2014 Chenango Forks Varsity Football
Game
10 vs Newark Valley
Blue Devils 42,
Cardinals 21
CF Wins Its'
16th Section 4 Football Championship
Articles courtesy of the
Binghamton Press &
Sun-Bulletin
| to Game 9 - Waverly |
to Game 11 - Utica Notre Dame |
|
Forks adds to its harvest of sectional
football titles
Kevin Stevens, kstevens@pressconnects.com
ENDICOTT Riding the wave of first-quarter
touchdowns scored 18 seconds apart, Chenango Forks
took care of Newark Valley by 42-21 Saturday for the
program's fifth Section 4 Class C football
championship in a six-season span.
Sophomore L.J. Watson rushed for 191 yards and a TD,
and passed 34 yards for another score as the Blue
Devils' reigning state champions earned the
program's 13 state-playoff berth.
Up next comes a quarterfinal, noon Saturday at
Cicero-North Syracuse against the winner of Sunday's
Section 3 finale pitting Herkimer against Utica
Notre Dame.
But for a couple of second-quarter breakdowns that
opened the door for well-executed passing scores by
Newark Valley, Forks had matters reasonably well in
hand on the way to a second 2014 victory over the
Cardinals.
The Blue Devils, evidently stirred by the semifinal
tussle they'd experienced a week before against
Waverly, came out in aggressive, spirited and
businesslike fashion.
Newark Valley punted away its first possession to
set up Forks at its 9-yard line, and the Devils
faced nary a third down on the ensuing seven-play
scoring drive. Watson's 56-yard dash to the
Cardinals' 15 was most conspicuous, and Ryan Bronson
rushed in from the 1three plays later.
Forks proceeded to recover a fumble on the kickoff,
and on first down dialed up a halfback pass play on
which Watson threw perfectly down the right sideline
so that Cody Lamond could make a catch in stride
behind a defender to complete a 34-yard scoring play
18 seconds after Bronson struck.
The lead grew to 21-0 when Jack Sherwood and Robert
Story collaborated on an 18-yard scoring pass four
plays into the second quarter. That concluded a
69-yard drive that included a 19-yard pass from
Sherwood to Trevor Borchardt as well as a 17-yard
outside rush by Watson.
But not long after came those Newark Valley TDs, the
first a 19-yard delivery from halfback David Crow to
Connor Coleman_ two plays after Vinnie Darpino
intercepted a fourth-and-11 pass from Sherwood. The
second was a 36-yarder from quarterback Darpino to
Blake Novi who had mega-yards worth of separation
from the nearest defender.
That drive was kept afloat when Nick Schermerhorn
rushed for 17 yards from punt formation on
fourth-and-13.
Watson's 64-yard TD rush came between the Cardinals'
scores, sprung by a critical block supplied by
Lamond outside and well into the play.
It was a 28-14 Forks lead at halftime, by which
point Watson had logged 153 rushing yards.
"The thing we're not pleased with is giving up those
couple big plays," said Forks coach David Hogan. "We
always talk about eliminating big plays, you can't
give those things up. But overall, my word, I
thought we played outstanding on defense.
"We had to work on some things where they hurt us
the first game and I thought we did a heck of a job.
Coach Chick and Coach Green did an excellent job,
they work intensely with our defense and they did a
great job getting our kids ready."
That defensive effort focused sensibly on the
multi-talented and rawhide-tough Darpino, who rushed
for 171 yards in the teams' regular-season contest.
On this occasion, Darpino rushed 17 times for 79
yards, and his 23 pass attempts signaled success for
Forks' defenders.
"We knew that if we could stop the run they were
going to throw it, so we were prepared for it," said
Sherwood, who doubles as a defensive back.
Of the Devils' defensive blueprint, linebacker
Hunter Luybli said: "Pretty much just close the gaps
and that's exactly what we did. I didn't even have
to make this many tackles this game. We closed them
down and a lot of times they were just tripping out
there because there was nowhere to go."
The teams slugged it out through a scoreless third
quarter, in which the Cardinals' Dexter Hamilton
thwarted Forks' opening drive by tackling Watson for
a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 from near midfield.
The Devils' second possession ended with a fumble
lost near midfield, but four plays later they foiled
a fake-punt rush by Darpino to take over at their
47-yard line with 3:07 to play in the quarter.
Third-down conversions on the drive to come came via
a 10-yard Sherwood-to-Borchardt completion, and on a
5-yard facemask penalty. Watson rushed 19 yards
around left end to NV's 9-yard line and, on the
first play of the final quarter, Sherwood deftly
faked a toss left to Lamond and passed right to
Bronson for an 11-yard TD. Tony Silvanic's PAT made
it a 35-13 lead.
Forks' final TD came three plays after Dylan Studer
intercepted a pass and Newark Valley was assessed 15
penalty yards on the play to set up the Devils 20
yards from the goal line. Three consecutive rushes
by Bronson did the trick and it was an
insurmountable 42-14 with 7:05 to play.
"Most every drive we did what we wanted," said
Luybli, a member of Forks' offensive front. "We knew
they were going to blitz, they were going to take
chances because they had to. We stuck with it. We
passed when we needed to, made our passes and I
thought we did well.
