Game 10 - 2015 Chenango Forks Varsity Football

Game 10 vs Newark Valley

Chenango Forks 42, Newark Valley 15
CF advances to program's Section 4 Record 14th State Playoff Tournament

Forks' ground game, 'D' too much for Cardinals

Kevin Stevens
kstevens@pressconnects.com
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

Chenango Forks ground out the first five touchdowns Saturday and emerged with a 42-15 victory over Newark Valley, marking the Blue Devils’ fourth consecutive Section 4 Class C football championship.

Top-ranked Forks (9-1) banged out 397 rushing yards, and not once did the forward pass enter the Devils’ equation at Binghamton Alumni Stadium.

L.J. Watson accounted for 134 of his 176-yard total by halftime. It was 21-0 at that juncture and 35-0 with 9 1-2 of the third quarter elapsed. Tim McDonald rushed for another 72 yards and two teammates went for 50-plus as the Devils exceeded a 40-point total for the third consecutive weekend.

Ahead will be a state quarterfinal against Utica Notre Dame (9-1), noon Saturday back at Alumni Stadium. The Jugglers repeated as Section 3 champion with a 69-32 win over Canastota at the Carrier Dome.

A November ago, Forks ousted Notre Dame by a 57-14 count in the quarterfinal round.

The brand of football on display by Forks was as efficient as it was physically imposing, rooted in superior line play on both sides of the line of scrimmage. The Blue Devils gained 19 first downs, punted once, and rang up 7.1 yards per rush to Newark Valley’s 2.8.

“Coaches prepare us all week, tell us what to do. There’s a lot of communication up front and everyone is doing their job. It makes a huge difference,” junior center Ryan Ehrets said of the offensive line.

“Offensively I thought we moved them and handled them up front for the most part, and defensively there were a lot of times when they were getting stuffed for very short gains, sometimes no gain,” Forks coach David Hogan said. “Just couldn’t be happier with how things went up front.”

The tone of this one was fairly well established in the first three minutes.

Newark Valley took the initial possession, advanced 5 yards on three plays, and a punt left Forks the football at its 25-yard line. On second down, Watson started a rush to the left, cut to the middle, juked free of the final defender and finished a 72-yard TD. The first of Tony Silvanic’s six PAT kicks made it 7-0.

Defensive end Trevor Borchardt came up with big plays on each of the Cardinals’ next two possessions, belting a ball carrier for a 10-yard loss on one and felling a receiver for a 1-yard gain on the other.

Forks’ second scoring drive began, following a 10-yard Newark Valley punt, at the Cards’ 42. On the sixth play, 225-pound quarterback Silvanic followed 250-pound Ehrets across the goal line from the 1-yard line on the second play of the second quarter.

And that is called strength up the middle.

Forks’ next does of defense was led by Dylan Studer, Jake Osterhout and Ehrets as Newark Valley was limited to a single first down, and the subsequent punt set up the Devils at their 47.

Cody Lamond took a toss play 25 yards on first down, went for 12 yards inside two plays later, and the rest of the work belonged to McDonald. His third consecutive carry brought him a 3-yard touchdown and it was 21-0 midway into the second quarter.

“I step in at quarterback but it doesn’t matter who’s playing when our line blocks like that,” Silvanic said. “I just have to hand the ball off, the line was getting it done up front.”

In fact, two quarters in the Devils’ 220 rushing yards had come on a 10-per-carry showing.

An unsuccessful onside kick to open second-half play left Forks the ball at its 45, and four ball carriers had a hand in a nine-play drive capped by a 3-yard rush by Silvanic, who again maximized Ehrets’ presence by following a straight-ahead path.

A Cardinals’ blunder from punt formation set up Forks 35 yards from another score, which came on a 2-yard inside rush by Studer on the seventh play. That made it 35-0.

Newark Valley (8-2) called upon a gadget for its first score. Quarterback Nick Schermerhorn delivered a pass 10 or so yards to Aaron Gorsline near the Cards’ sideline, and Gorsline tossed to a streaking Chad Wright to cover the remaining 45 or so. That came on the third quarter’s second-to-last play.

Watson and Schermerhorn chalked up the remaining TDs, and Newark Valley exited having absorbed a second loss from Forks in a five-week span.

Schermerhorn finished with five pass completions for 121 yards to go with 64 rushing yards.

As for the Blue Devils, section champions for the sixth time in seven years?

“Have fun, watch the film, enjoy it then get right back at it next week,” Ehrets said.

Hogan added, “We talk about blocking and tackling. We’re going to keep working on that. It’s not rocket science, we’re going to keep doing the same things that got us here. We just try to elevate it, try to do it that much better the following week.”