Five out of Chenango County’s six football clubs enter the final week of the regular season with a .500 record or better, but only one, Greene, still entertains thoughts of playing beyond week nine.

The Trojans roared to a 34-8 thrashing of Tioga last Friday to put a stamp on a second straight postseason appearance, and what awaits is a rematch with the number one seed in Section IV, Class C football, Unatego, tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Ty Cobb Stadium in Endicott. The Spartans beat Greene at home in week two, 26-8.

“Our goal at the beginning of the year was to make the playoffs again,” said Greene coach Tim Paske. “The team achieved that goal, and the next goal was the win a playoff game. Since the playoff system started in 1993, we have made the playoffs three times – this is the fourth – and we haven’t won a playoff game.”

Perhaps no offensive player in Section IV is more valuable to his team than the Spartans’ Alex Hendrickson. Hendrickson has 18 rushing touchdowns and four receiving touchdowns and has a pair of 200-yard rushing games over his last three including a season-high 263 yards and four TDS against Sidney to put him over 1,000 yards for the season. He averages over 10 yards a carry and had three touchdowns over 60 yards last week.

“Number one, we don’t want to give up the home run play,” Paske said of Unatego and Hendrickson specifically. “Whether its Hendrickson, their quarterback (Kyle Palmer) or someone else. We’ve seen Unatego quite a bit and have a handle on the things they like to do in certain situations. Now it’s a matter of having kids in the right position and executing.”

After Hendrickson, no other back on the Unatego roster has as many as 250 yards rushing (Dane Hedlund is second with 213), and the Trojans contained Hendrickson from a yardage standpoint allowing Hendrickson a season-low 66 yards rushing to go with 40 yards receiving. Still he managed to punch the ball in the endzone twice – a TD run and TD reception.

Palmer has not passed the ball much for Unatego with just 361 yards on 23-of-45 attempts. Interestingly, 114 of those yards on a 6-for-10 effort came against Greene.

The bread and butter of Unatego’s squad is a stout, physical defense that blanketed and blanked Greene’s offense for three quarters. The Trojans put up nearly half of their 205 yards of total offense in the fourth quarter against a mix of Unatego starters and reserves, while also getting a TD run from leading rusher Jake Wentlent.