HARPURSVILLE – A date for sure marked on Trojan and Hornet players and fans of the teams alike, this past Saturday’s showdown saw two Chenango County juggernaut teams collide – and Greene emerged with a 30-7 win.
Leading Harpursville-Afton 10-7at the half, it was anyone’s game this past Saturday, September 30. That is, until Greene ripped off 23 unanswered points, 20 of them being in the second half of play.
“We got off to a tough start (on the season). We were a young and inexperienced team that went on the road to a school that had a lot of returners (Watkins Glen/Odessa-Montour). They were very big and we fell apart in the second half. We made a lot of mistakes against Sidney because we are still growing up but we’re getting better every week and I feel very comfortable with this group of kids,” said Greene head coach Dave Gorton with regard to the 0-2 start to the season. “We made a couple of adjustments, coach (Tim) Petras and his staff made some nice changes with their defense and they confused our kids a little bit in the first half. We weren’t quite as confident coming off the ball. We were pretty good about moving the ball but not about finishing drives. We were better about finishing drives in the second half.”
The first half saw the opening touchdown go to Greene’s speedy quarterback, Coy Austin. Austin scrambled in from eight yards out to make the game 7-0 in the first quarter.
The favor was returned by Harpursville-Afton when Josh Wilson stung the Trojans from eight yards out as well – as the Hornet running back began his big day on the ground with his second quarter touchdown to even the game.
Greene snagged the lead right before the halftime break, when Mitchell Walters booted in a 28-yard field goal for the 10-7 edge.
“Mitchell kicked a 28-yard field goal in the first half, but obviously when you get the ball down in the red zone you want to come away with touchdowns. We had another long drive, turned over on downs deep in their territory in the first half… we had some opportunities that we thought we missed,” said coach Gorton.
The second half for Greene saw the Trojans unleash their three-headed monster. Justin Carman scurried in from 27 yards out early in the third quarter – this was followed by a Coy Austin three yard run and a Nate Erickson 31-yard run – both in the fourth quarter.
We had a very balanced attack, the three-headed monster again. It is nice to be diverse like that. Late in the fourth quarter, our defensive ends did a real great job keeping him (Josh Wilson) between the tackles,” said coach Gorton. “Isaac Hadac and Mitchell Walters, our defensive ends, were really good for us. One of the key plays, coming out to start the second half, Isaac came out and made two quick tackles for losses, then Mitchell had a strip sack, forced and recovered the fumble in Harpursville territory. We scored three plays later to open up the 10-point lead and we really never looked back from there. From there it seems like we got stronger and stronger.”
Greene’s three-headed monster combined for 246 rushing yards – with Nate Erickson getting 17 for 95 yards, Justin Carman getting 12 carries for 85 yards and Coy Austin scrambling 13 times for 66 yards.
Harpursville-Afton’s lead back, Wilson, ran for a game high 138 rushing yards on 12 carries.
“He is a very fast kid and a hard runner. The final drive of the game he did get quite a few of those rushing yards. Overall, we did a very good job containing him, I was very pleased,” said coach Gorton.
