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2013 Chenango Forks Varsity Football

Game 9 vs Lansing

CF defeats Lansing 48-26!
Advance to 11th Section 4 Championship Game in last 13 seasons

Articles courtesy of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

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Chenango Forks outlasts Lansing in Class C football semifinal

Kevin Stevens
Press & Sun-Bulletin

ENDICOTT — Another Section 4 football title-game appearance for Chenango Forks was secured with a 48-26 dismissal of Lansing at Ty Cobb Stadium — nothing new there.

But Saturday's contest was accompanied by a statistical tale highly uncharacteristic by Forks standards.

It was a 22-point margin of victory despite the Blue Devils surrendering — get this — 365 yards of offense that included 264 generated by the Bobcats' passing game. The 26-point yield was a season high.

Ah, but the Blue Devils' offense was up to the task and then some.

Fullback Isaiah Zimmer rushed 40 times for 249 yards and three touchdowns, and John Colm Sweeney passed for another 115 and three scores on an afternoon Forks logged 467 total yards.

The outcome left third-ranked Forks (8-1) a seventh consecutive win and a berth opposite Waverly (7-2) in the final scheduled for 3 p.m. next Saturday at Binghamton Alumni Stadium.

Zimmer was spectacular behind an offensive front that played collectively dominant football, particularly in a first half in which he rushed 25 times for 155 yards and the three TDs.

Thereafter, with Lansing sensibly bent on containing Zimmer, Sweeney passed for 95 yards and two scores, to go with a catchy little 36-yard gainer to Zimmer on a second-and-28 play with Lansing within 27-20.

That screen pass may have been the most significant play of the afternoon, leading to the first of three consecutive Forks scores to put this one away.

Coach David Hogan made the play call on the heels of a holding penalty and Ben Rourke's sack of Sweeney for a 6-yard loss that backed the Blue Devils to their 44-yard line.

"I didn't think they were accounting for our fullback, so we took a chance there," Hogan said. "It's something we've practiced for a while, it popped into my mind. Second-and-forever? That sounds like the thing to do."

And so it went, with Sweeney tossing softly to Zimmer near the left sideline and Zimmer advancing clear to Lansing's 20-yard line. Six plays later, Sweeney and Ryan Bronson collaborated on an easy10-yard scoring pass, Tony Silvanic kicked the PAT and it was 34-20 with 2:01 to play in the third quarter.

The Blue Devils added fourth-quarter TDs on a 25-yard pass from Sweeney to Andrew Ziegenfus, who'd beaten single coverage, and on a 15-yard rush by Bronson.

Though the Bobcats never led this one, they clearly came with intentions of a far better showing than was on display in a 28-0 regular-season loss to the Devils.

The 58-yard TD pass from Tyler Winslow to Rourke had Lansing within 7-6 early, and the 50-yarder from Tim Kelley to Logan Osterman made it 20-12 midway through the second. The Bobcats' final score until the waning seconds, a 2-yard pass from Elijah Burns to Osterman along with Burns' two-point run drew Lansing within 27-20 early in the third.

Problem for the Bobcats was, they had little-to-no answer for Forks' two-dimensional attack.

Zimmer rushed nine times for 8 or more yards, and his 249 yards eclipsed his previous season best by 20. The previous high was produced in Week 4 against Lansing.

"I think (the offensive front) did a great job and I read their blocks," said Zimmer, who has rushed for 1,341 yards this season. "We came out a little flat in the second half but definitely picked it up and got everyone to step up."

Of the 40-carry load, Hogan said: "Let's put it this way: It would never surprise me. Anybody who watches Isaiah run the ball knows that he has a gift. That's who we're riding. And our guys are doing such a heck of a job up front, he'll be the first to tell you how well they're doing up there."

Lansing's Osterman had seven receptions for 148 yards.

"That was really frustrating," Zimmer said of Lansing's effective passing game, "but I think we started to pull together a little bit and it's something we'll work on in practice."

