Cicero-North Syracuse avenged its only sectional loss of the season on Friday, beating rival Liverpool 17-0 in the Section III Class AA semifinals.
The Northstars, the No. 22 team in the Class AA state rankings and the No. 1 seed in the Section III Class AA playoffs, lost 21-14 to Liverpool (6-4) on Oct. 8. Cicero-North Syracuse (7-2) also lost to Clifton High School of New Jersey.
"I'm so excited," C-NS coach Dave Kline said. "These kids have grown up so much. What they've done these last few weeks coming off that loss to Liverpool, and the maturity they've shown, it's just been ridiculous."
Jason Bartlett, Jaxon Razmovski and Anthony Testa combined for 304 all-purpose yards and both of C-NS' touchdowns, keeping the Warriors defense on the field for most of the night. Defensively, C-NS limited Liverpool to 60 rushing yards. The Warriors had averaged 169 rushing yards per game this fall.
"Those guys are studs on that side of the ball," Bartlett said about the Northstars defense. "For them to be able to stop (Liverpool's) run game, they did a really great job."
The first time they played, Jah'Deuir Reese broke a 79-yard touchdown on the Warriors' first drive of the game. Liverpool threatened the end zone on its opening drive again, but the Northstars stopped Reese on fourth-and-goal at the 5-yard line and took over on downs.
The night felt different from there. C-NS scored on its ensuing drive with a three-yard rush from Bartlett. The drive, which lasted the rest of the first quarter and went six minutes into the second, spanned 18 plays and 95 yards.
"We played confidently. We knew what we could do," Kline said. "All week long we preached to honor the ball, don't jump (offsides), avoid the penalties. We knew defensively we could play with (Liverpool)."
Josh Kubala hit a 24-yard field goal as the first half expired, giving the Northstars a 10-0 lead into the break.
C-NS took its opening second-half drive 13 plays for 73 yards before capping it with a 12-yard pitch and catch from Razmovski to Testa. Razmovski finished the night 9-for-11 for 122 yards and that touchdown. The 17-0 lead held until the final horn.
"We were a little banged up and (C-NS) was running on all six cylinders tonight," Liverpool coach Dave Mancuso said. "I give them full credit. They were better than us tonight, but our kids battled, our kids worked hard."
The Northstars will play No. 3 seed Baldwinsville on Saturday, Nov. 13, at the Carrier Dome at 6 p.m. in the Section III Class AA Championship. C-NS won the Section III championship in 2018 and 2019.
