Late in the second half all-Central New York running back Mitchell Seabury bursted through the first line of defense, broke a tackle and finished with a touchdown. The run reminded everyone the the star running back is back in a action.

Fayetteville-Manlius, energized by the return of its star running back, won its third-straight Friday night. The Hornets only scored two offensive touchdowns in its first two wins. Its offensive woes came to a halt tonight with the return of Seabury. Behind Seabury, the Hornets defeated the Utica Proctor Raiders, 31-28.

“It collapses things inside,” head coach Paul Muench said. “You know late in the half, nobody’s expecting it up the middle, but for us that’s a home run shot.”

On his first run of the season Seabury went right up the middle for a 17-yard gain. Seabury ended up with 141 yards on the ground, highlighted by the 54 yard touchdown run late in the second quarter.

Seabury missed the Hornets’ first two games of the season with a hamstring injury from playing baseball.

“I felt great you know,” Seabury said. “When you have to experience an event like that and you get back to it, it humbles you.”

The Hornets used both Seabury and Zachary Page effectively. They combined for over 240 yards. Despite Seabury being its featured back, the split reps allowed the Hornets to ease him back into things.

With both Seabury and Paige in the backfield, the Hornets drove the ball to Utica’s 14-yard line on its first possession. After failing to convert on third down, kicker John Egnaczyk hit a 31-yard field goal, giving the Hornets the 3-0 lead.

After halting Utica Proctor’s offense, the Hornets went right back on the attack. They drove the ball 62 yards down the field and scored after a quarterback sneak by Owen Neuman with 8:36 left in the 2nd quarter. With an early 10-0 lead, it looked as if  Fayetteville-Manlius was about to run away with the game, but Utica kept fighting back.

In its next possession, the Raiders pounded the ball up the field with its rush attack. The drive was capped off by an end around run to the right side punched in by Jabril Jarrett.

After failing to convert the two point conversion, Utica kicked off the ball to the 46. On the first play of the Fayetteville-Manlius drive Seabury put the Hornets up 17-6 with the 54 yard run.

The Raiders had its success on the ground as well. They used four backs, Jarrett, Michael Reali, Patrick Minor and Tasean Cooper. Behind the four, Utica Proctor found itself right in the game after Miner punched it in for a touchdown with 41 seconds left in the third quarter. After another failed two point conversion, the Raiders found themselves down four.

Fayetteville-Manlius proved to be too much to handle. The next possession, Neuman hit Hannah for their second touchdown connection of the game. Utica responded with a touchdown.

Without any timeouts, down 31-28, and less than a minute to play, Utica Proctor needed two stops, on third and fourth down, to get the ball back and have a chance to win. Again, F-M went to the ground and picked up the game-sealing first down.

Seabury, who was held out for much of the fourth quarter as a precaution, watched on. His damage had been done already.

“We knew coming into this game this was a work back game,” Seabury said.

Published on September 15, 2018 at 12:26 am