NORWICH

NORWICH – The names and the faces change, but the goals never do for the Norwich football team.

In his two years at the helm as head coach, John Martinson has guided the Purple Tornado to a pair of playoff appearances. In 2009 he won a division title, and last year, a runner-up divisional finish was good enough to earn a wild-card bid. Through two campaigns, Martinson sports an even .500 record (9-9), but he is less concerned with overall wins and losses versus the wins and losses against divisional opponents. In Martinson’s tenure, Norwich is an impressive 7-1 against division rivals, and that kind of success will always help a team reach its goals.

“We’d love to win every game we play, but our goal is one step at a time, and our focus is always on winning the division,” Martinson said.

Martinson cringes at the term “rebuilding,” but when you lose 20 seniors to graduation and return just two offensive starters, there is indeed a lot of new faces taking on key roles in an offensive system that relies heavily on intelligent linemen making the right line calls, excellent timing, and well-executed faking from all of the skill position players.

Fortunately, Martinson has added a wealth of experience to his coaching corps. Former varsity head coaches, Art Rigas and Mike Chrystie, have joined the Tornado staff. Too, former Norwich player Zach Stratton is assisting veteran line coach Tom Stoddard.

Rigas has served as a head coach at Oneonta and Unatego, winning a sectional championship for the latter team. He also coached and played for Walton, so he is well acquainted with the Norwich system. In Chrystie, Martinson has a four-year varsity head coach who, as an athlete, is Chenango County’s all-time leading rusher, passer, and scorer.

Rigas will run the Norwich defense and assist with coaching the linemen, while Chrystie will focus on special teams and backs. “It’s been difficult for me to give up the defense,” Martinson said, who was the defensive coordinator for Norwich for two decades under longtime head coach John Pluta. “I’m very pleased with the job Art is doing, and I tried to balance coaching the offense and defense the past two years. This (change) will give me more time to focus on the offense and do more of the other coaching responsibilities. I’m comfortable with the job Art is doing, and having two former head coaches on staff is really nice.”

We alluded to Norwich’s two returning starters. One is third-year starting quarterback Seth Thomsen, and the other is all-county lineman, Levi Lorimer. Lorimer is easily the largest lineman on the Norwich team, and probably the largest in all of the area. Martinson will lean heavily on Thomsen’s experience and play-making ability in integrating so many new faces to the starting lineup.

Thomsen’s potential running mates this season, Mackay Hotaling and Nate Ashton, are not with the team this year. Hotaling and his family moved to Florida, while Ashton opted to participate in cross country. “You can’t coach the guys that are not here, and you can’t worry about what you don’t have,” Martinson said. “This is a chance for other guys to step up.”

With no returning starters and just Patrick Taylor – a part-time offensive player last year – having any experience carrying the ball, the first scrimmage and first game will be the first opportunities for incoming backs Kyle Edwards, Jaden MacRabie, and Danny Carson to carry the ball. Grant Brightman, a starter last year on defense and an all-county and all-division player, will likely start at fullback, the key running back position for Norwich.

As it looks right now, Edwards or MacRabie will start at one running back position along side Brightman, and Taylor will move into the slotback position. Depth will be provided by Kegan Levesque at fullback, Michael Sutton at quarterback, and perhaps Jeremy Hamilton at one of the running back spots.

Joining Lorimer on the line are Ryan Hayes, a sophomore center, Cody Barnes, a sophmore guard; Darrel Humphrey or Levi Levesque at guard, with Tyler Tehan, Matt Wolpa, and Chandler Rivenburgh competiting for a tackle spot. At right end as the primary receiver is senior Ian Weaver. Martinson added that Hamilton may work into the offensive line mix as well as the skill positions.

Norwich starts its season on the road at Susquehanna Valley Saturday, then returns for its home opener the ensuing weekend against Owego in a rematch of last year’s first-round playoff game. Two tough non-league games against Sidney and Chenango Forks ensue before Norwich heads full throttle into the rest of its division schedule.

