Tim Paske of Greene reiterated the long-standing belief of all football coaches earlier this week: “From week one to week two is where you see the most improvement in your team.”

It was a mixed bag of success and failure for Chenango County’s six football teams last weekend. Three teams opened the season with wins, the other three with losses. Grading them out, not one of the coaches on any squad was completely satisfied with his team’s performance.

“We’re really trying to improve the execution of our basic offensive plays,” said Norwich coach John Martinson, whose club amassed 221 yards of offense in a 6-0 win over Whitney Point

Martinson said he has a number of wrinkles in his offense that he has yet to throw in, but those plays would be pointless without perfecting the staples of the Tornado’s offense.

Mike Chrystie’s team led 34-0 at the half against Newfield en route to a sound 41-16 whipping. The victory halted a two-year slide of back-to-back shutout losses to Greene. One of the scores came on the defensive side, and the final score could have been even more lopsided.

“We were able to move the ball pretty well, and I was pleased with the way we played – other than the penalties,” Chrystie said.

Oxford racked up a whopping 160 penalty yards on 16 infractions. Four of those penalties were personal fouls. “I don’t mind the physical penalties where we’re getting after it,” Chrystie said. “The nonsense personal fouls, those are things we can control.”

Sherburne-Earlville’s recent history of road woes continued at Canastota last Friday. The Marauders’ offense stalled time and again in the first half, then after getting the offense moving, the turnover bug kicked in. “I think we had maybe one first down in the first half,” said S-E second-year coach Mike Jasper. “We had too many three-and-outs. When you’re defense is on the field that much, it’s bound to eventually make a mistake.”

Jasper’s team accumulated much of its 144 rushing yards in the second half, half of those coming on a three-play scoring drive in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 13. After stopping Canastota, S-E was poised to make a further dent in that margin until a tipped ball and interception ended the momentum. “We did some good things in the second half, but we had too many miscues,” Jasper said. “You can’t have that many mistakes (four turnovers), and expect to be successful.”

–––

High school football on the radio this weekend: Friday – Walton at B-G, 6:45 p.m., WDLA, 92.1 FM; Oneonta at Sidney, 6:45 p.m., WCDO, 100.9 FM/1490 a.m. and WZOZ, 103.1. Saturday – Norwich at Chenango Forks, 1:20 p.m., WCHN, 970 AM; Harpursville at Delhi, 1:15 p.m., WCDO.

–––

Six games fill our football docket this weekend, many of which have division implications. Please read on for a look at each contest:

Norwich (1-0) at Chenango Forks (1-0), Saturday, 1:30 p.m.

The last game Chenango Forks played in 2009, it didn’t score a point in a 21-0 Class C state semifinals loss to eventual state champion Southwestern. Many of the key offensive players from the Blue Devils return, among those are running backs Ryan and Tyler Lusht, Jimmy Miller, and Lukas Aston, and Forks erupted for 53 points in a 37-point romp over Windsor. Thirty-five of those points came in the first half as the typically stingy and opportunistic Forks defense helped set up short scoring drives. “To be honest, I was most impressed with their defense,” said Norwich coach John Martinson, who scouted the game. “They keep you out of the red zone, they win with special teams, and when they get up two touchdowns, it feels like 49 to nothing. They try to break your back on defense, and no matter what the situation is, we have to play to the whistle every down.”

While Forks was scoring five touchdowns in the first half, Norwich had none against Whitney Point, and its lone score in the third quarter was enough for a shutout victory. “Looking at the film with the kids, out of 53 plays, 16 of those we hurt ourselves,” Martinson said. “Most of those occurred near the red zone. Finishing drives will be the key to our success.”

Norwich has not beaten Chenango Forks since the 1999 season when the Tornado captured the Section IV, Class B title. Martinson is well aware of the drought, but has not made it a focus of his team’s game preparation. “Right now, it’s all about self-improvement and preparing for the division games,” Martinson said. “If we can’t take of the mistakes we made in our own house, we’re going to have trouble going to other people’s house and beating them.”

Oxford (1-0) at Seton Catholic Central (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m. at Binghamton Alumni Stadium

Seton Catholic Central favored a running attack when it played Oxford late last season, a game that the Blackhawks ground out a 13-7 win in the muck and mud of Blackhawks Stadium.

This year’s Saints present a whole new look in this Class D divisional game, said Oxford coach Mike Chrystie. “They’re in a spread offense most of the time, and they like to sling it all over,” the Oxford coach said.