Due to Yom Kippur, some schools moved their football games to Thursday this week. Spectrum News 1 followed suit, as tonight's special edition of Friday Night Matchup sees Christian Brothers Academy hosting Niskayuna. Chris Watson has the night off, so Kelly O'Donnell makes his annual guest appearance on play-by-play.
Entering the game, CBA had averaged 54 points a game. If that sounds familiar, well, consider that coach Bob "The Builder" Burns had similarly talented teams at Troy that won back-to-back state titles in 2016-7, blowing away opponents as they went.
After the two teams exchanged turnovers to start the game, although when CBA's Jake Marra fumbled, the refs muffed the call, because it should've been ruled an incomplete pass, as James Allen dutifully pointed out, Niskayuna drew first blood, as Cameron Grasso, at quarterback due to an injury to Ethan Gilson, raced 57 yards to the end zone. However, the extra point failed.
"Make a mistake, and we own you."-Kevin Kernan, 2015.
While that line was written with the Mets in mind, it certainly applied to the rest of this game
On the ensuing kickoff, Amare Coffil, spin-dried the defense, and turned what would've been a minimal return into a 72 yard run to paydirt. Ted Giannella added the extra point, and CBA led, 7-6, after the first quarter.
It was all Brothers from that point forward. Quarterback Archie Jones connected with Lucius Anderson just 13 seconds into the 2nd quarter, as Anderson posterized Grasso en route to a 50 yard catch & run. With a couple of minutes left in the frame, Jones called his own number, and ran it in from 28 yards out. CBA led, 21-6, at the break.
CBA took the 2nd half kickoff, and cashed in with another Jones touchdown, this one from 2 yards out, and, with the extra point, it was now 28-6. With under a minute left in the 3rd quarter, Jones & Anderson connected again, this time for 38 yards. It was 35-6 CBA, going into the final quarter.
Grasso was picked off by Coffil, who was rewarded with Jones hitting him for a 22 yard touchdown toss less than 2 minutes into the 4th quarter. After another Niskayuna turnover, Jones found Anderson for the 3rd time. In both cases, Giannella missed the extra point, so it was now 47-6, with under 10 minutes in the game.
However, the Silver Warriors could do nothing, and CBA ran out the clock on their last possession to remain perfect on the season at 5-0, though their season scoring average too a dip to 52.6 points per game, while giving up a paltry 5.1 points per game.
Other scores:
Ballston Spa 41, LaSalle 14.
Saratoga 29, Albany 0.
Burnt Hills 44, Bethlehem 20. The Spartans, after starting 0-2, have now won 4 in a row. Bethlehem's 3 game winning streak comes to an end.
Colonie 28, Guilderland 27.
Shaker 26, Averill Park 14.
Shenendehowa 56, Schenectady 6.
CBA will be right back on Friday Night Matchup next week, visiting Shaker.
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