Football
Sherburne-Earlville 26, Frankfort-Schuyler 20
FRANKFORT – If Sherburne-Earlville makes the Section III playoffs this year, it will point to one terrific defensive stand as the threshold that put it over the top.
The Marauders’ defense held Frankfort-Schuyler’s offense for four plays inside the three-yard line with less than a minute to go to preserve their fifth win of the season.
With a victory next week at unbeaten Herkimer, the Marauders can force a tie for the Class C East title, and most likely sew up a third straight playoff appearance. “It’s by far the best defensive stand we’ve had,” said S-E fifth-year head coach Mike Jasper. “With the pressure of the moment and everything on the line…to stop them four straight plays shows what type of team we have.”
Frankfort-Schuyler hit a big pass play in the flat, and after a broken tackle, the receiver raced down the sideline before getting shoved out of bounds by S-E senior Ben Khoury.
From there, the host club tried four straight running plays – calling timeouts after the first three. On fourth-and-goal, the interior of the S-E line stonewalled the F-S running back.
Situated at the half-yard line, S-E quarterback Cody Marango ran a sneak to run out the clock. “I’ve been to Frankfort-Schuyler three times and come up empty,” Jasper said. “That’s a tough place to play, and it was nice to see the kids dig themselves out of a hole and stick with it.”
Frankfort-Schuyler’s Rich Morocco ran the opening kickoff back 85 yards for a touchdown, the third kickoff TD S-E has allowed over the past two weeks. The Marauders drove the ball to counter that score, but a third-and-long ended in an interception.
F-S extended its next possession executing a fake punt, and then added a 38-yard scoring run to create a 14-0 lead in the opening quarter.
Jasper said his team looked like a completely different club in the second quarter, and the results proved that. Mixing Garrett DuVall, Brodie Roebuck, and Matt Hull in the running game, S-E drove the field, and quarterback Cody Marango scored on a three-yard run.
Following a defensive stop of F-S, S-E went to the same offensive formula with DuVall, Roebuck, and Hull carving up big yardage. DuVall completed the drive with a powerful six-yard TD jaunt in which he bowled over multiple defenders into the endzone.
Despite another missed extra point, S-E was in a much more manageable 14-12 deficit at halftime.
Hull scored on a 13-yard run in the third to wrap up an efficient four-play, 75-yard drive, but the host team tied it one more time on a 29-yard scoring pass following an S-E turnover.
With a chance to expand its lead early in the fourth, S-E suffered yet another fumbled the ball away. The host team converted one third-and-long, then managed a 29-yard TD pass to tie the game.
With just over six minutes to play, S-E completed its biggest scoring drive of the season, and needed to recover from a third-and-22 to do it.
Hull picked up big yardage on a completion from Marango to extend the drive, Marango found Gavin Giroux for a first-down completion near the red zone, and that same combination ended the drive as Giroux scored his first pass receiving TD of the season on a 22-yard strike.
“This was a big win for us, but we have an even bigger challenge next week,” Jasper said. “Herkimer is a championship-level team, and we have a lot of respect for them.”
Score by quarters
S-E 0 12 8 6–26
F-S 14 0 0 6–20
Scoring Summary
First quarter
FS: Rich Morocco 85 kickoff return (Tim Flihan run)
FS: Jalen Reeves 34 run (run failed)
Second Quarter
SE: Cody Marango 3 run (kick failed)
SE: Garrett Duvall 6 run (run failed)
Third Quarter
SE: Matt Hull 13 run (Hull run)
Fourth Quarter
FS: Michael Irons 29 pass from Ethan Irons (pass failed)
SE: Gavin Giroux 22 pass from Marango (pass failed).
Individual Statistics
S-E Rushing: Matt Hull, 8-84 TD; Cody Marango, 11-68 TD; Brodie Roebuck, 12-59; Ben Khoury, 1-4. Garrett DuVall, 11-56. Total: 43-271 yds. (FS) Jalen Reeves 14-104; Rich Morocco 6-41: Ethan Irons 8-40; Tim Filhan 1-37
S-E Passing: Cody Marango, 8-11-1 152 yds, TD. (FS) Ethan Irons 6-11-0 123 yds., TD
S-E Receiving: Ben Khoury, 3-73; Gavin Giroux, 3-45 TD; Matt Hull, 2-34. (FS) Rich Morocco 4-78; Mike Irons 1-29 TD; Tim Filhan 1-16.
Unadilla Valley 36, Delhi 12
DELHI – Unadilla Valley bounced back in a big way.
The Storm won their second game of the season Saturday blocking two punts – one recovered for a TD – and rushing for a season-high 279 yards. UV also forced five Bulldogs fumbles. “Last week was not our best game, but I was happy with the way we practiced this week, and everything went well (Saturday)” said UV coach Mark Segina.
As it has all season, UV built steam as the game continued. Mason Fernette had a three-yard TD run in the first, and Richie Conklin’s blocked punt in the second quarter led to teammate Ethan Gray’s fumble recovery TD to make it a 14-6 game at intermission.
Caleb Simons accounted for all three of UV’s touchdowns in the second half. He ran for scores of eight and one yard, and caught a 15-yard TD pass from Fernette. Fernette led UV on the ground with 127 yards, and Simons ran for a season-best 99 yards.
“Our offensive line is starting to come together, and that has been a big boon for us,” Segina said. “We’ll need to get our running game going against Unatego (this week).”
Score by quarters
UV 8 6 8 14–36
Del 0 6 0 6––12
First quarter
UV: Mason Fernette 3 run (Fernette run)
Second quarter
UV: Ethan Gray blocked punt recovery in endzone (pass failed)
D: Conor Gioffe 4 pass to #6 (run failed)
Third quarter
UV: Caleb Simons 8 run (Fernette pass to Ryan Postma)
Fourth quarter
UV: Mason Fernette 15 pass to Caleb Simons (pass failed)
UV: Simons 1 run (Fernette run)
D: #20 38 run (pass failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (UV) Fernette, 16-127, TD; C Simons, 13-99, 2 TD; Nick Stirone, 19-46. 48-272. (D) Dylan Cumpston, 8-52; #44, 6-54; Trey Mostert, 6-42; Conor Gioffe, 3-(-4); #20, 3-42. Totals: 26-186.
Passing: (UV) Mason Fernette, 8-22-4, 107 yds, TD; (D) Dylan Cumpston, 4-12-1, 8 yds. Conor Gioffe, 6-13-0, 81 yds.
Receiving: (UV) Ryan Postma, 2-42, Brett Hanslmaier, 1-21; Nick Stirone, 3-15; Hank deGlee, 1-15, Caleb Simons, 1-15. (D) #20, 2-2; #4, 1-6; #6, 2-17; #11, 1-5; #1, 1-(-1); #2, 1-40; Cumpston, 1-5.
Waverly 27, Greene 21
GREENE – Greene is clearly a better team than its 1-5 record indicates.
If you don’t believe that, just ask Lansing and Waverly.
The Wolverines (4-1), a favorite to win Section IV’s Division VI, rallied with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to get by the host Trojans.
Waverly quarterback Peyton Miller tied the game on a one-yard TD run, and then thew a 33-yard TD pass to Alex Volpe for the winning points with 1:46 remaining in the game.
Greene fumbled the ball on the ensuing kickoff after Waverly took the lead, but a bad snap to Miller on the first play from scrimmage gave the ball back to the hosts. Greene was inside Waverly territory after picking up a first down, but threw an interception after a tipped pass to end the scoring threat.
