Kicking off: Syracuse Henninger blew an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter and then rallied past No. 16 Liverpool 40-36 in the first round of the Section 3 Class AA football playoffs Friday on an 8-yard pass from Shawn Bryant to Darryl Mercer with 27 seconds to play.

   A blocked punt by Liverpool’s Mike Donitzen that was recovered and returned 15 yards by Derek Eason for a score made it 32-28 with 9:27 left, then Rich Green scored on an 95-yard punt return with 2:04 to go to give the Warriors their first lead, 36-32.

   "It was crazy, really scary,” Bryant told The Post-Standard. "At one point, just for a second, I thought we might lose."

   On 4th-and-8 from his own 22-yard line, Bryant hit Shaqueal Rowser on consecutive throws gaining 9 and 32 yards. A 21-yard completion to Cole King (who had a 46-yard pick six in the first half) and a Bryant run moved the ball to the Liverpool 8, and Bryant hit a wide-open Mercer for the TD.

   Bryant finished 14-of-23 for 219 yards.

   First down: North Tonawanda and Orchard Park, who faced each other for the 2008 Class AA title, will this year meet in the Section 6 semifinals. No. 8 Orchard Park rolled past Williamsville North 39-6 and No. 3 North Tonawanda topped Frontier 40-13.

   Mike Tuzzo rushed for four TDs as North Tonawanda jumped out to a 27-0 lead, and he finished with 102 yards on 12 carries. Steve Kijowski led NT with 176 yards on the ground.

   Orchard Park picked up 331 rushing yards led by Okoya Anderson (18 carries, 154 yards). Anderson went over 1,000 yards for the season with a 63-yard touchdown run on the Quakers' first play from scrimmage.

   Second down: After previous No. 1's Lansingburgh and Bath lost in consecutive weeks, Seaford looks as though it might have some staying power in Class B.

   Fighting off wind and rain, the Vikings defeated No. 8 Roosevelt 28-0 by rushing 61 times for 302 yards.

   "It's a lot of fun when you're running behind an experienced offensive line and you're not even getting hit until you're five yards down the field," junior running back Justin Buckley told Newsday after carrying 31 times for 144 yards and three touchdowns.

   Andrew Alba's 16-yard TD run opened the scoring and Buckley scored on a 1-yard run eight plays after Eddie Schaller recovered a fumble on Roosevelt's first offensive snap.

   Third down: Late field goals made the difference in a couple of sectional contests that were rematches of regular-season games.

   In Section 2, Saratoga Catholic edged host Lake George 17-14 on a 21-yard Tim Pompa kick as time expired. It was revenge for a 32-0 wipeout two weeks earlier on the same field.

   "Nobody gave us a chance coming in here," coach Alphonse Lambert Jr. told The Saratogian. "But the kids believed in themselves and got it done. They made plays when they had to. This is the biggest win since we won the small-school Super Bowl against Whitehall in 1974."

   Pompa’s heroics were set up by a 50-yard catch and run by Jack Keller to the Warriors 11.

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   Nate Benoit's 42-yard field goal with :07 to play gave Grand Island a 23-20 win over No. 18 Williamsville South in the Section 6 Class A quarterfinals. It was the Vikings' fifth straight win after an 0-3 start and avenged a 32-29 loss in the opener.

   "That's as good a win as we've ever had," ninth-year Grand Island coach Dean Santorio told The Buffalo News.

   Fourth down: Albion edged defending Section 6 Class B champion Lackawanna 14-6 on TD runs of 19 yards by Chris Thorton and 62-yards in the fourth quarter by Matt Gilbert.

   First-year Purple Eagles coach Tony Osburn's father-in-law, former Medina coach Larry Decker, died suddenly last Saturday in South Carolina en route to Florida with his wife Judy after helping out in the coaches booth for the Albion-Medina game.

   "The kids showed a lot of character this week," said Osburn. "We talk about this game being about life. We're a football family but I hope our kid realize there are more important things in life than football. I'm proud of the way they handled themselves."

   Also in Class A, Alden upset No. 7 Depew 26-13 as sophomore Ryan Sasnowski recorded 13 tackles and a sack in his varsity debut, and Christian Barczykowski caught four passes for 102 yards and returned an interception for a TD.

   Quick kicks: Livonia eliminated No. 11 Palymra-Macedon in the Section 5 Class B quarterfinals by a 13-6 count as Steven Diener and Bob Schuster ran for touchdowns on a muddy field.

   Class C No. 18 Bishop Kearney fell out of the postseason with a thud, losing to Wellsville 33-14. The Lions scored their first TD after the Kings' Jake Meek recovered a wayward punt snap in the end zone and was tackled at the 2 while trying to run the ball out. Kearney was outscored 91-14 over the final three games after a 5-0 start.

   Wyatt Soeffing ran for 113 rushing yards for Whitney Point in a 20-0 victory at Sidney that ended with 7:14 to go in the fourth quarter after a power outage knocked out the lights.

   The stat sheet: Kevin Schwach recorded his eighth interception of the season as undefeated Lancaster topped Niagara Falls 12-0. Niagara Falls was limited to 92 yards rushing and 19 passing.    Poughkeepsie went from 50-point loser to Somers in the 2008 Section 1 Class A playoffs to a 14-10 victory over the No. 12 Tuskers in this year's quarterfinals. Senior Josh Graham scored the winning touchdown midway through the third quarter to rally from a 10-0 deficit.