By Gifford Wolcott
Contributing Writer
WAVERLY – The Purple Tornado of Norwich blew into town, a pre-game power outage dimmed the lights and delayed the game, then the Purple Tornado turned out the lights permanently on the Wolverines of Waverly in a thrilling come-from-behind 20-12 victory Friday night.
It was the second straight week Norwich found itself on the short end of the score heading into the fourth quarter before rallying.
Tornado head coach John Pluta had high praise for his squad. “That’s two weeks in a row we’ve come from behind,” he said. “We said during halftime that we’ve got to win that second half, we’ve got to keep playing, we’re having fun out here. We’ve just got to keep getting after them.”
With just over four minutes to play in the game and on fourth-and-six from the Wolverines’ 43-yard line, Tornado signal-caller Tim Clark found Andrew Austin running free behind Waverly defense. Austin hauled in the pass at the Waverly three-yard line. Norwich then called on Mike Moon to cover the final three yards. The Tornado’s attempt at a two-point conversion was turned back by Waverly keeping the game deadlocked at 12-12.
Waverly was forced to punt on its next possession giving Norwich the ball back with under three minutes to play. A key third-down run by Tyler Slater produced a Tornado first down inside Wolverines territory. Then, Tornado running back Paddy Law raced downfield for another 12-yard hunk of real estate. On first-and-ten from the Waverly 35, Clark once again found a wide-open target. This time Clark connected with teammate David Carson for 24 yards. The final blow from the Tornado came when Clark, again found Carson on a “jump” pass right – nearly the identical TD play that gave Norwich its win over Owego a week earlier. Norwich’s Slater converted the two-point run, and with 39 seconds to play the Norwich Tornado led Waverly for the first time.
The Wolverines battled hard over the last seconds, with Brett Sewalt returning the ensuing kickoff to the Norwich 35 yard line. With 16 seconds left, the final Wolverines gasp was snuffed out as a Logan Walker pass was intercepted by Norwich’s Carson at the one yard line.
Waverly opened the scoring in the first quarter to endi a seven-quarter scoring drought dating back to last year’s playoff loss to Chenango Valley. Behind the hard running of Sewalt, Walker and Kevin Gorman, the Wolverines rammed the ball to the Norwich one-yard line. Waverly’s Greg Kipling covered the final yard to put Waverly ahead 6-0 with 7:23 left to play in the first quarter. The try for point was blocked but the Wolverines had the lead and the early momentum.
Norwich answered back with a nine-play drive that traversed 81 yards. On second-and-eleven from their own 40 yard-line Tim Clark (who finished 6-for-9 for 132 yards) found Austin open behind the Waverly defense. On second- and-goal from the eight, Law (16 carries for 79 yards) bolted around right end for the first NHS score. Waverly blocked the Norwich kick and with 1:46 remaining in the first quarter, the score was tied at six-all.
The Wolverines embarked on another ground-pounding eleven-play drive. On third-and-five from the six, Kipling took the option pitch from Walker, and raced into the end zone for his second score of the night. The Wolverine point-after try sailed wide left, but Waverly was back in the lead 12-6 with 8:57 left before the half. Penalties and punts helped run out the remaining time in the half and the Wolverines headed to the locker room with a six point advantage.
The third quarter ended much the same way as the second had. To the credit of both defenses, neither team could sustain a drive and both teams traded punts, twice. The fourth quarter began with Waverly still in the driver’s seat 12-6. To the credit of the Norwich players and staff, the Tornado kept themselves in the game.
Norwich returns home to play Chenango Valley Friday, while Waverly is at Windsor Saturday.
Score by Quarters
Norwich 6 0 0 14 — 20
Waverly 6 6 0 0 — 12
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
W: Greg Kipling, 1 run (kick blocked), 7:23
