SYRACUSE – In the most simple of terms, the Cicero-North Syracuse football team badly wanted to return to the top of the Section III Class AA ranks and Christian Brothers Academy stood in the way. Only it wasn’t an obstacle so much as it was a steep wall which, despite an inspired effort by the Northstars, proved too difficult to surmount as the Brothers prevailed 21-13 in Friday’s sectional final at the JMA Wireless Dome. C-NS pushed CBA in a way no one had all season, keeping the game in suspense until the fourth quarter, only to have its own mistakes give the Brothers just enough room to avoid an unlikely upset. Yet for a brief moment late in the third quarter, that surprise seemed quite possible. Having just tied the game 7-7, C-NS had forced CBA to punt deep in its own end after Anthony Johnson, who had scored the tying touchdown, sacked Brayden Smith on third down, and the punt was a short one meaning the Northstars would have the ball in Brothers territory. Except that C-NS was flagged 15 yards for roughing the kicker, giving CBA a first down, and it promptly drove to the go-ahead score keyed by three passes from Smith to Darien Williamns, the last of which was a three-yard TD conversion early in the fourth quarter. Going three-and-out, the Northstars gave it back to the Brothers, who took advantage of more C-NS penalties to march to the one where Austin Ariola punched it in with 3:53 to play. Now down 21-7, the Northstars did put together its own late march aided by several CBA penalties until Johnson scored from two yards out with 45 seconds left, but the extra point was missed and Ariola fell on the ensuing onside kick to end it. Going in, the C-NS players back from 2023 remembered how CBA had handled them in the sectional final, but also remembered the controversies and distractions (a suspended quarterback, a head coach stepping down) in the days leading up to that game which made a top effort all but impossible. None of those distractions were on hand this time. All that was in front of them was a CBA side which had won 22 in a row and had crushed most everyone long the way, including a 28-0 win over the Northstars back in September. To have any chance, the C-NS defense needed to be great – and it was at the outset, forcing two turnovers on CBA’s first two drives deep into Northstars territory. Marcus Reed intercepted Brayden Smith just inside the Northstars’ 20-yard line, and when the Brothers reached the three on its next drive Smith fumbled a snap and Lacuzio Wright recovered. A third CBA push deep into the C-NS end was stopped, too, when the Brothers could not convert fourth down inside the Northstars’ 10 early in the second period. At the same time, though, CBA’s own fast, relentless defense held C-NS to two first downs on its first three drives, never letting it reach its own 25 on any of those possessions On its fourth attempt CBA finally broke through, the key play a 20-yard pass from Smith to Javon Edenfield which set up Smith’s own nine-yard TD scramble with 41 seconds left in the half. But C-NS was not discouraged, instead taking the second-half kickoff and putting together a 59-yard march that covered more than six minutes of clock. A lot of It was on the ground with Miy’Jon McDowell and Anthony Johnson, especially near the end as Johnson powered 10 yards on third-and-eight and then went 17 yards for the TD that, with Jakob Purdy’s PAT, tied it. To that point, all was going exactly as C-NS wished, but the combination of ill-timed flags and the Brothers’ late-game poise thwarted a chance at full payback on the Northstars’ part.