AUBURN - Maybe Dom Sedlak, Adam Hurd, Dauson Cogar, Phil Cooper and Brenden Raftis can expect more than congratulations from Auburn running back Ismail Brooks after his second straight game scoring seven touchdowns.
Chet Susslin / The Citizen
Auburn defensive back Ed Ash bobbles the ball before intercepting a pass against Fayetteville-Manlius. Ash held onto the ball despite being injured on the play.
Auburn defensive back Ed Ash bobbles the ball before intercepting a pass against Fayetteville-Manlius. Ash held onto the ball despite being injured on the play.
“I congratulate them the best way I can, but I think I have to take Julaun (Richardson) and the O-line out for some food or something,” Brooks joked.
Wideout Richardson provided the down-field blocking, but Auburn High School's big front five gave Brooks the small amount of time needed to finish a game with mind-boggling numbers - 294 yards on 19 carries - as the Maroons dominated Fayetteville-Manlius 48-28 at Holland Stadium on Thursday. Brooks also found the end zone seven times in Auburn's win over Central Square last Friday night, but against a better Hornets team and a shortened week of practice, there was some doubt of the lightning quick senior being able to repeat his efforts.
That shadow of doubt was put to rest on the Maroons' first play from scrimmage, as Brooks took a direct snap 69 yards to pay dirt to give the home team a quick lead. He was the only one to find the end zone for six points, though JT Foltz scored on three separate two-point conversion runs.
“The line, man, the line is really what did it,” Brooks said. “They worked so hard in practice. I told them, ‘You did it last week, could you do it again this week?' And they said, ‘Yeah.' And my cousin, Julaun Richardson, had some really excellent down-field blocking - he did a fantastic job. Everyone was just on their keys and their visuals and everything was just popping, moving, clicking. We really had a lot of fun, but I owe, like, four touchdowns to Julaun. He was a very big part of everything.”
In the offensive statistics, Richardson had one catch for 11 yards, but he was all over the field offensively to make sure that his cousin scored. But once Brooks broke into the open field, he was gone every time. Two of his scores came on short passes from quarterback Dave Jacobs (4-for-7, 189 yards), which he took 61 and 84 yards. While the entire Maroons' offense played well, Brooks once again stole the show, but at times it looked as if he was the only one winded on the scoring drives. It wasn't until Auburn's five-play, 59-yard drive that ended in a Brooks' 30-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter that the team took more than two plays to find the end zone.
“He was just running up and down the field,” Maroons head coach Dave Moskov said of his tailback. “He was getting seams and his speed - I've never seen anything like it. He's got incredible breakaway speed.”
“I told the line, ‘You guys just work hard and just hold (F-M) to three seconds and I'm out of your way, don't worry about anything,'” Brooks said. “They did work really hard and coach Moskov worked them like dogs - I'm really happy about (how they played). I told them if they work hard, I'll make them look good if they make me look good.”
Complimenting him offensively was running back Foltz, who also racked up 11 tackles and a sack on defense. While Brooks was resting some in the final quarter, Foltz took advantage of that big offensive line, racking up 85 yards on 14 carries.
“JT did a phenomenal job of mixing it up,” Moskov said. “We knew they were keying in on Ismail and we starting running the ball back inside the tackles and it chewed up some time and set us up for another score, which was big.”
Especially since right after Brooks scored the final touchdown for Auburn, the Hornets were able to respond when Mike O'Neil returned the kickoff 80 yards for a score. But as was the case for most of the game, Auburn's defense was able to stifle Fayetteville-Manlius (0-3) for the rest of the game. Under center, O'Neil was able to rush for only 43 yards and pass for another 70, on 9 of 22 attempts.
“(Our defense) was much better - (F-M) was a high quality offense,” Moskov said. “They scored a lot of points against very good football teams in Liverpool and B'ville. You take that away and it puts us in the same league as those teams. That's a very, very strong offense and our defense stepped it up tonight. They did a great job.”
O'Neil threw two picks, one to Nick Granato, who had six tackles, and Ed Ash, who had four tackles. Linebacker Ed Lukowski seemed to be everywhere defensively, picking up a team-high 13 tackles, while Sedlak had five and a sack, and Hurd and Cogar tallied six tackles.
Last season, it was game six before the Maroons got their first win of the season - against Central Square - and then turned around and beat Fayetteville-Manlius. Now Auburn has won five of its last six games. Not that many comparisons can be drawn from last season and this early one, but after holding the Hornets to just over 100 combined rushing yards, nabbing two sacks and two picks - the defense seems to be picking up where last year's left off.
“This was a different offense that (F-M) ran tonight,” Moskov said. “They had a lot more speed than Central Square did. They had a lot more weapons and they played much better tonight. It took time for our defense to play well, but they seem to be doing much better now.”
Auburn (2-1) heads to play Utica Proctor on Friday.
