Leading off today: Canisius recovered five Cardinal Mooney fumbles and the state's top-ranked Class AA football team came home from Youngstown, Ohio, with
a 31-14 victory Saturday.
It was Mooney's second loss to the Crusaders in three seasons -- the school's only two losses to a New York team.
Canisius' Mason Hoose made 21 tackles, forced a fumble and recovered another fumble. Cole Burniston recovered two fumbles and quarterback Jayce Johnson ran for two touchdowns.
Two of Mooney's turnovers came in the red zone.
Hoose's recovery on Mooney's first possession of the second half set up Hoose's 2-yard touchdown run for a 17-7 lead. Mooney scored again, but Johnson scored twice in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.
Floyd stays perfect: William Floyd dominated both lines of scrimmages in a 28-6 win over defending Long Island champion Longwood. William Floyd is ranked 13th and Longwood 17th in Class AA this week.
Sophomore Nick Silva rushed 20 times for 103 yards and touchdowns covering 13 and 10 yards, and Robert Taiani threw a pair of TD passes.
Class A: Robert Deleon-Kollmer scored a 5-yard touchdown with 1:30 left to break a tie and lead Poly Prep over No. 15 Holy Trinity 21-14.
• No. 8 Wantagh defeated No. 18 Lawrence 31-6 as Junior Jake Castellano threw for a pair of touchdowns. Lawrence had no first downs and only five yards in 10 plays in its last three possessions of the first half as the Warriors raced to a 21-0 lead.
"We've got a tremendous amount of pride in our defense," defensive lineman Joe Valenti told Newsday. "The big stops in the first half set the tone for the game. We trust each other and play as a unit. When one guy misses a tackle, another is there to clean it up."
• Tavon Granison went 15-for-19 with 217 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns as No. 6 Greece Athena rang up 537 yards of total offense in its 41-14 win over No. 22 Spencerport. Thaj Avies rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns.
Class B: Fourth-ranked Maine-Endwell saw its 53-game win streak against Section 4 opposition come crashing to an end with a 42-6 loss to Class AA Elmira.
The Express took the lead for good after just 1:51 as Josh Friebis ran under Hunter Gilbert's throw for a 19-yard score.
Nick Root went for 119 of Elmira's 283 rushing yards, and Gilbert threw for two TDs in each half as the Express improved to 5-1.
"We worked as hard as we could, worked probably harder than we ever have just to get this 'W,'" Gilbert told The Star-Gazette.
• Senior L.J. Watson powered his way to a 307-yard rushing total and three touchdowns as top-ranked Chenango Forks the host Blue Devils defeated No. 23 Windsor 41-20. Watson burst through the right side and ran 57 yards down the sideline for a touchdown on the first play of the third quarter to turn the contest into a two-score game.
Forks finished with a 451-42 margin in rushing yards.
"They're grown men," Windsor senior Nate Fendick observed to the Press & Sun-Bulletin. "They're not kids."
Some mixed competition, of sorts: Cleveland Hill pulled out an 8-6 squeaker over Medina/Lyndonville in interclass action in Section 6. Medina/Lyndonville is ranked 14th in the state in Class B and Cleveland Hill 10th in Class C.
