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NY STATE FOOTBALL: MISCUES, BIG PLAYS PROVE TO BE CORNING’S UNDOING IN CLASS AA QUARTERFINALS (2022-11-19)

By TIM TAYLOR
Southern Tier Sports Report
CICERO — Corning’s miscues and some big plays by Cicero-North Syracuse proved to be the Hawks’ undoing in a 36-0 loss in the Central Region Class AA championship game Saturday.

The Section III champions posted their fifth consecutive state tournament quarterfinal victory and third in a row over Corning.

Following two years and tightly-contested battles, the Northstars moved forward in dominant fashion on a cold, overcast afternoon.

Four turnovers, two sacks and some untimely penalties hampered the Corning effort as well.

“They're a good program,” Corning coach Mike Johnston Jr. said. “You can't make mistakes. And we had a fake punt that probably should have gone to the house. We underthrew them and we had a 16-play drive and then we shot ourself in the foot with a penalty.

“We did some decent things. And again, second half we have a long drive and we have a 15-yard penalty. Now it's first-and 25. I mean,we just shot ourselves in the foot and you just can't do that with a well-coached team. And they're well prepared.

“On defense, they are third-and-28, and we gave up a quarterback draw for a long run. We just kept giving up big plays after big plays.

After stopping the Hawks’ opening drive at the Corning 43, Farouk Ibrahim Jr. scored on a 20-yard run with 8:09 on the clock and Tyler Davies split the uprights with the PAT kick for a 7-0 advantage.

Corning started moving the pigskin again on its second possession, but stalled at its own 48. C-NS quarterback Jaxon Razmovski punched it in on a 1-yard keeper at 9:05 of the second period, then converted the PAT run to make it a 15-0 game.

The Hawks again started to move the ball on the ensuing possession, but the Northstars’ Mason Mingle came away with an interception at his own 30.

Razmovski dashed 52 yards to the Corning 18 on the next play, then followed that up with a keeper. Davies’ kick at 6:11 pushed the lead to 22-0.

The Hawks marched 50 yards to the C-NS 20 on their next possession, before stumbling backward. A 4-yard loss on a run, followed by an 8-yard sack by Terrell Wright and an incomplete pass on a hit from behind on an edge rush by Ahamri Floyd put Corning into a 4th-and-22 situation.

Brady Hughes found Jack Bierman open for a 17-yard gain down to the 15, but the ball went to the Northstars on downs.

With less than 45 seconds remaining in the first half, Razmovski engineered a 70-yard drive down to the Corning 15 before a Bierman sack and the clock stalled the home team.

Cicero opened the second half with a 65-yard scoring drive as a Razmovski keeper for 31 yards and his 41-yard pass to Tristian Johnson offset a pair of penalties. La'Quan Lemon’s two-yard run and another Davies kick pushed the lead to 29-0 at 7:35 of the third period.

The Northstars’ final TD came on Razmovski’s 30-yard TD pass to Nathan Williams with 7:37 remaining in the fourth quarter.

In between Cicero’s last two TDs, the Hawks drove 37 yards to the C-NS 27 before a penalty and a fumble for a loss forced them to turn the ball over on downs. Corning forced a punt and moved the rock 23 yards out to the 45 on four Logan Booker runs, but the Hawks coughed the ball up to the Northstars’ Daniel Garcia at the Corning 40.

Taj Sides’ 40-yard kick return following the final Cicero TD was thwarted when Davibne Bennett stripped the ball away near midfield.

Corning fumbled the ball away on its final possession of the game as well.

Razmovski highlighted the C-NS win with 102 yards rushing on nine carries and tacked on another 100 yards passing with five completions. Lemon added 99 yards on 11 runs.

Corning had 186 yards on the ground with Booker running 19 times for 77 yards, James Freeman adding 50 on 16 carries and Brody Wolfe tacking on 30 more on nine runs.

“They just outplayed us today and, you know, we'll go back to the drawing board and work at it in the off-season and try to give ourself the chance to get back here again next year.

“I think you win games in the off-season and I think that the teams that get here spend a lot of time in the weight room and they spend a lot of time with each other working on their game.

“We'll give the kids some time off and we'll encourage them to play multiple sports, because I think that's important. It works on different skills and when the off-season rolls around, after Christmas break, we'll get back in the weight room and get ourselves trying to get stronger and more agile.”

The Hawks finish the season 6-4 overall.

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IN PHOTO 1: Corning’s Brody Wolfe (2) and Logan Booker. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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