For the fifth straight time, the Cicero-North Syracuse football team is headed to the state Final Four.
The Northstars defeated Corning-Painted Post 36-0 on Saturday at Michael J. Bragman Stadium at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
The Hawks came out with their typical no-huddle, double-wing offense hoping to catch the Northstars off guard. Faced with a fourth down on its first drive, Corning-Painted Post went for it, but C-NS' defense snuffed out the run and took over on downs.
La'Quan Lemon opened up the Nortstars' drive with solid runs to get C-NS into the red zone. The Northstars capped the drive off with a 20-yard touchdown run from Farouk Ibrahim Jr. to put the Northstars on the board. Tyler Davies' kick was good to put C-NS ahead 7-0 with 6:34 left in the first quarter.
Corning-Painted Post was once again faced with a fourth down on its next possession. The Hawks looked to line up for a punt but ultimately attempted a fake. C-NS broke up the pass and took over at the Hawks' 48-yard line.
The Northstars used solid clock management early in this one. After getting the ball back on Corning-Painted Post's fake punt attempt, C-NS ran the remainder of the first quarter clock out. A few plays into the second quarter, Jaxon Razmovski scored on a 1-yard sneak to extend his team's lead. On the PAT, C-NS lined up for a kick, but it was a bad snap that Razmovski ended up running in for two points to put his team up 22-0.
On the Hawks' next drive, they attempted their first pass attempt but Mason Mingle was there to intercept the pass and give the Northstars' offense another possession.
Following the interception, Lemon carried the ball 52 yards on C-NS' first play to give his team the ball inside the red zone once again. On the next play, Razmovski picked up his second rushing touchdown on an 18-yard scramble. Davies' extra point was good to put the Northstars ahead 22-0 with 6:11 left in the half.
Before the end of the half, Corning-Painted Post marched down to the red zone, but the C-NS defense stepped up to keep the Hawks out of the end zone.
On the first play, the Hawks' run play was stopped in the backfield. On the next play, Terrell Wright raced into the backfield and sacked Brady Hughes. On third down, the C-NS pass rush once again disrupted the play. This time, the Northtars forced an incomplete pass. On fourth down, Corning-Painted Post went for it but came up short of the sticks.
With less than 50 seconds left in the half, C-NS drove into enemy territory but could not put any points on the board.
At halftime, C-NS led 22-0.
In the second half, the Northstars continued to be in control. On the team's first drive of the half, they milked four minutes off the clock thanks to a third-and-28 conversion by Razmovski and a 41-yard pass from Razmovski to Tristan Johnson. C-NS finished the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run from Lemon. Davies' PAT made it 29-0 with 7:35 left in the third.
Again, the Hawks drove down the field just outside of the red zone, and again C-NS forced a turnover on downs to keep Corning-Painted Post off the scoreboard.
In the fourth quarter, Razmovski hooked up with Nathan Williams for a 30-yard touchdown pass. The Northstars led 36-0 after Davies' PAT with 7:37 left in the game.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Northstars forced and recovered a fumble. From there, C-NS ran the clock out to secure its Final Four berth.
With its win, C-NS (11-1) advances to take on the winner of the game between Section VI's Bennett and Section V's McQuaid at 6 p.m. next Saturday at Union-Endicott High School.
