Football
Unadilla Valley 27, Oxford 14
NEW BERLIN – Unadilla Valley shook off an early deficit to rally for its first win of the season Friday night against visiting Oxford.
Emotions ran a bit higher on this evening as the Storm players and coaching staff took the field hoping to honor the passing of former head coach Jack Loeffler, who was still working with the football program as recently as the preseason. “After the game, I said to the kids, ‘we did it,’” said UV coach Mark Segina. “It was pretty emotional for all of us.”
Oxford drove for a touchdown early in the first quarter, a four-yard tote by senior Nik Hansen, and forced a UV turnover later in the quarter. It was the first of two first-quarter turnovers by the host club, who survived both miscues unscathed.
UV’s Mason Fernette recovered an Oxford fumble early into the second quarter, and that set the stage for the Storm’s first scoring drive. Ryan Postma hit Brett Hanslmaier on a pair of slant passes, the latter going for 18 yards and a TD. Late in the half, UV took the lead for good when Postma threw his second TD strike to Hanslmaier, this one covering 15 yards.
UV extended the lead behind the running of junior Alex Avolio. Avolio, who finished with 140 yards, ran 40 yards for his team’s third touchdown.
Oxford cut into the lead on Joe Jackson’s one-yard score early in the fourth, but another long drive by the Storm polished off the victory. Dillon Rifanburg scored on a one-yard run to open a 13-point lead. “Everything is starting to piece together,” Segina said. “They’re seeing that the stuff we’re doing works, and they’ve bought into it 100 percent.”
Hansen rushed for 121 yards to lead Oxford (1-7). “It’s disappointing for us, and we just did not tackle well,” said Oxford coach Ray Dayton.
Score by quarters
Oxf. 8 0 0 6–14
UVa. 0 13 6 8–27
Scoring Summary
First quarter
O: Nik Hansen 4 yard run (Hansen run)
Second quarter
UV; Ryan postma 19 pass to Brett Hanslmaier (run failed)
UV: Postma 15 pass to hanslmaier (Hanslmaier kick)
Third quarter
UV: Alex Avolio 40 run (run failed)
Fourth quarter
O: Joe Jackson 1 run (conversion failed)
UV: Dillon Rifanburg 1 run (Postma pass to Avolio)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (UV) Dillon Rifanburg, 9-26; Avolio, 20-140, Bob Sponable, 2- (-7), Ryan Ppostma, 5- (-20) (O) Nik Hansen, 21-117; Nick Neer, 11-56; Bryan Simpson, 6-55; Joe Jackson, 4-27.
Receiving: (UV) Dillon Rifanburg, 1-36 Mike Patrick, 2-25 Jared White, 1-15, Hanslmaier, 4-53. (O) Cameron Heggie, 4-38.
Passing: (UV) Postma, 8-13-1, 129, 2 Tds. (O) Lane Barry, 4-12-1, 38 yds.
Greene 26, Trumansburg 6
GREENE – Greene halted a five-game losing streak Friday night with perhaps its best performance of the season.
After Trumansburg gained the early advantage, it was all Trojans (3-5), who rushed for over 300 yards. “It was nice for the kids, and we did so many things well,” said Greene head coach Dave Gorton.
The Raiders returned the opening kickoff into Greene territory, and put the first points on the board just 35 seconds in on Colin Fellows’ 38-yard run.
The Trojans answered right away with a ball-control drive capped by Luke Erickson’s 14-yard score. Brendan Wheeler returned a T’burg fumble 24 yards for a touchdown in the second, the Greene built its lead to 19-7 at halftime when Joe Beckwith connected with Shawn Brigham on a 30-yard scoring strike.
The Beckwith to Brigham combo worked again in the fourth quarter as Brigham raked in a 40-yard scoring strike. Greene had two other long drives of over 60 yards that did not result in points, but at a minimum, kept the Trumansburg offense off the field for long stretches of time.
“It was raining pretty hard at times, and considering the weather, we played very well,” Gorton said. “We had a nice mix of kids running the ball, and running it effectively.”
Erickson had a game-high 103 yards rushing, Cole Nelson gained 92, Beckwith carried it for 63 yards, and Wheeler had 55 rushing yards.
Score by quarters
T’burg 6 0 0 0–6
Gr. 7 12 0 7–26
Scoring Summary
T: Colin Fellows 38 run (pass failed)
G: Luke Erickson 14 run (Wyatt Johns kick)
G: Brendan Wheeler 24 fumble recovery (kick failed)
G: Shawn Brigham 30 pass from Joe Beckwith (pass failed)
G: Brigham 42 pass from Beckwith (Johns kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (T) (32-159) Zachary Kenney 8-61, Colin Fellows 9-39, Dylan Mosher 8-44, Keenan Cooper 5-9, Team: 2-6. (G) Joe Beckwith 10-63, Luke Erickson 17-103, Brendan Wheeler 5-55, Tristan Carter 2-2, Cole Nelson 12-92, Tyler Dickman 4-26, Lucian Austin 1-8.
Passing: (T) Zachary Kenney 1-12-1-9, Colin Fellows 4-12-1-33. (G) Joe Beckwith 4-8-0-93, 2 Tds.
Receiving: (T) Mike Gorton 1-5, Zachary Kenney 2-20, Ty Iannone 1-9, Team, 1-8. (G) Zach Lindow 1-5, Shawn Brigham 2-72, Lucian Austin 1-16.
Johnson City 55, Norwich 7
JOHNSON CITY – Norwich will have to be better, much better, when it meets Johnson City this coming weekend in the Section IV Class B playoffs.
