Norwich comeback falls short

Football

Johnson City 24, Norwich 21

NORWICH – A ferocious second-half comeback by Norwich fell short when Johnson City drove for the winning score in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.

Reggie Williams’ four-yard TD run with 16 seconds left polished off a 78-yard drive as the Wilcats eked out a win over the Tornado Friday night. Quarterback Nick Weathers hit all-state receiver Troy Robinson four times for 48 yards during the last possession to extend the drive. As time ticked down, JC called a timeout before the winning score, and Norwich prepared for another Weathers pass or run. “We anticipated they would roll out to the left and look for Robinson, or run the option to the same side,” said Norwich coach John Martinson. “So we overloaded our defense to one side. They ran the fullback – and we held him to just 22 yards in the game – to the opposite side. The kid just bull-dozed through and made a great run. We had kids in place to make the play, it was just a well executed play.”

Norwich (2-4) made its way back into the game running the ball inside with Tyler Hoffman, and getting tailback Mackay Hotaling to the outside. Hoffman’s second TD run of the second half – a one-yard run – with just over three minutes remaining in the game put the Tornado in front for the first time. Hoffman had a two-yard scoring run earlier in the fourth quarter, and Hotaling scampered eight yards for a touchdown in the third to put his team on the board. Norwich had four possessions in the second half – not including the 16 seconds at the end – scoring on three and fumbling the ball away on the other.

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“The second half we really dominated the line of scrimamge, and we were able to attack them off tackle with Hoffman and get Mackay to the outside,” Martinson said. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and I can’t remember a Norwich team coming back from 18 points down at halftime. We won the third and fourth quarters, and in terms of character, desire, and determination, this was a win. We just need to do it for four quarters.”

It was the third straight win for JC over Norwich, and the win seemed almost assured after the Wildcats took an 18-0 lead into halftime.

“The first half, we really struggled offensively, and we made a lot of mistakes,” Martinson said. “We didn’t seem to be together as a team.”

JC shook the Tornado early in the game when Miguel Mendoza popped a run up the middle dashing 86 yards for the first score. Weathers ran for a 30-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and Weathers hooked up with Troy Robinson on a 23-yard TD strike upping the lead to 18.

Other than the two long runs in the first half, JC had just 43 yards rushing on 27 attempts. Most of Norwich’s yards came in the second half. Hoffman led Norwich with 76 yards on 15 attempts, and Hotaling had 74 yards for an NHS offense that finished with 224 yards rushing.

“Johnson City had a lot of team speed and they were tough defend,” Martinson said. “We did a very good job defensively, for the most part.”

Norwich plays at Windsor on Friday night.

Score by quarters

JCity 6 12 0 6–24

NHS 0 0 8 13–21

Scoring Summary

JC: Miguel Mendoza 86 run (kick failed)

JC: Nick Weathers 30 run (pass failed)

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JC: Troy Robinson 23 pass from Weathers (kick failed)

N: Mackay Hotaling 8 run (Tyler Hoffman run)

N: Hoffman 2 run (Nate Ashton kick)

N: Hoffman 1 run (kick failed)

JC: Reggie Williams 4 run (kick failed)

Team Summary

N JC

First downs 15 13

Rushes-yds 46-224 29-159

Passing yds 0 107

Comp-att-int 0-4-2 9-15-1

Punts-avg 5-29 4-38

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-0

Penalties-yds 9-81 8-51

Individual Statistics

Rushing: (JC) Miguel Mendoza, 7-89; Nick Weathers, 13-49; Reggie Williams, 9-21; (N) Tyler Hoffman, 15-76; Mackay Hotaling, 14-74; Josh Favaloro, 2-31; Seth Thomsen, 9-20; Nick McCullough, 4-19; Morgan Cleveland, 1-2; Patrick Taylor, 1-2.

Passing: (JC) Nick Weathers, 9-15-1, 107 yds, TD; (N) Seth Thomsen, 0-4-2, 0 yds.

Receiving: (JC) Troy Robinson, 8-107, Miguel Mendoza, 1-0.

Greene 44, Oxford 14

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GREENE – For the third straight year, Greene rolled to a dominating victory over Oxford as Kurt Shear had his second 200-yard rushing game of the season.

Greene turned the ball over three times in the first quarter, yet still managed to take a 7-0 lead.

After losing a fumble early in the game, the Trojans’ defense responded with an Alex Kenyon interception. Greene forced an Oxford punt, but lost the ball when it muffed the return. Before settling in, Greene lost another fumble.

Greene solved Oxford’s defense on Keegan Cerwinski’s 80-yard TD pass to Josh Brigham late in the opening quarter.

For the second straight week, the Trojans’ offense exploded in the second quarter. Shear started the scoring with a 51-yard TD gallop, Jeff Carlin followed with a 35-yard TD scamper, and an Oxford safety after a bad snap went into the endzone put the ball in Greene’s hands again. Keegan Cerwinski capped the 30-point quarter with TD runs of 10 yards and a one-yard sneak.

“The team did a good job overcoming adversity in the first quarter,” said Greene coach Tim Paske. “They stayed focused, and were able to execute the game plan.”

Oxford was held to just nine yards of offense in the first half, and its only first down of the opening two quarters came after a penalty.

After Greene upped to the to 44-0 following a Carlin 15-yard scoring run, Oxford avoided the shutout in the fourth quarter on Paul Wonka’s six-yard scoring jaunt, and Booker Davis’ eight-yard TD run.

Shear finished with 200 yards on the nose on 24 carries, and Greene finished with 386 yards of offense.

Score by quarters

Oxf. 0 0 0 14–14

Gr. 7 30 7 0–44

Scoring Summary

G: Josh Brigham 80 pass from Keegan Cerwinski. (Gell kick)

G: Kurt Shear 51 run (Tim Gell kick)

G: Jeff Carlin 35 run (Gell kick)

G: Safety, bad Oxford snap recovered in endzone.

G: Keegan Cerwinski 10 run (Gell kick)

G: Cerwinski 1 run (Gell kick)

G: Carlin 15 run (Gell kick)