2007 Chenango Forks Varsity Football
Game
12 vs Geneva
Blue Devils
defeat Geneva 14-13!
A nail biter like last year,
'cept this time CF moves on!
Articles courtesy of the
Binghamton Press &
Sun-Bulletin
Place mouse over photos to
read captions
Photo credits - none
| to Game 11 - Cazenovia |
to Game 13 - Rye |
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Blocked PAT carries Forks
DuBois' big play puts Blue Devils in title game By Kevin Stevens Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin ROCHESTER -- Another crisp autumn weekend, another heap of huge defensive contributions. This time, they added up to another Chenango Forks appearance in a state championship football game. Telltale play of the afternoon at PAETEC Park? Oh, Jud DuBois' block of a conversion kick with 8:15 remaining would merit strong consideration, given that neither side produced a point thereafter in the Blue Devils' 14-13 Class B semifinal victory over Geneva. The decisive point, in fact, was the doing of Rob Lumsden on successful PAT conversion following Joe Aston's 3-yard rush for a score midway through the third quarter. That made it 14-7 -- with a plethora of gasp-a-minute football to follow. On Geneva's first play from scrimmage after that TD, defensive end Clint Cade went airborne to bat a pass from Panthers quarterback Bobby Martin near the line of scrimmage and set up an interception by sophomore teammate Andrew Lewis to give the Devils possession at Geneva's 39-yard line. That Forks possession went nowhere and Geneva (9-3) took over following a punt at its 17-yard line. Fifteen plays, two penalties apiece and 4:50 later, Martin was in the end zone on the tail end of a 10-yard option keeper. The defending state champions were within 14-13. The teams aligned for the extra-point try, Geneva's Deanzae Williams assigned kicking chores. "The first time they scored a touchdown, we had a scheme where somebody was coming inside me and outside me, and I almost got to it and blocked it," said DuBois, a 5-foot-10, 228-pound senior. "So next time I told our linebacker, Shane Baron, 'You come hard, I'm going to come through and get this one.' "I just got there." And so Forks had the break it needed, and set up offensive shop after Tim Zdimal's 20-yard kickoff return at its 24-yard line. Eight minutes, 10 seconds and a very sound Geneva team stood between the Devils and their sixth title-game berth in a seven-year stretch. All went smoothly as Forks advanced the ball 46 yards on nine plays. Then came a procedure penalty, moments later a holding penalty, and a play after that a holding penalty declined. That's when Forks punted from the Panthers' 44-yard line, the football hopping across the goal line. Geneva had possession at the 20 with 74 seconds remaining. That's right, Geneva, the same program that bounced Forks at this stage a season ago with a final-minute TD. Back-to-back-to-back first-downs pickups had the Panthers at Forks' 43-yard line. After Martin spiked the football on second down from the 36, he completed successive passes to Shamar Bridges to set up second-and-2 at Forks' 18. Nineteen seconds remained. On second down, after a teammate pressured Martin out of his comfort zone, Cade lunged and took out his legs for a 6-yard loss. On third down, DuBois and Tom Voorhis harassed Martin across the sideline for a 2-yard loss. Forks' season came down to a stop on fourth-and-10, Geneva in possession at the Devils' 25-yard line. Four seconds remained. Martin took the snap in shotgun formation, looked to pass, saw nothing but down-comforter Forks coverage in the secondary, and took off on a sprint. "All I could see was that kid keep cutting back and I was like, 'Oh, you've got to be kidding me,' " Devils coach Kelsey Green said. Martin ran right, reversed field inside with a friend or two providing resistance in the vicinity. But, at the 8-yard line, there was Forks sophomore D.J. Smith to smack the ball carrier and bring him down in a solo effort to prolong Forks' postseason. Next up, a meeting against top-ranked and unbeaten Rye, a 24-7 winner over Peru in the other semifinal, at 6 p.m. next Sunday in the Carrier Dome. "At first, it was just scary that they kept completing passes, getting yards, getting out of bounds and stopping the clock," Cade said of Geneva's closing drive. "It was just amazing how we were able to pull together at the end and stop them." "I think the word to describe that would be perseverance," DuBois said. "We've been here before, been in so many close games. We were calm, cool and collected, kept playing football." Forks' scores came on drives of 71 and 74 yards, respectively, to open each half. The first featured rushing gains of 13 and 21 yards by Aston on the way to Jake Reynolds' 1-yard quarterback sneak. The biggest chunk of yards picked up on the second was an 18-yard Reynolds-to-Cade pass that advanced the ball to Geneva's 17-yard line. Three plays later, Aston -- despite a would-be tackler crashing in at knee-level -- lunged across the goal line to complete a 3-yard TD rush. Perhaps as significant as any of it was a defensive stand that concluded 62 seconds before halftime with Garret Cade breaking up a fourth-down pass intended for Jeremiah Allen in the middle of the field at the goal line. That came a play after Voorhis leveled Martin while in the act of passing, creating an incompletion. Allen, rusher of 300-plus yards in two of his previous three games, picked up 102 on 21 carries. So, back for a 13th week of football go the unbeaten Blue Devils. Why? "It's quality kids," Green said. "We've been blessed with them for a long time at Forks, and we've got them again." Geneva falls just short of victory Place mouse over photos to
