OWEGO – Norwich had scored 40 or more points in four of their last five games. Friday night, the host Owego Indians held the Tornado to their lowest total of the season thus far, allowing just 13 points to be scored by the visiting team.
Owego’s quarterback Tyler Phelps threw the ball 31 times, completing 20 passes for 196 yards and three touchdowns to lead his team to a 25-13 win. With the victory, the Indians claimed the third seed in the Section IV Class B playoff bracket.
No team was able to record a touchdown in the quick first quarter, a first in a Norwich game this season. It was also only the second time all season that the Tornado’s opponent put points on the board first.
That first score of the game came from the arm of Phelps. He found Kobe Bogart down field and the two connected for 47 yards and the touchdown just nine seconds into the second stanza.
A few minutes later, the Tornado recovered an Owego fumble at the Indians’ 28-yard line. Following the turnover, Norwich’s Eric Conant gained 23 yards on first down. He added another four on the next play to move the Tornado down to the one yard line. Teammate David Berger crossed the ball over the one yard line to make the score 7-6.
Norwich’s kicker Matt Giglio sent the extra point attempt through the uprights to tie the game at 7-7.
With 4:44 left in the first half, Phelps threw his second touchdown pass to receiver Michael Waslyn from 19 yards away. With the Tornado blocking the point after try, the score went into the intermission as 13-7.
The third quarter was also a scoreless 12 minutes for both teams but the stanza closed with Owego knocking on the door.
11:16 left in the game, Phelps and Bogart once again connected for touchdown, this time for four yards. Later in the fourth, Phelps scrambled for a 20 yard run that scored the final TD for Owego to make the score 25-7.
Norwich tried a little trickery to add points on the board. A reverse hand-off to J.T. Vinal turned into a 24 yard touchdown pass to Griffin Mills with 3:57 left. The Tornado attempt a two-point conversion but the Parrella pass fell incomplete.
Following the onside kick, The Tornado’s defense nearly had a turnover two plays later as Berger had his finger tips on a Phelps short pass. Had Berger been able to pull the ball in, he would have had a lot of open field on his way to the end zone to pull Norwich within a touchdown.
The nose of the ball, however, hit the turf. Just a few minutes later, the game ended with a final of 25-13.
Conant, needing only 14 yards going into the game, eclipsed 1,000 rushing this season early in the first quarter. He finished with 118 on 20 carries as well as one reception for 11 yards.
Parrella ended the night 8-for-23 passing with 129 yards and one interception. Berger carried the ball eight times for 21 yards while catching two passed for 55 yards. Vinal added one carry for five yards to go along with his touchdown pass. He also caught two passes for 24 yards.
Mills had the lone score as a receiver for the Tornado as he ended the night with two receptions for 43 yards. Teammate Eli Rodriguez also had two catches for 20 yards.
Bogart had nine catches for 92 yards to lead the Indians in the receiving column. Waslyn and Christian Sage each caught five balls thrown their way with Waslyn picking up 52 yards while Sage added 40. Jason Kithcart had just one catch for 12 yards.
Defensively, Norwich was led by Zach and Griffin Mills as the two brother combined for 11.5 tackles. Berger added five while Brayden Supensky had 4.5 and Shane Lawrence recorded 4. Supensky picked off one Phelps pass and set Norwich up in good field position.