"We were patient, like always, came out with a lot
of points."
Darpino passed for 124 yards and two scores, and his efforts on the other side were recognized with the game's Most Outstanding Defender award. Novi's four receptions went for 81 yards and two scores for the Cardinals (7-3). |
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | Tot | ||
| Chenango Forks | 14 | 14 | 0 | 14 | - | 42 |
| Newark Valley | 0 | 14 | 0 | 7 | - | 21 |
- CF - Ryan Bronson 1y run (Tony Silvanic kick)
- CF - Cody Lamond 34y pass from LJ Watson (Silvanic kick)
- CF - Robert Story 18y pass from Jack Sherwood (Silvanic kick)
- NV - Connor Coleman 19y pass from David Crow (Coleman kick)
- CF - LJ Watson 64y run (Silvanic kick)
- NV - Blake Novi 36y pass from Vinnie Darpino (Coleman kick)
- CF - Bronson 11y pass from Sherwood (Silvanic kick)
- CF - Bronson 1y run (Silvanic kick)
- NV - Novi 32y pass from Darpino (C. Coleman kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
| NV | CF | |
| First Downs | 14 | 15 |
| Rushes-Yards | 32-119 | 48-296 |
| Passing Yards | 143 | 108 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 13-24-1 | 6-8-1 |
| Total Offense | 56-262 | 56-404 |
| Punts-Ave yards | 3-32 | 1-46 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 1-1 | 3-1 |
| Penalties-Yards | 6-45 | 2-27 |
| . |
|
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Newark Valley rushing
Chenango
Forks
rushing Newark Valley passing
Chenango Forks passing
Newark Valley receiving
Chenango Forks receiving:
Preview
Article(s)
Kevin Stevens The top-ranked Blue Devils (8-1), reigning state champion and two-time defending sectional champ, have limited seven of nine opponents to seven or fewer points. Among foes failing to put up a second TD was Newark Valley, 33-7 victim Oct. 4 on Forks’ turf. Thirteenth-ranked Newark Valley (7-2) is coming off a 17-14 semifinal win over Lansing, with Connor Coleman’s 29-yard field goal the difference. Forks was at something less than its ordinarily efficient self in a 13-6 semifinal win over Waverly. “We’ve definitely got to be more disciplined and we have to play an allaround football game,” said fullback/ linebacker Ryan Bronson of Forks, which was whacked for 96 penalty yards and had two scores called back in the semi. Saturday’s winner advances to a state quarterfinal, noon Nov. 15 at Cicero- North Syracuse High School. There, the opponent will be either fifthranked Herkimer (9-0) or eighthranked Utica Notre Dame (8-1). When Forks and Newark Valley squared off in the regular season, sophomore L.J. Watson rushed for 110 yards and Bronson another 98 for Forks, which led by 20-0 at halftime after limiting the Cardinals to 59 first-half yards. “We definitely want long memories,” said Newark Valley coach Brian Sherwood. “They came out and put the first two drives in and scored, put one in right at the end of the second quarter so we were down 20-0 at the half. After that we adjusted and the kids settled down we played a pretty good second half. “So, we have the good and the bad to build off this week.” “The last time we didn’t come out as strong as we have in the last few games,” NV’s Coleman said of that September encounter with the Devils. “This time when we come out, it’ll definitely be something different.” Cardinals quarterback Vinnie Darpino, arguably among the most valuable players in Section 4 football, rushed for 152 of his 171 yards in the second half that soggy afternoon at Forks. Post-game
Midweek
Article(s):
Blue Devils halfback turns in 191 yard rushing effort in Class C football final
And so, Chenango Forks quarterback Jack Sherwood was asked, how 'bout that sophomore of yours in the backfield?
"You wouldn't believe, he's really, really talented," Sherwood said of halfback L.J. Watson. "He's got speed, power, vision he's got the whole package. He's getting a lot bigger, a lot better. He's going to be a freak by his senior year."
In Saturday's 42-21 victory over Newark Valley for Section 4's Class C title, Watson rushed 15 times for 191 yards and a touchdown, and completed both of his passes for 50 yards and another TD. Rushes of 64 and 56 yards were among five that went for 16 or more.
The 56-yard gain came on his second carry of the afternoon and set up Forks' first score, and Watson created the second TD with a wonderfully thrown 34-yard pass to Cody Lamond that left the Blue Devils ahead by at least two TDs through the conclusion.
"He's really good," said Hunter Luybli, one of those doing the blocking for Watson and backfield mates. "The first time I saw him was when he was in eighth grade and got pulled up for a playoff game. That kid is amazing. He's fast, he's strong and he gets bigger every year. He's a great athlete."
"He's pretty special," was how coach David Hogan summed up his ace 10th-grader.
On the other side of the football, Blue Devil defenders needn't look beyond one statistical category passes attempted to see that they accomplished what they set out to. Newark Valley went up top an uncharacteristic 24 times.
"Teams like this we say, hey, if they're throwing the ball a lot that means they're out of their element and that means we're taking their run away," Hogan said. "It's not where they want to be. That typically means we're doing our job." |
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