With all of the firsts out of the way, the Fayetteville-Manlius football team is ready to represent their community Friday night at West Genesee.
F-M, which got in the win column with the home win over Henninger last week, is looking to continue to move forward and improve this week. Its 1-1 record mirrors that of a West Genesee team that lost to Christian Brothers Academy by 21 the last time they were under the lights.
In last week’s win, F-M had some promising plays and looked better than it did when it lost to Corcoran to open the season, but defense was still an issue, particularly on the long plays that Henninger had.
Henninger came out with energy and ran the ball into the end zone for to gain a 6-0 advantage with a 77-yard rushing touchdown by Nasir Jones. Still, F-M wasn’t phased by the score. The Hornets didn’t allow any more points and scored two touchdowns from then until the end of the first half, carrying a 14-6 lead into the halftime break.
However, the second half was a different story. F-M’s defense let up and allowed Henninger to get back into the batter’s box. In all, they conceded 26 points in the third and fourth quarters and Henninger was able to get it to a one possession game at one point, but Mitchell Seabury’s sixth touchdown sealed the win.
Heading into this one, F-M has much more confidence in itself and has learned about what it takes to get a win at this level, Tim Shaw said. F-M’s junior captain is proud of the win over Henninger along with what led up to the win.
Shaw said, “last week’s win really put an emphasis on working hard in practice. All of last week we had sharp, energetic practices and that really showed up in the game. If everyone continues to work hard and give it their all in practice from now on, we will see similar results.”
He alluded to something that the coaching staff reminded their team of after the win over Henninger. They said that they are going to have to play better in order to beat West Genesee in an away environment.
Quarterback Mikey Porter is coming out of his cocoon. Even though he hasn’t completed an overwhelming number of passes so far, the Hornet has shown some positive signs. F-M has showed that it is confident in Porter’s ability to throw the ball down field.
The Hornets will have to be more efficient offensively and better defensively on Friday if they want to beat West Genesee and get above the .500 mark.
