Frank Speziale Photo

NORWICH – Senior night 2016 against longtime rival Oneonta could not have been dreamt up any better for the Norwich Purple Tornado, who walked away the victors of a late fourth quarter drive and defensive stop for the 35-34 victory.

“This years game I would call a classic as far as the rivalry goes. I am sure it was a great game to watch, maybe a little stressful from the coaching perspective but it's definitely as Mr. Carnrike said, one that will definitely be an instant classic and I couldn’t agree more,” said Norwich head coach Michael Chrystie. “Just like our game earlier with Sus. Valley, one team had to lose and one team had to win, and it really was a hard fought game by both sides.”

Prior to the game Norwich celebrated their 13 graduating football players – Cole Rifanburg, Ky'sawn Veale, Paul Russell, Austin McCloskey, Christobal Caballero,Timmy Thompson, Zach Clipston, Carter Hubbard, Carter Rudnitski, Josh Hagenbuch, Egan Parmalee, Jakob Franklin, and Austin Fink – as well as their five graduating cheerleaders – Summer Budd, Samantha Jo Hall, Corrina Mundy, Hannah Williamson, and Lilly Winton.

Norwich found themselves struggling on both sides of the ball in the first half, as they were plummeted into a 22-7 hole after just entering the third quarter.

However, as coach Chrystie said, 'something clicked' for the Tornado who climbed back from this deficit one play at a time.

“We got down 22-7 and then 28-13, we just couldn’t get inside that two score game. Then something clicked, things started going our way,” said coach Chrystie. “It was good to see that our guys didn’t give up, there were several points in the game where our guys could've packed it in. For our team to not give up and really play all the way to the end is exactly what we preach within our program on a daily basis. It's one thing to preach it and another to see them go out and execute it.”

Prior to the senior night celebrations or the kickoff on Oct. 21, Norwich was visited by a special guest speaker during their pregame meal. Professional American Middleweight Boxer, Willie 'the Mongoose' Monroe Jr. came and talked about his motto, brick by brick. Coach Chrystie attributed this talk he had with the Norwich team to fitting with the Norwich motto and quite possibly helping his team overcome such odds this past Friday night, for the comeback win.

“Brick by brick, that fit into what we preach, we're taking it one step at a time, one play at time, and it was perfect. He told them to look at each play individually and build a house of bricks, don’t try to build a house with one punch or one play,” said coach Chrystie. “It was the perfect message that coincides with what our program is so for our kids, to see a title holder on the national and world level it was inspiring and it was great to have him talk to the kids before the game.”

Down 22-7 with 7:14 left in the third quarter, it was Norwich's quarterback who helped get the ball rolling on offense when he punched in a four yard run for the touchdown, cutting into the lead at 22-13.

Despite Norwich's best efforts on the night, Oneonta's Mariano Hernandez tortured the Tornado defense both on the ground and through the air. Hernandez tacked on another touchdown with 2:40 left in the third, taking the lead to 28-13 – Hernandez finished with an astounding 18 carries for 121 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while also adding six catches for 190 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

“They moved him all over the place, I think they utilized a player pretty much everywhere they possibly could. He is a great player, even at the end of the game when they got the ball back and started to go down the field. We had two guys on him on every pass play and he was still able to make a couple catches, he is just a great player and they kind of rode his back the entire game,” said coach Chrystie. “We were fortunate enough to get a stop late in the game and all that matters is we scored one more point than the other team.”

However, despite the back and forth action, the Tornado defense found some bend but don’t break mentality making some crucial stops late in the game.

Driving down the field, a Rifanburg pass found Michael Carson in the end zone for the passing strike – followed by a one handed diving catch for the two point conversion from Rifanburg to Zack Race – putting Norwich down just 28-21 with just :26 seconds left in the half.

Oneonta's starting quarterback, Dalton Carver – who finished 10-16 with 191 passing yards and two touchdowns, with an additional 93 yards on the ground – found Hernandez for what the Yellowjackets hoped was enough to put away the Tornado for good, when Hernandez managed a 15 yard touchdown through the air for the 34-21 score.

With hope looking skim, Norwich once again employed their brick-by-brick mentality, when following a three yard rushing touchdown from Rifanburg the score to 34-28 with 7:10 left in the game.