2006 Chenango Forks Varsity Football

Game 8 vs Windsor

CF defeats Windsor 31-12

Articles courtesy of the
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

to Game 7 - Norwich

to the 2006 team page

to Game 9 - Elmira Notre Dame

O-line helps Forks run rampant

Blue Devils amass 368 yards rushing

By Kevin Stevens

Press & Sun-Bulletin

WINDSOR -- A sixth consecutive division championship belongs to Chenango Forks, which on Saturday afternoon played its finest all-around football game of 2006.

The Blue Devils manhandled previously unbeaten Windsor on their way to a 31-12 romp that left them 5-0 in Division III of the Section 4 Football Conference and, once again, clearly the team to beat in Class B playoffs.

This was a Windsor squad that had surrendered 20 points in its first seven ballgames, and which had averaged 27 1/2 points per victory.

On Saturday, Forks' five-time defending sectional champions outgained the Black Knights by 368-57 yards on the ground, and more than doubled the hosts' season-long scoring yield in the first 26 1/2 minutes of play.

The outcome earned Forks (7-1, 5-0) a home game Saturday against Elmira Notre Dame in the semifinal round. Windsor (7-1, 4-1), the division runner-up, will travel to Owego on Saturday for its semifinal.

"We just came together as a team today. We were a team today, finally, 40 people," said halfback Jarred Wells, who scored the Devils' first two touchdowns.

"We just came out playing hard, smash-mouth football," said Forks fullback Joe Nicholson, who'd been held out of the offense since sustaining an ankle sprain in the first quarter of a Sept. 30 win at Chenango Valley. "We didn't care if they knew the play or not, we just stayed on our blocks, came out hitting hard, just beat 'em up up front. They couldn't do anything about it."

Forks coach Kelsey Green: "Thirty-one against Windsor is a surprise -- to all of us; them, us. Who knows if we'll see it again, ever? But it was nice to see it today, that's for sure."

One might argue that the key possession of the ballgame was one by Forks that lasted a mere 25 seconds worth of game clock time in the final minute of the second quarter, a quick march orchestrated brilliantly by quarterback Bryan Lance.

Windsor had just drawn within 10-6 when, with 54 seconds to play, Adam Good connected with Steve DeMarco for a 17-yard scoring pass on a fourth-and-8 play.

The Blue Devils started after the ensuing kickoff at their 38-yard line and, on first down, Lance took an option keeper to his right for a 51-yard gain to Windsor's 11-yard line.

Wells was felled for a 1-yard loss on first down, but on second down, Lance rolled right and threw in the end zone toward the right sideline. Wells was open but, with the ball ever-so-slightly overthrown, lunged toward the sideline and hauled in the pass for a TD which, along with Dylan Warner's PAT kick, made it 17-6 with 24 seconds left.

"We intended to pass to the tight end, but Lance threw to me and I got the grab," said Wells, who opened scoring with a 4-yard TD rush to polish off Forks' first possession.

The Blue Devils took the second-half kickoff back to their 41-yard line, and needed a mere five plays to tack on another score.

The big play on the drive was a 35-yard Lance-to-Garret Cade pass that moved the football to Windsor's 15. Three plays later, Joe Aston took a third-down handoff from the 12-yard line in for a score. Warner booted home the PAT and it was 24-6 with 9:36 to play in the third quarter.

Windsor answered just over four minutes later when Good hit DeMarco with a 15-yard touchdown pass. But on this day, against this Forks defense, a comeback was absolutely not in the cards.

Lance closed with 86 rushing yards, Aston 79 and Warner 78 on a day Forks banged away at Windsor for an average gain of 8.2 yards per rush.

"They dominated us up front," Black Knights coach Dan Hodack said. "Their blocking dominated us. They executed the option really well. It wasn't one thing, they beat us on all phases of it -- dive, counters, throwing the ball in the seams, the pitch, the quarterback ...

"We got dominated."

Good, widely acknowledged as one of the premier quarterbacks in the section, finished 7-for-21 for 75 yards and two TDs. He was intercepted by Lance -- on a well-delivered pass that caromed off the hands of a receiver -- with just over a minute to play in the third quarter.

Forks' final TD came on the first play of the fourth quarter, a stupendous 24-yard run by Aston on which he used equal parts patience, vision and footwork to elude two or three would-be tacklers.

