The most anticipated rematch of the year ended with Cicero-North Syracuse winning its fifth section championship. The Northstars defeated Christian Brothers Academy 34-20 in the Class AA football championship on Sunday inside the JMA Wireless Dome.
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The first time these two teams met up, senior La'Quan Lemon was removed from the game after receiving a personal foul penalty, however, in the championship he was the difference maker.
"What happened in that first game was a tragedy in a lot of ways," C-NS coach Dave Kline said. "Having (Lemon) out there, his leadership, his strength, his everything. You saw the way he would carry the ball, he plays both ways for us. He wore them out. So, just having him out there was amazing."
On Sunday, Lemon scored three touchdowns, intercepted a pass and recorded a sack to help lead the Northstars to victory.
"I was just playing hard," Lemon said. "I just had to keep on working and keep on playing. I couldn't get tired. Just had to keep on working."
For the Brothers, they were without all-state quarterback Jordan Rae in this one, but backup Porter Matt showed he was more than capable of running the offense.
The junior drove the Brothers down the field with urgency on the first drive of the game and got the team on the board early. He completed 3-of-4 passes including a 22-yard touchdown to Jason Brunson to cap the scoring drive. Everett Gilchrist's PAT was blocked and CBA led 6-0 just 33 seconds into the game.
On the ensuing C-NS possession, Lemon got his day going.
After Jaxon Razmovski connected with Nathan Williams to convert a fourth-down play, Lemon reached the end zone on a 3-yard run to tie things at 6-6.
On CBA's next drive, Lemon again made his presence felt. Matt was hit on a throw and Lemon was there to intercept the pass. That set up a 38-yard touchdown run from Razmovski. Tyler Davies' PAT was good to put C-NS ahead 13-6 with 4:41 left in the first quarter.
CBA did not go away lightly. In the second quarter, Matt hooked up with Syair Torrence, who made a defender miss on a screen pass and took it 63-yards to the house for a touchdown. This time, Gilchrist's PAT was good to tie the game at 13 with 10:28 left in the half.
At the end of the half, Razmovski threw an interception in the end zone, but the Northsars did not let that impact their game.
"Everyone around me surrounded me, just picked me up," Razmovski said. "That's how our team works. When someone goes down, there are always people there to pick them up and that's what happened."
Picking up Razmovski was Lemon in the second half.
Midway through the third quarter, Lemon rumbled 23-yards to the end zone for his second touchdown of the night. Davies made his second PAT to give the Northstars a 20-13 lead.
Lemon was not done yet, the senior running back reached the endzone for the third time on a 24-yard run. C-NS led 27-13 with 1:13 left in the third after a Davies PAT.
In the fourth, C-NS scored what felt like the dagger when Razmovski connected with Tristan Johnson for a 31-yard touchdown to put the Northstars ahead 34-13 with just over eight minutes left in the game.
The Brothers continued to fight to the end. With 2:25 left in the game, Matt connected with Torrence for his second touchdown reception of the game. Gilchrist's PAT made it 34-20 but it was too little, too late.
The Northstars held on to win the championship and earn a spot in regionals for the fifth straight time.
"I'm so happy for our team, for our program, where we've come," Kline said. "(Five in a row) is pretty darn amazing. Pretty amazing what the program's come through, the community, this team, through everything. It's a blast."
With their win, the Northstars (10-1) advance to play Section IV's Corning-Painted Post in the regional round of the state playoffs at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
