The Cicero-North Syracuse football team lost to Bennett 34-7 in the Class AA state semifinal for the second straight season Saturday night at Union-Endicott High School.
Complete Box Score »
Last season, C-NS lost to Bennett 38-0 in the state semifinals, but this year the Northstars came out looking like a different squad on the first offensive possession of the game.
"I think we caught them off guard a little bit," C-NS coach Dave Kline said of the team's fast start on offense. "I think they just started playing a little bit faster (after the first drive)."
On the first drive, junior quarterback Jaxon Razmovski connected with Nathan Williams for a big completion and Razmovski used his legs twice on third downs to keep the drive alive. Razmovski's last run set the Northstars up inside the 5-yard line and on the next play, La'Quan Lemon punched it in to get C-NS on the board. Tyler Davies' kick was good to give his team a 7-0 lead with 6:32 left in the first quarter.
On the ensuing drive, Bennett showed the quick-strike ability of its offense. In less than one minute, the Tigers drove down the field and took an 8-7 lead after Jayden Lewis scampered into the end zone and the team converted the 2-point try with 5:44 left in the quarter.
Bennett continued its scoring early in the second quarter. Just 15 seconds into the new period, Ja'meer Thomas scored on an 8-yard run. The Tigers' 2-point run was no good. Bennett led 14-7 with 11:45 left in the half.
After moving the ball relatively easily on the first drive, the Northstars sputtered on offense for the remainder of the half. The Northstars possessed the ball five times in the first half and came away empty four times.
On the other side, Bennett was capitalizing on C-NS' lack of offensive production. The Tigers had the ball five times and scored three times to take a 22-7 lead into halftime.
"(Bennett is) very good defensively and offensively. They have a lot of skilled guys, you have to give them credit," Kline said.
The second half looked fairly similar to the first. The C-NS offense could not find its footing and Bennett continued to score.
The Tigers opened the scoring in the second half with a 62-yard touchdown pass from Davis to Thomas. Davis was sacked on the 2-point try, but the Tigers still led 28-7 with 7:43 left in the third quarter.
Despite being down three scores and struggling offensively, the Northstars continued to fight for a chance to play for the state title.
"That's one thing I noted back when we lost that game on Week 3 to CBA was how resilient this team was," Kline said. "They have the 'never-die' attitude. They were willing to fight every single week."
After Bennett drove into C-NS territory late in the third quarter, the C-NS defense sacked Davis and forced a fumble. The Northstars recovered the ball and its offense briefly began showing signs of life.
The Northstars moved the ball into Bennett territory before the third-period horn sounded but the drive ultimately ended in an interception that Bennett returned to the C-NS 42-yard line.
Bennett capped that drive off with another touchdown from Lewis to give the Tigers a 34-7 lead with 10:58 left in the game.
C-NS would get the ball back into Bennett territory once more but failed to score again before Bennett sat on the ball for the final five minutes to preserve its win.
With the loss, C-NS' season ends in the state semifinals for the fifth straight time. The Northstars finished the season 11-2 as the Section III Class AA and NYSPHSAA regional champions.
"The way this team grew, the way this team got better every single week, it's impressive," Kline said. "And to win five (section) titles, that's pretty good. People — they take it for granted. It's not an easy thing to do. It really isn't. Then to go win five regional titles, that's not easy either. One day hopefully we can take care of (the state semifinals)."
Bennett (9-3) advances to the Class AA state final for the second straight season and will play Section II's Newburgh Free Academy next Sunday at 3 p.m. inside the JMA Wireless Dome.
