NEW BERLIN – Unadilla Valley still believes. Operating all season as the “Little Engine That Almost Could,” Saturday’s Storm outfit resembled a team heading back toward respectability.

Short on numbers all season with a roster barely teetering above the state’s minimum, UV brought a season-high 19 players to the field on homecoming weekend, and it thoroughly thrashed first-year program Roscoe/Downsville, 42-0.

With two games remaining, what was seemingly unthinkable three weeks ago – a winning season – remains a possibility for the Storm. “We set a goal today to score a certain number of points, and hold our opponent below a certain number of points,” said UV coach Daryl Decker. “We wanted that third win so we can still finish with a winning record.”

All season long, UV’s three-H club – Kody Homann, Justin Hofer, and Kurt Haycook – have made the majority of the offensive plays. The template for success remained the same, but to record a shutout at home – something not seen around this parts in a long time – required the contributions of many more bodies.

On the Blue Devils’ opening play of the game, quarterback Collin Tallman was sacked for a 13-yard loss by senior Thomas Meyers. Roscoe/Downsville never did climb out of the red in terms of total yards finishing with minus-four total yards and just two first downs.

Meanwhile, UV was accumulating yards in large chunks running for a season-best 295 yards and three rushing scores, Haycook tossed a pair of TD passing, and a broken play on a gadget play led to another TD pass with Homann slinging a 43-yard TD toss to Hofer.

“We asked our kids to execute and focus on their assignments,” Decker said. “You can see that the plays we ran were pretty complicated, and the kids executed. No matter who you play against, you have to finish.”

Less than three minutes into the game, UV assumed the role of frontrunner. Forced to punt on its first possession, Haycook’s short boot was touched by a Roscoe-Downsville player. Hofer was on the spot for the recovery, and UV wasted no time in capitalizing. Haycook hit Hofer on a medium-range pass that went for a 32-yard touchdown.

From there, the romp was on, and it was a steady diet of running plays that complemented the consistent UV passing attack. Homann and Hofer added TD runs to up the score to 22-0 early in the second quarter. Roscoe-Downsville, still looking the part of a fledgling program, aided the UV effort with back-to-back lost fumbles.

On its second possession of the second quarter, the Blue Devils ran consecutive running plays without a turnover, but gave the ball back to UV on a third-and-long pass. Tallman underthrew his receiver, and Hofer leapt high snagging a one-handed interception. Once again, UV promptly took advantage of the defensive gem.

Using some trickery, Homann took the handoff from Haycook and looked to throw back to Haycook on the left. With Haycook covered, Homann continued to roll toward the right side tossing a long pass. The throw, seemingly targeting tight end Dillon Rifanburg, was overthrown. Hofer, though, crossing from the left side, ran under the ball and carried it into the endzone for his team’s fourth score of the half.

Just before halftime, it was simple nuts and bolts running from Meyers at fullback that led to a pair of first downs, and ultimately set the stage for Homann’s 34-yard TD dash down the left sideline.

The Storm was significantly more conservative in their second-half offensive playcalling, and capped the scoring in the third quarter on Haycook’s 14-yard TD pass to Rifanburg. “It wasn’t that long ago that we were in the same position (Roscoe/Downsville) is in,” Decker said. “We remember what it feels like on the sideline. We just wanted to meet our team goals today, and execute.”

Homann ran for a season-best 151 yards, Meyers, a starting center at the beginning of the season, added a season-high 53 yards. Hofer, second in Chenango County with 28 catches, pulled in three balls for 82 yards.

Next week the Storm will face either Delhi or Walton. Both clubs are longtime Section IV stalwarts coached by the two winningest coaches – Dave Kelly and Jim Hoover – in section history. “We know we’re going to play one of two powerful programs,” Decker said. “They’ll come to play with their ‘A game’ and will be well-coached. We’ll have to play our best if we want to go out and beat them.”

Score by quarters

R-D 0 0 0 0–0

UVa. 14 20 8 0–42

Scoring Summary

First quarter