The title game against Waverly will be a rematch of last year's final, a 28-27 overtime win for Forks. The Section 4 title-game appearance will mark Forks' 11th from 2001 to the present.
01 02 03 04   Tot
Chenango Forks 13 14 7 14 - 48
Lansing 6 6 8 6 - 26
  • CF - Isaiah Zimmer 4y run (Tony Silvanic kick)
  • L  - Ben Rourke 58y pass from Tyler Winslow (pass failed)
  • CF - Zimmer 1y run (pass failed)
  • CF - Andrew Ziegenfus 20y pass from JC Sweeney (Silvanic kick)
  • L  - Logan Osterman 50y pass from Tim Kelley (kick failed)
  • CF - Zimmer 1y run (Silvanic kick)
  • L  - Osterman 2y pass from Elijha Burns (Burns run)
  • CF - Ryan Bronson 10y pass from Sweeney (Silvanic kick)
  • CF - Ziegenfus 25y pass from Sweeney (Silvanic kick)
  • CF - Bronson 15y run (Silvanic kick)
  • L  - Austin Candea 2y run (run failed)

TEAM STATISTICS   

  Lansing CF
First Downs 14 24
Rushes-Yards 23-101 62-352
Passing Yards 264 115
Comp-Att-Int 11-20-0 6-8-0
Total Offense 43-365 70-467
Punts-Ave yards 1-32 0
Fumbles-Lost 4-2 1-0
Penalties-Yards 5-? 4-27
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Lansing rushing

  • Tim Kelley        7-53
  • Elijha Burns     11-31
  • Austin Candea     2-9   1 TD
  • Tyler Winslow     2-9
  • Zack Detrick      1-(-1)

Chenango Forks rushing

  • Isaiah Zimmer   40-249  3 TD
  • Ryan Bronson     8-72   1 TD 
  • Cody Lamond      3-24  
  • JC Sweeney       8-11
  • Dylan Studer     3-(-4)   

Lansing passing

  • Elijha Burns, 8-for-17, 121y, 1 TD
  • Tim Kelley,   2-for-2,   85y, 1 TD
  • Tyler Winslow 1-for-1,   58y, 1 TD

Chenango Forks passing

  • JC Sweeney, 6-for-8, 115y, 3 TD

Lansing receiving

  • Logan Osterman   7-148  2 TD
  • Ben Rourke       3-74   1 TD
  • Tyler Winslow    1-42 

Chenango Forks receiving:  

  • Andrew Ziegenfus 3-57   2 TD
  • Isaiah Zimmer    1-36
  • Tony Silvanic    1-12
  • Ryan Bronson     1-10   1 TD

JV Score:   
 

Preview Article(s) 

Lansing (5-3) vs. Chenango Forks (7-1), noon Saturday at U-E: Since a 7-0 loss at Tioga in Week 2, the Blue Devils have won six in succession while outscoring the opponents by a combined 277-52. But for that loss, the Blue Devils have been held short of 30 points in one game, a 28-0 victory at Lansing in Week 4. The 229 rushing yards that day by Forks’ Isaiah Zimmer is his single-game best so far in a 1,092-yard season.

Post-game Midweek Article(s):    

Fifth Quarter:

Published Tuesdays in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

The statistical summary from Chenango Forks’ 48-26 victory over Lansing in Saturday’s Section 4 Class C football semifinal made no mention of the following names: Paul Groover, Hunter Luybli, Ryan Ehrets, D.J. Ehrets, Joe Silvanic, Allan-Michael Rios.

Yet that crew of interior linemen, as well as tight ends Andrew Ziegenfus and Scott Craver, were as responsible as anyone for landing the Blue Devils an 11th title-game berth in the last 13 seasons.

The offensive front took care of its business so that Isaiah Zimmer could do his thing in a 40-carry, 249-yard, three-touchdown rushing afternoon, and so that John Colm Sweeney could complete six of eight passes for 115 yards and three scores.

“I thought we really took it to them, especially in the first half,” coach David Hogan said. “We had to get a little bit more creative and open it up a little more in the second half, which is going to happen when all you’re defending is the run you can bring guys up and fire more gaps. But I thought our front seven, even our backs, I thought we blocked very well today.”

Asked after the game what would be addressed first in the film room, Zimmer said, “I think first we’ll recognize how well the offensive line did.”

Of course, there was also that matter of Lansing’s 264 passing yards to be tended to. That field day included five gains of 32 or more yards.

“We just have to keep at it,” Hogan said. “We knew that we were fairly inexperienced and fairly thin there. … We know that we can do better than what we did today, we just know that. I’m confident that we’re going to get better.”

 

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