Frank Speziale Photos
GREENE – In what proved to be one of the biggest match-ups thus far in the Class D realm of Section IV high school football, the eighth ranked in the state Greene Trojans upset the fourth ranked in the state Hornets of Harpursville-Afton, beating them 23-0 on homecoming night.
The Hornets had mowed down, many in class and above class teams thus far in 2016, climbing to a staggering 6-0 record prior to the game on Oct. 14. However, the Trojans although they had suffered a loss at the hands of Owego earlier in the season, remained undefeated in Class D Division VII, and therefore possessed a chance for a division crown if they were to overcome the powerful Hornets – and that is what they did using a methodical rushing and passing attack, as well as a steadfast defense.
“Undefeated in the division, we are Division VII champs, we are very pleased,” said head coach Dave Gorton following the shutout win.
Both squads appeared to be ready for the matchup when kickoff happened that evening, however, following a promishing looking open drive from the Torjans – which featured a fake punt pass for a first down – they turned the ball over on downs.
Harpursville-Afton came out swinging, ripping off two long runs, before electing to throw an uncharacteristic deep pass. This pass was intercepted by Coy Austin of Greene. Feeding off the energy, Austin zipped down the sideline where he caught a deep pass, taking it in for the 77 yard touchdown from Zach Orzell.
Up 6-0 at the end of the first quarter, Harpursville-Afton repsponded by taking the ball all the way deep inside Trojan territory, however, a turnover by way of fumble cost the Hornets a score. Back and forth action is what ensued for the remainder of the first half of play, as Greene took their 6-0 lead into the halftime break.
“They had a couple of turnovers, we preached to our kids we cant give them the short field, we have to take care of the ball. And we did, that was a big difference,” said coach Gorton. “We did a lot of good things in the second half, our defense was outstanding.”
Opening drive of the second half saw the Trojans drive down the field to cap off the drive with a Nate Erickson 27 yard receiving touchdown from Zach Orzell – two point conversion good.
Up 14-0, Greene was ready to defend against an angry Hornets team, however, a fumble on the very first play from scrimage in the second half gave the ball right back to Greene. The Trojans managed field goal out of the turnover – 31 yard field goal from Mitchell Walters.
“We did a lot pf good things. We just ran some power at them late in the game, Luke Erickson had some real strong runs and Zach Orzell pulled the ball and made some nice runs, it was just a real balanced second half. All four playmakers made plays,” said coach Gorton.
Star runningback from Greene led both teams in rushing on the day, carrying 19 times for 107 yards on the ground. Erickson found the endzone in the fourth quarter to help cushion the lead even more, taking it to 23-0.
Leading the charge on the ground for Harpursville-Afton was Josh Wilson who carried the ball 12 times for 84 yards.
In the win for Greene they amassed an astounding 313 net yards – 198 rushing, 115 passing – against a Hornet team that had recorded two shutouts on the season and only allowed 15.8 points a game on average.
