered the ball at the Bethpage 30. On the next play, Robinson took the snap with Capobianco split wide. Robinson threw long into double coverage, and Capobianco reeled it in for a score.

   "Eddie is a true athlete," coach Joe Martillotti told Newsday. "And he's smart . . . (I told him) roll out and if Joe is open, dump it to him, and if he's not, you can always run the ball."

   Back-and-forth action: Southwestern built a 39-14 halftime lead against Salamanca, ranked 17th in Class C only to see the Warriors fight back to tie with :09 to play. But Southwestern's Pete Trathen forced OT by blocking the extra point, and the Trojans won by converting a two-point conversion.

   Andy Greenlee caught a 20-yard pass from Jake Pilling, who then hit Hunter Peterson for the winning conversion catch.

   "There was no hesitation on what we wanted to do, and the kids delivered," coach Jay Sirianni told The Buffalo News. "Salamanca is 3-0, on top of our league, and we felt that gave us the best chance to win it."

   Pilling ran for four TDs and threw for three. Counterpart Tanner John ran for five and threw for one.

   Not pretty, but ... Sweet Home, the presumed favorite to represent the left end of the state in the Class A final in two months, escaped with a 28-20 win over McKinley.

   "The mistakes we make, we had 11 penalties, two fumbles that stopped drives," coach John Faller of the third-ranked Panthers told The Buffalo News. "It's a game we should have put away earlier, and we didn't. We had guys out with minor injures, crazy things happen, and that's the way things went."

   McKinley converted a 4th-and-14 play on the game's final possession, but the clock expired following a Sweet Home sack.

   Also noteworthy: St. Anthony's coach Rich Reichert won his 212th game, more than anyone in Suffolk County history, as the No. 17 Friars beat No. 16 Holy Cross 28-0 in a CHSFL large-school showdown. Joe Cipp Jr. won 211 coaching Bellport in NYSPHSAA Section 11 action.

   Babylon did all of the game's scoring in the first 8:30 of the first quarter, beating Greenport-Southold 38-0. Safety Jake Carlock returned an interception 26 yards for a TD and two minutes later took a punt back 41 yards for another score.