Greene gridders finish off perfect regular season

Football

Greene 22, Sidney 8

GREENE – For the third time in the last month, Greene came from behind to win. The Trojans scored two special teams touchdowns, and went on to capture their third Section IV, Division V title since the 2006 season beating the Warriors Friday night.

Greene (8-0) finished unbeaten in the regular season for the second time since 2008 when the Trojans finished 9-1, the lone setback in the Section IV finals.

“Sidney played well and the did some good things defensively,” said Greene head coach Tim Paske. “They changed up their offensive scheme, but our kids were able to come through.”

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Sidney reverted to the double wing offensive scheme that it used for great success for many years. Nate McDonald had a TD run and two-point conversion on the opening drive of the game, but suffered a game-ending injury on the conversion try.

Still, a ball-control Sidney offense kept Greene’s potent attack off the field, and the Trojans’ lone points of the first half came on a blocked punt. Kyle Stanton broke loose to block the boot, and Keegan Cerwinski scooped up the ball at the three and ran the ball in making it 8-6.

To start the second half, Cerwinski hit a seam on the kickoff return taking it 87 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. It was the Trojans’ fourth special teams touchdown of the season.

For the third straight game, Greene did not allow a point in the second half, and Jeff Carlin 69-yard run early in the third preceded Carlin’s one-yard TD run to make it 22-8 with 8:08 left in the third quarter. “Our defense did some bending, but most of the rest of the game was played between the 30s,” Paske said of the second half. “At halftime, we made some adjustments to stop their double wing and the kids did their job.”

Stanton and teammate Ricky Carbone were forces on the interior recovering three fumbles. Carbone alone had two forced fumbles, 10 tackles, and a sack.

Greene (8-0) plays Newark Valley Saturday in the first round of the Class C playoffs.

Score by quarters

Sid. 8 0 0 0–8

Gr. 6 0 16 0–22

Scoring Summary

S: Nate McDonald 16 run (McDonald run)

G: Keegan Cerwinski 3 blocked punt return (kick failed)

G: Cerwinski 87 kickoff return (Jeff Carlin run)

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G: Carlin 1 run (Cerwinski run)

Individual statistics

Rushing: (S) Jon Wingate, 11-59; Austin McCarroll, 11-40; Cody Bourn, 10-43; Brandon Walters, 8-18; Nate McDonald, 3-25; Mike Ward, 5-(-14). (G) Jeff Carlin, 8-85; Keegan Cerwinski, 11-57; Mike Beckwith, 5-28; Dan Dickman, 5-22; Trevor Parrish, 3-14; Joe Beckwith, 2-(-7).

Passing: (S) Mike Ward, 5-11-1, 60 yds. (G) J. Beckwith, 3-6-0, 12 yds.

Receiving: (S) Jon Wingate, 2-35; Damian Zimmer, 2-18; Cody Bourn, 1-7. (G) Dan Dickman, 2-8; Cole Browning, 1-4.

Ilion 48, Sherburne-Earlville 27

UTICA – For the second straight week, the Marauders had difficulty stopping the opponent’s running game.

Ilion ran for 355 yards, and the Tigers’ Matt Hall did the most damage to the S-E defense rushing for 204 yards and three scores in Friday’s game at Utica Proctor High School.

After Ilion scored on its first possession, a nine-yard Hall run, the Marauders threw an interception setting up another Ilion score. Right from the start, the Marauders were in catch-up mode. “We played a pretty good offensive game, but we didn’t do well at all on defense,” said Marauders coach Mike Jasper. “They pushed us around up front, and they drove up and down the field.”

Devven Ferris had scoring runs if 74 and 64 yards drawing S-E to within 26-21 in the second quarter. Following a defensive stop, S-E was poised the end the half with momentum, but fumbled the ball away at its own five. Travis Murray’s four-yard scoring run gave Ilion a 34-21 halftime lead.

In all, S-E turned the ball over three times, and each directly led to an Ilion touchdown. “I was a little concerned defensively because we didn’t have a great week of practice, and maybe it was a letdown after last week,” Jasper said. “We didn’t execute on defense, and that killed us. We were playing from behind the whole game, and we couldn’t get a stop when we needed it.”

Randy Briggs threw a 13-yard TD pass to Cole Hodges in the opening quarter, and the Marauders finished their scoring on Austin Jasper’s six-yard TD run in the fourth.

Ferris had 144 yards rushing in the game, and the Marauders piled up 267 yards of rushing offense in defeat.

Score by quarters

S-E 7 14 0 6–27

Ilion 14 20 0 13–48

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

I: Matt Hall 9 run (pass failed)

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I: Mike Belmont 3 run (Matt Hall run)

SE: Cole Hodges 13 pass from Randy Briggs (Garrett Duvall kick)

Second Quarter

I: Matt Hall 18 run (run failed)