Kicking off: Baldwinsville is celebrating its 100th season of football in style. Coach Carl Sanfilippo’s Bees, ranked eighth in Class AA by the NYSSWA, are 4-0 after a 27-14 victory over No. 13 Liverpool last night at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium.
The Bees never trailed after recovering a fumbled opening kickoff and moving 30 yards on six plays, capped by Niko Manning’s 12-yard TD pass to Ben Messmer.
"We’re a good team," Sanfilippo told The Post-Standard. "I think the kids are going to believe in themselves. "Where I really give them credit is we came off two bears (wins over CBA and Liverpool) back-to-back and we won."
A fumble recovery late in the third quarter gave Liverpool 1st-and-goal at the 1, but the Bees’ Raeshaun Jones snatched the ball back following a fumble. The Bees held Liverpool to 226 yards of offense.
Malik Burks paced the Baldwinsville attack with 192 yards and two TDs on 32 carries.
First down: Move St. Joseph by the Sea to the top of the CHSFL heap by a 28-24 score. The Vikings won a night game at St. Anthony's, which is only slightly easier to achieve than lasting peace in the Middle East.
Senior Lyle McCombs (27 carries, 172 yards) and QB Joe Lane scored on runs of 53 and 23 yards, respectively to pull the Vikings within a point at halftime. Lane hit McCombs from seven yards late in the third quarter, and Lane scored again on a short run two plays after McCombs recovered an offensive fumble deep in Friars territoy.
"When it comes to New York State high school football, it don’t get much better than St. Anthony’s,” McCombs told The New York Post. "This is a top program and we’ve never beaten this team before so we just made history in St. Joseph by the Sea football. We came here, on their homecoming, and beat them. That’s huge."
The Vikings (2-0) are ranked 17th and St. Anthony's fifth in the NYSSWA Class AA rankings. Friars QB Tommy Schreiber ran 11 times for 154 yards.
Second down: Jamestown Southwestern, ranked No. 1 in Class C following its 2008 NYSPHSAA championship. routed Class B No. 14 Lackawanna 49-8. Southwestern scored the final 42 points behind John Mistretta (17 carries, 83 yards, three TDs) and Zack Sopak (102 yards on the ground, 56 in the air).
The Trojans limited the Steelers to 102 yards in total offense, and Justin Funcell returned an interception for a TD.
"Defensively we just played, very very well," Trojans coach Jay Sirianni told The Buffalo News. "The defense set up our offense."
Third down: Letchworth, ranked 14th in Class C, edged Class D No. 3 Avon 14-7 on Bucky Hendrickson's 1-yard run with 10 seconds to play. Hendrickson scored on a 5-yard run in the third quarter to tie the game.
Fourth down: No. 1 Lansingburgh scored on its first three possessions en route to a 43-6 haltime lead and routed No. 20 Hudson 56-6 in Section 2 Class B action. The Knights rolled up 308 first-half yards in just 28 rushing attempts, led by senior Tyrone Nichols' six carries for 95 yards and two TDs.
Senior quarterback T.J. McLaughlin scored on runs of 26 and 16 yards on his only two rushing attempts for the winners.
The Lansinburgh defense rang up three fumble recoveries, two interceptions and five sacks as Hudson played without QB Talib Barksdale (ankle injury).
Quick kicks: Playing minus injured QB Mark Seager (sprained ankle), Class AA No. 19 Ballston Spa was still able to turn back Albany 28-14. Senior Nick Tubolino took
