Three weeks remain on this year’s regular season schedule, with Sherburne-Earlville already in the Section III playoffs, while Norwich will need to win one of its last two games to qualify for the Section IV Class B playoffs. Below is a look at each of our local contests this week:

Norwich (3-3) at Susquehanna Valley (2-4), Saturday, 2 p.m.

As mentioned, the Tornado need to beat either Susquehanna Valley this week or Johnson City next week to earn a fifth straight Class B playoff spot. Coming off back-to-back blowout losses where it gave up over 1,100 combined yards, Norwich faces a like-minded ball club that wants to establish a running game. “As much as any team we’ve played this year, Sus Valley is that prototypical smash-mouth team that wants to run it down your throat,” said Norwich coach Mike Chrystie. “They will pass the ball and their quarterback (Dave Matthews) is an athletic kid, but based on what I’ve seen, they have had their most success running between the tackles.”

Norwich will also look to establish the run behind Chenango County’s top rusher, junior Mike Oralls (729 yards). Quarterback Mike Sutton is also among the best runners in the area, and has over 700 combined rushing and passing yards this season. Chrystie has addressed the defensive issues the past two weeks, and hopes to turn it around this week. “Yeah, the last two teams we played were pretty good, but at the same time, we want to compete every week,” Chrystie said. “We struggled moving the ball a bit and stopping teams, but we want to right the ship this week and hit the ground running toward the playoffs.”

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