Game 4 - 2007 Chenango Forks Varsity Football

Articles courtesy of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin and the Oneonta Daily-Star
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Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
There was no Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin based article on this game, rather, they a correspondent from the eastern end of the Section.

Oneonta ready for the run, so Forks wins with the pass

By Jeff Matolka

Correspondent

ONEONTA -- Chenango Forks running back Joe Aston said the football season started Friday night for his team.

If so, then the 28-0 domination of Oneonta in each team's Section 4 Football Conference Division III opener is a portent of great things to come.

"This was the first division game. We had to come out and make a statement, play hard all four quarters," said Aston, who had two touchdowns and 54 yards of total offense.

It was not a typical Forks game. Two of the three first-half touchdowns came through the air, while the other was set up by a dandy catch-and-run by Aston.

Quarterback Jake Reynolds, who was 4-for-6 for 91 yards, helped lead Forks to the only score of the first quarter with a 16-yard screen pass to Aston in the right flat. Aston slipped through one would-be tackler and Garret Cade plowed the way by blocking the Oneonta cornerback into the back of the end zone.

On the next drive, it was a Reynolds-to-Aston hookup that put them in scoring position again. Aston made a superb one-handed catch on a screen pass and darted 21 yards to the Oneonta 19. A few plays later, Aston rushed in from 4 yards out and gave the Blue Devils a 14-0 lead with 7:51 remaining in the first half.

Reynolds then engineered a third straight scoring drive with two well-timed passes.

The first came on third down with Forks on its own 47. Reynolds hit a streaking Tim Zdimal down the sideline for a 28-yard reception to Oneonta's 25. The second touch pass was a perfect rainbow over the Oneonta cornerback to hit Cade in stride inside the 10-yard line and he continued into the end zone for a 26-yard scoring play.

"I've got some people who can catch the ball, so I'm not afraid to put it out there," Reynolds said. "I've got some kids with good hands."

Forks (4-0) faced a defense from Oneonta (1-3) that was focused on stopping the run.

"We mixed things up a little bit more than normal (tonight) but, hey, they had 11 guys on the line of scrimmage," Forks coach Kelsey Green said.

Zdimal's 28-yard punt return to the Oneonta 5 set up the only score of the second half, a 1-yard run by Max Ginty with 6:27 to play in the third quarter.

The victory will mean Forks is unbeaten entering next Saturday's game against rival Chenango Valley.

"We've got a good tradition at Forks and we want to do everything we can to keep that rolling," Reynolds said.

OHS wiped out by Forks

By P.J. Harmer

Oneonta Daily-Star Staff Writer

ONEONTA _ Through one quarter Friday night, Oneonta High looked poised to possibly pull off a major upset in the Section Four Football Conference.

Six-time defending Section Four champion Chenango Forks wiped away any chance, however, with two touchdowns in the second quarter en route to a 28-0 Division III victory.

"We couldn't afford either of those touchdowns, but especially two of them," OHS coach Adam Hoover said. "You're down, 7-0, and we were able to move the ball fairly consistently for a few drives and then we'd shoot ourselves in the foot. We have to be able to not allow them a quick one. If we're down, 7-0, or even 14-0 at halftime, it's still going to be a tough game in the second half. But we're going to be in a better position if we can maintain a drive, which we did a few times."

Chenango Forks (4-0, 1-0) opened a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 17-yard pass from Jake Reynolds to Joe Aston. The Blue Devils utilized a nine-play drive, with all but the touchdown coming on the ground. Forks' power-running game often pushed through Oneonta's offensive line to get extra yards.

That didn't seem to affect the Yellowjackets (1-3, 0-1), who responded by moving the ball 45 yards to Chenango Forks' 27. But on the 12th play, Phillip Wright fumbled the handoff from quarterback Ryan Hunter and Clint Cade recovered for Forks.

"I thought up front there it's basically like a goal-line defense and if you don't get every block, there seems to be someone there," Chenango Forks coach Kelsey Green said. "Sometimes when you get every block, there's a defensive back there. We had to throw the ball a little bit to loosen them up and we were successful with that. Offensively, they had a nice drive and hurt themselves with a fumble. After that, defensively I thought we played pretty well the rest of the day."

The Blue Devils didn't waste the opportunity, responding with an eight-play drive capped by Aston's 4-yard touchdown run with 7 minutes, 51 seconds remaining in the half.

Two plays before the TD, Aston helped set up the score by pulling in a 21-yard pass from Reynolds down the right sideline.

"The line did awesome," said Reynolds, who completed 4 of 6 passes for 89 yards. "I give all the props to the line and I have some kids who can catch the ball. I put it out there for them and they reeled it in. A couple of them had some nice catches."

Again, Oneonta went to work but had to punt on its seventh play, which helped set up Chenango Forks for its third touchdown. Cade Garrett caught a 27-yard TD pass from Reynolds with 1:52 to go in the half to cap a six-play drive and make it 21-0.

"That really broke it open for us and made the second half a lot easier," Green said. "Especially knowing we'd get the football to start the second half."

Forks was forced to punt on the first possession of the second half, and a deep punt put Oneonta at its own 7. Four plays later, the Yellowjackets punted from their 10 and Garrett returned the ball 33 yards to the 6. Two plays later Max Ginty pushed his way in to make it 28-0.

"We did move the ball fairly well a few different times and then we'd do something," Hoover said. "We had a nice drive and fumbled. You can't do that against any team and when you're playing a team that is used to winning and has won six straight sectional championships, you definitely can't do it against them."

Dan Sweet had 44 yards on 10 carries to lead Oneonta. Ryan Hunter completed 4 of 10 passes for 35 yards. Three of those passes went to Marcel Sanchez for 26 yards.

"We did a pretty good job defensively for a lot of the game," said Hoover, whose team visits Windsor at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 29. "We had some big plays that hurt us that we had them in third-and-4, third-and-5. Then we'd have a breakdown. One touchdown was a long play and they set up another with the same play.

"It's been a thing this year and it carried over from last year that we allow too many big plays at times when you can't," he continued. "If it's first-and-10 and it's a big play, you never want to allow it, but you can deal with it. When it's third-and-10, you kind of wasted the first three plays. We have to do a better job of not allowing that to happen."

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