Aub 18 8 16 6-48
F-M 7 6 8 7-28
First Quarter
Aub. - Brooks 69 run (run failed)
F-M - Lee 44 pass from O'Neil (Tavolaro kick)
Aub. - Brooks 38 run (pass failed)
Aub. - Brooks 61 pass from Jacobs (pass failed)
Second Quarter
F-M - Greer 30 run (run failed)
Aub. Brooks 81 run (Foltz run)
Third Quarter
Aub. - Brooks 84 pass from Jacobs (Foltz run)
Aub. - Brooks 60 run (Foltz run)
F-M - O'Neil 7 run (Greer run)
Fourth Quarter
Aub. - Brooks 30 run (run failed)
F-M - O'Neil 80 kickoff return (Tavolaro kick)
Wideout Richardson provided the down-field blocking, but Auburn High School's big front five gave Brooks the small amount of time needed to finish a game with mind-boggling numbers - 294 yards on 19 carries - as the Maroons dominated Fayetteville-Manlius 48-28 at Holland Stadium on Thursday. Brooks also found the end zone seven times in Auburn's win over Central Square last Friday night, but against a better Hornets team and a shortened week of practice, there was some doubt of the lightning quick senior being able to repeat his efforts.
That shadow of doubt was put to rest on the Maroons' first play from scrimmage, as Brooks took a direct snap 69 yards to pay dirt to give the home team a quick lead. He was the only one to find the end zone for six points, though JT Foltz scored on three separate two-point conversion runs.
“The line, man, the line is really what did it,” Brooks said. “They worked so hard in practice. I told them, ‘You did it last week, could you do it again this week?' And they said, ‘Yeah.' And my cousin, Julaun Richardson, had some really excellent down-field blocking - he did a fantastic job. Everyone was just on their keys and their visuals and everything was just popping, moving, clicking. We really had a lot of fun, but I owe, like, four touchdowns to Julaun. He was a very big part of everything.”
In the offensive statistics, Richardson had one catch for 11 yards, but he was all over the field offensively to make sure that his cousin scored. But once Brooks broke into the open field, he was gone every time. Two of his scores came on short passes from quarterback Dave Jacobs (4-for-7, 189 yards), which he took 61 and 84 yards. While the entire Maroons' offense played well, Brooks once again stole the show, but at times it looked as if he was the only one winded on the scoring drives. It wasn't until Auburn's five-play, 59-yard drive that ended in a Brooks' 30-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter that the team took more than two plays to find the end zone.
“He was just running up and down the field,” Maroons head coach Dave Moskov said of his tailback. “He was getting seams and his speed - I've never seen anything like it. He's got incredible breakaway speed.”
“I told the line, ‘You guys just work hard and just hold (F-M) to three seconds and I'm out of your way, don't worry about anything,'” Brooks said. “They did work really hard and coach Moskov worked them like dogs - I'm really happy about (how they played). I told them if they work hard, I'll make them look good if they make me look good.”
Complimenting him offensively was running back Foltz, who also racked up 11 tackles and a sack on defense. While Brooks was resting some in the final quarter, Foltz took advantage of that big offensive line, racking up 85 yards on 14 carries.
“JT did a phenomenal job of mixing it up,” Moskov said. “We knew they were keying in on Ismail and we starting running the ball back inside the tackles and it chewed up some time and set us up for another score, which was big.”
Especially since right after Brooks scored the final touchdown for Auburn, the Hornets were able to respond when Mike O'Neil returned the kickoff 80 yards for a score. But as was the case for most of the game, Auburn's defense was able to stifle Fayetteville-Manlius (0-3) for the rest of the game. Under center, O'Neil was able to rush for only 43 yards and pass for another 70, on 9 of 22 attempts.
“(Our defense) was much better - (F-M) was a high quality offense,” Moskov said. “They scored a lot of points against very good football teams in Liverpool and B'ville. You take that away and it puts us in the same league as those teams. That's a very, very strong offense and our defense stepped it up tonight. They did a great job.”
O'Neil threw two picks, one to Nick Granato, who had six tackles, and Ed Ash, who had four tackles. Linebacker Ed Lukowski seemed to be everywhere defensively, picking up a team-high 13 tackles, while Sedlak had five and a sack, and Hurd and Cogar tallied six tackles.
Last season, it was game six before the Maroons got their first win of the season - against Central Square - and then turned around and beat Fayetteville-Manlius. Now Auburn has won five of its last six games. Not that many comparisons can be drawn from last season and this early one, but after holding the Hornets to just over 100 combined rushing yards, nabbing two sacks and two picks - the defense seems to be picking up where last year's left off.
“This was a different offense that (F-M) ran tonight,” Moskov said. “They had a lot more speed than Central Square did. They had a lot more weapons and they played much better tonight. It took time for our defense to play well, but they seem to be doing much better now.”
Auburn (2-1) heads to play Utica Proctor on Friday.
Aub 18 8 16 6-48
F-M 7 6 8 7-28
First Quarter
Aub. - Brooks 69 run (run failed)
F-M - Lee 44 pass from O'Neil (Tavolaro kick)
Aub. - Brooks 38 run (pass failed)
Aub. - Brooks 61 pass from Jacobs (pass failed)
Second Quarter
F-M - Greer 30 run (run failed)
Aub. Brooks 81 run (Foltz run)
Third Quarter
Aub. - Brooks 84 pass from Jacobs (Foltz run)
Aub. - Brooks 60 run (Foltz run)
F-M - O'Neil 7 run (Greer run)
Fourth Quarter
Aub. - Brooks 30 run (run failed)
F-M - O'Neil 80 kickoff return (Tavolaro kick)
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