2003 Chenango Forks Varsity Football

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Whitney Point rushing:  

• Soeffing 27-86
• Jump 4-11
• Valachovic 3-9
• Black 1-1
• Hand 14-(-9)

Chenango Forks rushing:  

• Babcock 23-91
• Chier 3-24
• O'Branski 4-7
• Batty 8-(-14)

Whitney Point passing

• Hand 1-for-7, 23 yards, 1 int
• Soeffing 0-for-1

Chenango Forks passing: 

• Batty 1-for-4, 36 yards, 1 TD, 1 int

Whitney Point receiving: 

• Soeffing 1-23 

Chenango Forks receiving:  

• Vredenburgh 1-36, 1 TD

JV Score: CF lost to Susquehanna Valley 18-17

Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin game article-

Forks catches break to beat Whitney Pt.

Vredenburgh reached between two defenders to haul in a long touchdown pass late in the first half to help Chenango Forks beat visiting Whitney Point, 13-7, in a Section 4 Class B semifinal.

Quarterback Tim Batty tossed the 36-yarder to Vredenburgh with 37 seconds left before halftime to give the Blue Devils a 13-0 lead. Vredenburgh, who had Forks' only reception of the game, entered the game with 11 catches.

Forks (9-0) advances to face Norwich (8-1) in the Class B championship game either Friday or Saturday at Binghamton Alumni Stadium. Norwich defeated Dryden, 33-6, Friday night.

"I'm proud for the kids," Forks coach Kelsey Green said. "They get an opportunity that not a lot of teams get. They earned it."

Leading 7-0, Chenango Forks began its final first-half drive at its 42 with 2:33 left. Five plays later Batty connected with Vredenburgh on a fourth-and-8 from the Golden Eagles' 36.

Vredenburgh, a tight end, used all of his 6-foot-2 frame to reach back and make a one-handed grab at the Point's 20-yard line. He then spun away from two defenders and scored with the help of a Jon Florence block at the 10.

"I've never seen a catch like that in high school football," Green said. "Then finishing it off. That was huge."

The Devils tried a similar play on the first play of the second quarter, but that pass was intercepted.

"Tim underthrew it a little bit and the linebacker picked it," Vredenburgh said. "When we tried the play again he threw the ball a little better, a little closer, and I stuck my hand out and caught it. I've made catches like that before, but never in a game."

Forks scored on its first drive. Tim O'Branski ran 2 yards for a score with 4:34 remaining in the first period. The drive went 38 yards in 10 plays with fullback Joe Babcock chewing up 29 of those yards.

Point's defense stiffened in the second half. The Eagles (6-3) allowed the state's top-ranked Class B team, 17 yards after halftime.

The Eagles' points came on Brian Soeffing's 2-yard TD run and Dustin Wilson's PAT 42 seconds into the final quarter. The drive started after Point recovered a Forks fumble on the Devils' 39.

Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin preview article-

CLASS B

Two-time defending champion Chenango Forks (8-0) will be home at 2 p.m. Saturday to take on Whitney Point (6-2) in one semi, with Dryden (6-2) visiting Norwich (7-1) at 7 tonight in the other.

Forks, Division IV champion and perched atop the New York State Sports Writers Association's rankings, is two victories shy of its third consecutive season with a double-digit win total. The Golden Eagles are looking to make it back-to-back seven-win seasons. Prior to last year, the program hadn't celebrated a seventh victory since 1989.

"They've got it all going. They're on all eight cylinders over there (at Forks)," said Joe Pagano, who is in his 12th season coaching the Point but who has yet to oppose the Blue Devils.

Both teams lean heavily on the running game, yet have quick, athletic and elusive quarterbacks capable big-play production on most any snap -- Forks junior Tim Batty and Whitney Point senior Chris Hand. Each is a menace in the defensive secondary, as well.

The Eagles' Brian Soeffing, a 230-pound senior, improved to a 1,173-yard rushing total with last week's 255 -- on 11 carries -- against Ithaca. Joe Babcock's 872 rushing yards tops Forks charts.

"We've got to be able to move the football, get some sustained drives," Pagano said. "They've got so many weapons, you've got to keep the ball away from them."

Forks coach Kelsey Green said, "Sometimes, the more you watch tape, the better you feel -- I don't get that feeling this time. "I'm liking No. 28 (Soeffing) a lot, and Hand, he reminds me of Timmy (Batty) when he has the ball in his hands."

Division III champion Norwich has strung six victories since a 14-0 setback Sept. 13 at Forks, and has given up a total of 14 points in its last three games. Fullback Andy Reid (5-10, 205) leads Norwich's varied cast of ball carriers with 671 yards, and hit up Dryden for 96 and two TDs in the Purple Tornado's season-opening 36-15 victory over the Lions.

Norwich and Forks met to decide last year's Class B championship, with the Blue Devils posting a 28-7 win.

Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin Tuesday preview article-

Forks hauls win streak into playoffs

Blue Devils' last Section 4 loss was vs. Oneonta in 2000

"Obviously, they're the best team in the section," Point coach Joe Pagano said of the Blue Devils. "It's unreal the confidence they play with."

Just where Forks stacks up overall in Section 4 is open for debate. However, no other program can match the Blue Devils recent success rate against sectional competition.

With a 31-14 victory Saturday over Bainbridge-Guilford/Afton, Forks extended to 32 games its win streak against Section 4 opposition. During that streak, which began midway through 2000 season, Forks has outscored its Section 4 opposition by a 31.2 to 6.75 average, with nine of those wins coming by shutout.

The last Section 4 squad to defeat Forks was Oneonta, by 21-14 on Sept. 30, 2000. That setback came a week after a 13-7 loss to Corning East -- those the Devils' lone two losses of the 2000 season.

"We gave the thing away, the last two," Forks coach Kelsey Green said of the two losses. "We fumbled on the 2-yard line going in to beat East, the next week we fumbled everything.

"Oh, yeah, I remember both of them."

This season, Forks' eight victories have come by an average 17 1/2-point margin, three by shutout.

"It wasn't anticipated," Green said. "I thought we could be a good football team and that it'd take time to get there. But getting a couple of tough victories early, I think, threw us in the fire and they came out of that well, then survived the Notre Dame game."