Well over half of the starting spots will be filled by players new to the varsity level, and Martinson is keeping six sophomores on his roster. Norwich is indeed short on varsity experience, but it is, as always, long on tradition.

“I’m a big believer in coaching the kids that you have in any given year,” Martinson said. “We will be young in positions, and we’ll have to see how those kids react to the speed and intensity of the game at this level. We had a great turnout in the weight room during the offseason, and I think we will be strong up front. The kids need to gain confidence, and the more confidence we have, we’ll be able run different plays and give other teams different looks. It will take some time to see how things play out.”

BAINBRIDGE-GUILFORD

BAINBRIDGE – The Class D teams in Section IV will have a better chance at making the playoffs this year. Actually winning enough games to qualify for the playoffs is not an easy task at all.

The number of Class D teams grew to 16 in the offseason, and a third division was added along with four more playoff teams than past years. In all, the three division champions will earn automatic playoff bids, and five other clubs will qualify based on their regular season victories and points accumulated for those wins. The points system is somewhat confusing, but Bainbridge-Guilford coach, Tim Mattingly, knows that if his team wins the games on its schedule, the “points” will take care of themselves.

“I don know that if you have two losses, it’s not the end of the world and you can still make the playoffs,” Mattingly said “I’m not sure what I think about (the new playoff system). We’ll see how it goes.”

If any team suffered more hard-luck losses that Mattingly’s Bobcats last season, please let the B-G mentor know. Realistically, the Bobcats were a play or two away from a 7-1 or 8-0 record.

* Walton beat B-G in week two with the winning score coming in the final 15 seconds.

* Two weeks later, Seton Catholic Central drove and scored the winning touchdown with 36 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

* Lastly, in week seven, a missed field goal in the final seconds went wide as Delhi preserved a two-point win over B-G.

“Those losses were all tough for us, and they were great games,” Mattingly said. “We felt we were right there all year, and right in the thick of things.”

The key to B-G’s attack all season was a formidable one-two punch at running back. As a senior last year, Dakota Vandermark set a new single-season school record for yards in a season finishing with 1,339. Vandermark’s running mate, Billy Holden, softened up defenses on the inside with his power running. Holden had 599 yards and 10 rushing scores for the season. Holden, a 6-foot-2, 225-pounder with excellent speed, figures to get the lion’s share of the carries in his senior season. “I think he will be the guy for us, and he came into the season in really good shape,” Mattingly said. “We’re counting on him, and he needs to be the workhorse on offense and defense. He led our team in tackles last year, so we expect a lot out of Billy.”

Holden is just one piece in the puzzle for Mattingly’s troops, and he isn’t the only returning player with substantial starting experience. Ryan Porter stared the first seven games last year at quarterback, but he is moving back to his more natural position, split end. Porter was the team’s leading receiver two years ago, and became the starting quarterback almost out of necessity.

Stepping into the starting QB role is junior Corbin Palmer. Palmer showed excellent poise last year as he saw significant playing time the final two weeks, and threw one TD pass in each of those games.

The rest of the returning experience comes primarily on the offensive line. Junior tight end Austin Bauerle is back. He had a half-dozen receptions last year, and will probably be more of a featured target this season. Also back are third-year lineman Austin Wheeler and right tackle Chris Parelli. Tyler Johnson, Tim Walts, Shane Curtin, and Dalton Johnson will occupy three of the remaining starting spots on the offensive line, and they present the opposition with good size averaging around 220 pounds across the board.

Along with Holden in the backfield are Tyler Ouimet at running back and Lucas Butcher at wingback. Those two offer a nice change of pace in contrast to Holden’s bulldozing, straight-ahead running style.

“We’re getting kids such as Porter, Holden and Wheeler to step up as leaders,” Mattingly said. “We feel we have good outside threats to throw the ball to, and we have Holden at fullback. I expect a lot of these guys, and these kids are more focused and into it.”

What lies ahead on the schedule are divisional dates against longtime rivals Walton, Delhi, Oxford, and Deposit-Hancock. Walton may be the front-runner, Delhi is always well coached, Deposit-Hancock should be much improved, and Oxford is somewhat of an unknown commodity with first-year head coach Ray Dayton implementing a new philosophy.

