SYRACUSE - On the first night of high school football season, there's always a learning curve for each team.
For teams that are young and players that are new to the varsity level, it's difficult to practice for a game that has yet to be played. That was especially true for Auburn High School on Friday night, as it took the Maroons a full half to catch up to their larger opponent, Christian Brothers Academy in a 48-21 opening night loss.
The Brothers made the most of their fancy new field, scoring 35 points in the first half - every time the team touched the ball. After starting quarterback Tyler Hamblin pushed into the end zone from the 1-yard line to cap off CBA's nine-play, 54-yard opening drive that came as a result of a JT Foltz fumble, Fajiri Jackson literally ran away with the game after that.
The 5-9, 186-pound running back scored every other touchdown in the first half and mounted 176 yards in the initial 16 minutes of the game. Without several Brothers penalties, Jackson would have had well over 200 yards in the game, but finished with 180, and five touchdowns, as he only carried the ball once in the second half - for a 4-yard score.
Auburn had five four-and-outs in the first half, not recording a first down until inside the two minute mark. Quarterback Dave Jacobs was also sacked once and had an inconsequential fumble.
“The bottom line is that they clobbered us in the first half,” Auburn head coach Dave Moskov said. “I told the team at halftime that, yeah, they got us good in the first half - they have tremendous players and their offensive line is the best I've seen in a very long time. Fundamentally, we made a lot of mistakes, formation stuff. But I told them at the half that the score doesn't matter. Let's just go out there and prepare for next week. Let's just get better and the kids did that in the second half.”
Get better in the second half is just what the Maroons did, finally stopping the Brothers on their second drive of the third quarter - on the 1-yard line. As CBA prepared to pounce on Jacobs and the Maroons for a safety, Auburn instead drove 99 yards for the team's first score. Held to just 36 yards in the first half, standout running back Ismail Brooks found new life after intermission, running twice for 49 yards to lead the Maroons down the field. Brooks finished with 191 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns.
“(Brooks) started to click in the second half. He seemed to have a lot more energy,” Moskov said.
Auburn can take heart in remembering last season's opener, in which the Maroons relented 56 points to West Genesee. The defense didn't look great in that game, but made a complete turnaround in every game of the season after that.
The Maroons seemed to make a quicker turnaround on Friday, starting with the stop on their own 1.
“That was a great drive,” Moskov said of his team's first score. “Any one of those kids could have started turning on each other. There could have been frustration, anger and there wasn't. There's going to be battles down the road, and hopefully we'll be on the other side of the battles.”
Dom Sedlak, Nick Granato, Adam Hurd and Foltz each led the team with eight tackles and Sedlak, Kevin Hutchings and Jeremy Gregory each recorded a sack while Granato earned the team's only interception. Foltz had 43 yards on seven carries and a score offensively.
Jacobs went 6-for-16 for 81 yards with no interceptions. Julaun Richardson caught four balls for 41 yards.
“(Jacobs) has come a long way,” Moskov said. “Their (defensive line) did a good job on him. They came at him with some hard blitzes. We've got some things to fix, some things were exposed tonight, but we'll come back and get better at them.”
Auburn (0-1) hosts Central Square on Friday - the Red Hawks were the team that the Maroons earned their first win against last season.
“Look at Henninger last year,” Moskov said. “They got shut out by CBA in the first game and came back to win the sectional title. So there's a lot of football left. We saw that in the second half - it's way too early to panic.”
Brothers 48
Maroons 21
The Brothers made the most of their fancy new field, scoring 35 points in the first half - every time the team touched the ball. After starting quarterback Tyler Hamblin pushed into the end zone from the 1-yard line to cap off CBA's nine-play, 54-yard opening drive that came as a result of a JT Foltz fumble, Fajiri Jackson literally ran away with the game after that.
The 5-9, 186-pound running back scored every other touchdown in the first half and mounted 176 yards in the initial 16 minutes of the game. Without several Brothers penalties, Jackson would have had well over 200 yards in the game, but finished with 180, and five touchdowns, as he only carried the ball once in the second half - for a 4-yard score.
Auburn had five four-and-outs in the first half, not recording a first down until inside the two minute mark. Quarterback Dave Jacobs was also sacked once and had an inconsequential fumble.
“The bottom line is that they clobbered us in the first half,” Auburn head coach Dave Moskov said. “I told the team at halftime that, yeah, they got us good in the first half - they have tremendous players and their offensive line is the best I've seen in a very long time. Fundamentally, we made a lot of mistakes, formation stuff. But I told them at the half that the score doesn't matter. Let's just go out there and prepare for next week. Let's just get better and the kids did that in the second half.”
Get better in the second half is just what the Maroons did, finally stopping the Brothers on their second drive of the third quarter - on the 1-yard line. As CBA prepared to pounce on Jacobs and the Maroons for a safety, Auburn instead drove 99 yards for the team's first score. Held to just 36 yards in the first half, standout running back Ismail Brooks found new life after intermission, running twice for 49 yards to lead the Maroons down the field. Brooks finished with 191 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns.
“(Brooks) started to click in the second half. He seemed to have a lot more energy,” Moskov said.
Auburn can take heart in remembering last season's opener, in which the Maroons relented 56 points to West Genesee. The defense didn't look great in that game, but made a complete turnaround in every game of the season after that.
The Maroons seemed to make a quicker turnaround on Friday, starting with the stop on their own 1.
“That was a great drive,” Moskov said of his team's first score. “Any one of those kids could have started turning on each other. There could have been frustration, anger and there wasn't. There's going to be battles down the road, and hopefully we'll be on the other side of the battles.”
Dom Sedlak, Nick Granato, Adam Hurd and Foltz each led the team with eight tackles and Sedlak, Kevin Hutchings and Jeremy Gregory each recorded a sack while Granato earned the team's only interception. Foltz had 43 yards on seven carries and a score offensively.
Jacobs went 6-for-16 for 81 yards with no interceptions. Julaun Richardson caught four balls for 41 yards.
“(Jacobs) has come a long way,” Moskov said. “Their (defensive line) did a good job on him. They came at him with some hard blitzes. We've got some things to fix, some things were exposed tonight, but we'll come back and get better at them.”
Auburn (0-1) hosts Central Square on Friday - the Red Hawks were the team that the Maroons earned their first win against last season.
“Look at Henninger last year,” Moskov said. “They got shut out by CBA in the first game and came back to win the sectional title. So there's a lot of football left. We saw that in the second half - it's way too early to panic.”
Brothers 48
Maroons 21
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