ENDWELL – The Maine-Endwell victory train reached 30 Saturday afternoon, and it doesn’t appear anyone in Section IV is ready to derail the two-time defending state champions.
All-State quarterback Kyle Gallagher threw for two scores, ran for another, and senior fullback Darnell “The Bus” Woolfolk rushed for 132 yards and had two more TDs in a 49-7 romp over Norwich.
M-E (5-0) racked up 475 yards of total offense in halting the Purple Tornado’s three-game winning streak. Norwich (3-2), who was averaging over 30 points a game during the winning streak, had less than 50 yards of total offense through three quarters of play, and didn’t come close to the endzone until a late fourth-quarter drive that ended in Mike Sutton’s seven-yard score.
“They’re number one in the state for a reason,” said Norwich coach Mike Chrystie. “They do all of the little things right.”
And that attention to detail has served the Spartans well for 2 1/2 seasons. M-E tackled well in the open field, capitalized on two Norwich turnovers, partially blocked a punt, and converted on third- and fourth-and-long situations that usually lead to a turnover of downs.
After forcing Norwich to punt on its first series, the Spartans marched 83 yards on 13 plays for their first score. Inside Norwich’s 20, M-E committed a penalty, and that was chased by Jaden MacRabie’s 12-yard sack of Gallagher. Not to worry, Woolfolk came to the rescue with a 28-yard first-down run. Two plays later, Woolfolk ran it in from three yards out.
Norwich again failed to move the ball, and punter Zan Stewart had his boot partially blocked. Set up at Norwich’s 27, M-E went nowhere on first and second down, but on third-and-long, Gallagher hit receiver Alec Wisniewski on a post pattern for the 26-yard score.
Such was the theme of the entire first half. Whenever Norwich had M-E pinned back, the host club climbed out of the poor down-and-distance situation with a key run or pass. “The first half came down to them making about four big plays that we didn’t,” Chrystie said. “We were in position, but weren’t able to do it.”
Perhaps the biggest backbreaker of the opening half was at the end of the first quarter. Dan Conant and Spencer Stone sacked Gallagher on third down forcing a fourth-and-15 at the 39. Gallagher looked deep on the next play, and hit a diving Wisniewski for 38 yards to the Norwich one.
As skilled as the Spartans were, a little bit of luck aided the effort. On the first play of the second quarter, Gallagher fumbled the center exchange, but Woolfolk picked up the loose pigskin and carried the fumble in from two yards out. The fluidity of Woolfolk’s score almost seemed choreographed.
Meanwhile, Norwich’s potent offense was just looking for a first down. The Tornado put back-to-back first downs together on its first drive of the second quarter, but an option pitch to MacRabie was sniffed out by Kyle Balmer for a seven-yard loss, and the drive fizzled.
“Their defense really gets to the ball, and they’re an aggressive team,” Chrystie said. “They are athletic in the skill positions, and their skill guys on defense hurt us. We didn’t do a good job of blocking them when we needed to, and we never got anything going in the first half.”
A simple swing pass to the left ended in a 79-yard TD score late in the third. Gallagher hit Trevor Garbelman behind the line of scrimmage, and Garbelman shed one tackler on his way down the sideline to the endzone. That was Gallagher’s final pass attempt of the day as he finished 7-for-11 for 184 yards.
Norwich wound up with 138 yards of total offense, but 90 of those came in the fourth quarter, and 69 of those 90 were accumulated on the Tornado’s lone scoring drive.
“I’m not saying we have to play perfect to beat them, but we can’t turn it over and give up big plays like we did today,” Chrystie said.
In the junior varsity game, M-E blanked the Tornado, 38-0. Norwich hosts Union-Endicott on Friday.
Score by quarters
NHS 0 0 0 7–7
M-E 14 14 7 14–49
Scoring Summary