“I honestly believe that we have the toughest Class D division in the state,” Mattingly said. “We want to bring a physical brand of football to each and every game, and we hope to be in the playoff mix at the end.”

GREENE

GREENE – The days of Greene’s football program merely seeking respectability are a thing of the past. The Trojans have flown under the banner of success for six straight years under ninth-year head coach Tim Paske. So much so, a 5-4 record from a year ago was perceived by some as a bit of a setback.

“We talk about being a contender every year,” Paske said. “We’ve said it before: We want to put the most competitive team on the field that we can.”

The five wins a year ago could have easily been six or seven, and this year’s team is dotted by top returning players and a host of newcomers off an 8-1 junior varsity team that should put Greene in the playoff mix.

“The kids are really getting after it during the offseason, and that makes it easier in the fall,” Paske said.

Paske said the summer weightlifting program produced the largest numbers in his nine seasons at the helm. An average of 25 to 26 players hit the weight room, and with that, the Trojans have perhaps its biggest and strongest team ever. “In high school, from year to year, you get what you get,” Paske said. “This year, be could average 260 to 270 pounds across our offensive line.”

Behind that offensive line, Paske is blessed to have tremendous depth at all of the skill positions. The focus of that offense may likely be returning senior Keegan Cerwinski. As the starting quarterback last year, Cerwinski was the team’s second leading rusher finishing with over 600 yards. This season, Cerwinski was moved to starting running back giving way to sophomore signal-caller, Joe Beckwith. Joining those two in the backfield are returning starter Jeff Carlin, 2010 reserve back, Dan Treadwell, and incoming running backs Dan Dickman, Trevor Parrish, and Mike Beckwith.

At receiver are Lane Whittaker and combination receiver/back Brett Ramsey. In the receiver mix as well are Jeremy Flohr, Cole Browning, and Mike Washburn. “If we want to go into a spread look, we have a lot of skill guys that can make plays for us,” Paske said.

Perhaps the biggest change for Greene is a formation shift on offense. Former offensive coordinator, Jeff Paske, accepted an administrative position at Johnson City. Now running the offense is Oxford graduate Mike Curtis, who previously served as Harpursville’s head football coach. Curtis runs what is called the “Pistol,” a formation in which the quarterback accepts the hike from center three to four yards off the line of scrimmage. It’s a shortened shotgun formation with many options to run or throw the ball. “You have to adapt your offense to your personnel,” Paske said. “Mike likes it, and I like it, too. For our skill position players and our linemen, it’s a good fit. We plan to go with it at all levels of football. A lot of the things in the system are easy to teach.”

The success of the Pistol – and for any offense – will weigh heavily on the shoulders of the offensive linemen. Heading up that group is third-year starter, Chris Kehoe. Kehoe is moving from an outside blocking position to starting center. Junior Trevor Flohr returns at guard, and last year’s starting tight end, Isaiah Webb, moves inside to offensive tackle. From there, Garrett Huttleston, Ricky Carbone, Dan Haskell, an Justin Beers fit into the other positions at guard and tackle. Adding depth is monstrous lineman, Max Flanagan, who is 6-foot-6, 300 pounds. Along with Flanagan is quick and tenacious Kale Webb, who is just over 150 pounds. Those linemen who do not start on offense may see more time starting on the defensive side of the ball, Paske said. “Once we get our starting five on the offensive line, we want the backups on defense,” Paske said. “That way we can get some good looks with our scout team.”

The whispers from other coaches, is that this year’s Greene team may be one of its best ever. Paske is reticent to buy into those whispers because any preseason projections might overload his team with undeserved confidence. That said, the Greene mentor is excited as he has ever been.

“I’m really excited every season, but with 16-, 17-, and 18-year-olds, you never really know what you’ll get until the games start,” he said. “I like this group of kids, and they’ve really put all the time in during the offseason. It’s a fun group to coach, and what will really tell us about them is how they deal from adversity. We hope to learn from last year. It was a good lesson for our kids.”