CICERO – What was true almost 11 months ago remains the case – in the Class AA football zone, Baldwinsville and everyone else has yet to find a way to topple Cicero-North Syracuse.

The Bees tried to do so on Friday night at Bragman Stadium and had a lead late in the second quarter, but saw the Northstars take control and pull out late, handing B’ville a 41-19 loss.

It was the first time these teams had been together since last fall’s Section III Finals at the JMA Wireless Dome, where the Bees were close most of the time before C-NS prevailed and won their fourth consecutive section title.

Fresh off of an opening two wins where they beat Rome Free Academy and Liverpool by a combined 95-34, B’ville would instead rely on their defense early on to prevent the Northstars from slipping away.

Four times in the first half, C-NS found themselves in Bees territory, but only scored once. The B’ville defense made a fourth save, Greg Marinelli intercepted a pass inside his own 10 and, late in the second quarter, Julian Floyd recovered a Northstars fumble.

Meanwhile, the Bees went without a first down in the first quarter, but Marinelli threw two through passes to Griffin Killian to start the offense.

A 37-yard grab by Killian set up Marinelli’s eight-yard run. Then, just after Floyd’s fumble recovery, Marinelli, from his own 31, scrambled, went long again – and Killian got it, completing a 69-yard touchdown play.

So with 46 seconds left in the half, B’ville led 12-7, but it didn’t last long.

C-NS quarterback Jaxon Razmowski joined Tristan Johnson on a 58-yard pass deep into B’ville territory. A 13-yard pass to Zuriel Dickerson put him on the ball and Razmovsky scored from there, pushing C-NS ahead 13-12 before the break.

Then the Bees fumbled on the first play of the third quarter. Again with a short field, the Northstars turned to Jayceon McGrew, whose 29-yard sweep run set up Razmovski’s three-yard TD pass to Johnson.

McGrew made an even bigger play when, after a 47-yard pass from Marinelli to Kaleb Paul, he created another scoring chance for B’ville, he forced a fumble from Nico Wellman on the Northstars’ six that Roemellow Robinson recovered.

A 94-yard drive followed where Razmovsky missed a few plays, but came back and scored his third four-yard touchdown early in the final period, extending C-NS’ lead to 27-12.

Again, B’ville fought back, Marinelli’s 49-yard run leading to a four-yard run with 7:57 left, but the Northstars pushed him back with a 77-yard walk.

Razmovsky found Johnson in the end zone from 17 yards out with 4:45 left, and Farouk Ibrahim added a last-minute TD, making the margin much more lopsided than the game really was.

Now B’ville faces another massive test when defending Class A champion Christian Brothers Academy travels to Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium next Friday. Kick-off is at 6:30 a.m.