	1	2	3	4		Tot
Chenango Forks	07	10	07	07	-	31
Windsor	0	06	06	0	-	12

CF - Jarred Wells 4 run (Dylan Warner kick)
CF - Warner 24 FG
W - Steve DeMarco 17 pass from Adam Good (kick failed)
CF - Wells pass from Bryan Lance (Warner kick)
CF - Joe Aston 12 run (Warner kick)
W - DeMarco 15 pass from Good (pass failed)
CF - Aston 24 run (Warner kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

	Windsor	CF
First Downs	9	17
Rushes-Yards	27-57	45-368
Comp-Att-Int	7-21-1	2-3-0
Passing Yards	75	47
Total Offense	48-132	48-415
Punts-ave yards	4-32.5	2-40.5
Fumbles-Lost	4-0	2-1
Penalties-Yards	5-35	6-40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Windsor rushing

Bryant Parker 10-30
Brendon Whetsell 2-11
Cody Whitman 7-9
Mike DePersis 1-5
Adam Good 7-2

Chenango Forks rushing

Bryan Lance 4-86
Joe Aston 9-79, 2 TDs
Dylan Warner 10-78
Jarred Wells 4-48, 1 TD
Nick Stephens 5-33
Joe Nicholson 8-23
Max Ginty 2-15
Tim Zdimal 2-4
Ray Lord 1-2

Windsor passing

Adam Good 7-for-21, 75 yards, 2 TDs, 1 int.

Chenango Forks passing

Bryan Lance 2-for-3, 47 yards, 1 TD

Windsor receiving

Steve DeMarco 3-48, 2 TDs
Krunal Patel 1-10
Bryant Parker 2-9
Josh Bean 1-8

Chenango Forks receiving:

Garrett Cade 1-35
Jarred Wells 1-12, 1 TD

JV Score: ?

Preview Article:

Division crown, home field on line for Windsor, Forks

by Kevin Stevens
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

Playoff berths have been secured by both, and just maybe, the teams could meet again two weeks down the road.

But do not think for a second that any of that will matter one bit when Chenango Forks pays Windsor a visit at 1:30 Saturday with Section 4 Football Conference Division III supremacy on the line.

The winner will emerge as Division III's top seed, having earned a home game in the semifinal round of Class B playoffs. The loser will hit the road for a semi against the top seed from Division IV.

"It'll be our toughest game this year. It's Forks, and it's for the division championship," said Black Knights quarterback Adam Good.

"That's a great team we have to play," said Bryant Parker, Windsor fullback and linebacker. "We'll have to be mentally prepared for everything they do."

The Black Knights, 7-0 and ranked eighth by the New York State Sports Writers Association, have outscored their opponents by a combined 192-20. Last week's 15-14 squeeze past Chenango Valley in the final minute brought to an end the Knights' string of five shutout victories.

"It's not a question of getting a whole lot of looks that'll be confusing," Forks coach Kelsey Green said of Windsor's defense. "We'll just have to focus on, when we get on a block we have to stay on that block. Up front, they're sound. They play that (five-man front) as a unit, which is the way it's supposed to be played."

Chenango Forks' five-time defending Section 4 Class B champions, 6-1 and ranked fourth, posted its first shutout of the season last week, 23-0 at Norwich. The Blue Devils have strung five wins since a 14-0 loss to Corning East on Sept. 9.

Forks will put a couple more streaks on the line Saturday: 34 consecutively in its division, and 24 in succession on the opponent's home field. To keep them going, the Blue Devils had better be at peak form on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

Of the Black Knights' offense, Green said, "For their type of offense, they really have everything they need -- a power fullback, a game-breaking halfback, a strong-armed quarterback and, obviously, kids who can catch it."

Post-game Article:

Fifth Quarter:

Published Tuesdays in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

Beware The Devils

Unpleasant news for those seeking to unseat Chenango Forks, five-time defending Section 4 Class B champion:

The Blue Devils have rounded nicely into playoff form.

The same team that through two weeks had played to a 1-1 record and been outscored 30-19, has since that point rattled off six consecutive victories by a combined 167-40. Two of those victims are teams that have earned Class B semifinal berths.

Forks coupled 415 yards of offense with some exceptional defense for a 31-12 win Saturday at Windsor, the Black Knights' first loss of the season.

"We're getting there," coach Kelsey Green said. "We're a hell of a lot better than we were at the beginning of the year, but we've got a long way to go."

"We've come a long way," Blue Devils senior Joe Nicholson said. "We have a really young team this year, some young starters, and they've come a long way. We've just got to keep getting better."

Most glaring Saturday was Forks' superiority up front -- as the statistics would suggest. The Devils averaged 8.2 yards per rush to 2.1 for Windsor.

"They're a tough team, I just think we moved the ball real well, we picked up the right blocks we had to make," said Josh Cary, two-way Forks lineman. "I think we were very quick off the ball."

Once again, Forks quarterback Bryan Lance was on top of his game, time and again making all the right moves in an offense that demands just that from the signal-caller.

"Our execution was good, we hit them with some big plays," Green said. "Bryan, every week, is getting better with the offense. He made some great decisions with the ball on the option, when to keep it, when to pitch it, when to give it. If you're doing that right and you're moving kids up front, it's a tough thing to stop."