The Tornado Football team gathers for a photo following the end of the pep rally/bon fire Friday night. The rally was held in Norwich’s East Park and it is the yearly bon fire prior to the game against the Oneonta Yellowjackets to celebrate the long-standing rivalry between the two teams. Former players Donny Lawrence and Jake Brown delivered rally speeches to all three teams – Varsity, Junior Varsity and Modified. JV will take on Oneonta at home Monday night. (Evening Sun Photo, Frank Speziale)

Norwich shuts out Oneonta in annual rivalry game

ONEONTA – As both teams entered the game with one win in their records, Norwich and Oneonta were set for the long time rivalry game on Saturday afternoon on the Yellowjackets turf. After the first six plays for Oneonta resulted in three Tornado interceptions and points on the scoreboard, Norwich cruised to a 48-0 victory to improve to 2-3 on the season.

The Purple Tornado disrupted the Yellowjackets’ quarterback Graham Wooden’s flow early and often as the Norwich defense ended the game with a total of six turnovers – five interceptions and a fumble in the backfield.

JT Vinal and Shane Lawrence led the defense for the Tornado as Vinal has two of the five picks and a team-high eight tackles in the win. Lawrence fired off the line, getting the quick jump against Oneonta’s offensive lineman and was able to get to Wooden in the backfield for two sacks.

Seth Wessels and Brayden Supensky also had a big day on the defense as each finished the game with six tackles while Nik Barber, Mike Squires and Carson Thornton each had a take-away in the air.

“I thought we played very well overall,” said Norwich head coach Mike Chrystie. “We challenged our defense this week in practice and wanted to create more turnovers. Six turnovers with five interceptions is a great job. We really got after them defensively.”

Norwich’s first three drives in the first quarter resulted with points on the board. Winning the coin toss and electing to receive, the Tornado offense started the ball after Jaden Jenkins took the opening kickoff 11 yards to give the visiting team good field position.

Driving down the field quickly, Norwich’s David Berger ran the ball in for the first touchdown after just two and half minutes of play, putting the Tornado on top 6-0. Kicker Matt Giglio tacked on the extra point and Norwich quickly had a 7-0 lead.

The Purple Tornado’s next two drives started deep in the Yellowjackets end of the field after back-to-back interceptions. Norwich’s quarterback took the snap under center as the Tornado offense was sitting on the half-yard line and punch it across for the second score of the game. The next touchdown was a Mills-Carson Maynard connection for 15 yards to put Norwich up 21-0.

Capping of the Norwich scoring for the first quarter was running back Evan Sylstra, pushing the ball across for the 1-yard score – the fourth touchdown of the opening quarter.