read captions |
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | Tot | ||
| Chenango Forks | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | - | 14 |
| Geneva | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | - | 13 |
- CF - Jake Reynolds 1 run (Rob Lumsden kick)
- G - Tyler Travis 5 run (Deanzae Williams kick)
- CF - Joe Aston 3 run (Lumsden kick)
- G - Bobby Martin 10 run (kick blocked)
TEAM STATISTICS
Note:
Click here for enhanced stats from the NYSPHSAA
| Geneva | CF | |
| First Downs | 17 | 14 |
| Rushes-Yards | 35-165 | 47-180 |
| Passing Yards Net | 69 | 77 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 7-13-1 | 5-9-0 |
| Total Offense | 48-234 | 56-257 |
| Punts-Ave yards | 2-31.5 | 2-31.5 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 1-0 | 1-1 |
| Penalties-Yards | 4-30 | 7-70 |
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Geneva rushing
Chenango Forks rushing
Geneva passing
Chenango Forks passing
Geneva receiving
Chenango Forks receiving:
Preview Articles
Forks defense must slow Allen
Running back gained 394 yards in last week's quarterfinal win By Kevin Stevens Press & Sun-Bulletin Chenango Forks' sights are set on a sixth berth in the Class B state championship game in the last seven football seasons. Geneva, the opponent for a 3 p.m. semifinal Saturday at Rochester's Paetec Park, has played for a state title each of the last two years -- claiming Class B supremacy last year a season after closing as Class A runner-up. The Blue Devils are unbeaten through 11 weeks of football for the sixth time in seven years. Geneva, beaten twice in a three-week stretch in the first half of the season, rides a six-game win streak into the contest. The two opposed one another last Nov. 18 on the same PAETEC Park surface, where the Panthers scored a touchdown with 19 seconds remaining to pull out a 26-21 victory. A couple of faces familiar to Forks defenders will again man positions in Geneva's offensive backfield -- one, however, in a different position than a year ago with vastly improved results. Jeremiah Allen, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior, banged at Forks last year for an effective-if-not-game-changing 106 yards on 16 carries. This season he mans the tailback spot, and has turned in off-the-charts results of late. In last week's 32-14 quarterfinal defeat of Depew, Allen established a state-tournament record with 394 rushing yards, two games after hitting up Hornell for 319 yards in a Section 5 semifinal. Last week's output came on 36 carries and included touchdown runs of 70, 13, 11 and 14 yards. "This kid is amazing," Forks coach Kelsey Green said. "We saw him get 250 yards in the first half against Hornell. "He's big, strong, fast, elusive, he runs through you, around you, makes you miss and he finishes off his runs." And so Max Ginty and Clint Cade, Jud DuBois and Jake Reynolds and the rest of those Blue Devils who teamed for that brilliant defensive showing in a 12-7 win over Cazenovia will have to be at their best come Saturday. Oh, Geneva plays a bit of defense as well. Section 6 champion Depew called it a season on the heels of an 83-yard offensive total against the Panthers. Of course, Forks has been this route before, encountering a standout running back in the semifinal round. Last year it was Geneva's Brian Fowler (23 carries, 137 yards); in 2005 it was Hornell's David Zapata (43-228); in '03 it was Eden's Keien Williams (44-216); in '02 it was Bath's Mark Robinson (28-158). The Blue Devils' record in state semifinal games: 5-1. Asked to compare Geneva's Allen with any of the hotshot backs of the past, Green mentioned Eden's Williams -- "I don't know that he's straight-out as fast, that kid was a track star," he said. "But we haven't seen (Allen) get caught when he gets out in front of people." Should the Panthers put up a second touchdown on Saturday, they'd be the first Forks opponent to do so since Susquehanna Valley in the Oct. 20 regular-season finale. The Sabers scored 28 that day, twice the next-best total Forks has allowed this year. "We've got to control (Allen), that first kid has to bring him down," Green said. "The 3-4 games of theirs that we've seen, that doesn't seem to happen." Geneva has given up 20 or more points in five games, though has tightened up since allowing 32 or more three of the first five games. Forks' leading rusher from last year's Geneva game, Joe Aston, gained 66 yards and a touchdown to go with two receptions for 34 yards in that game. He played through an ankle sprain last week. "We came out of (the quarterfinal) a little better off than we came out of the Chenango Valley game. Joey's no worse for wear, anyway," Green said. As for the team's attitude heading into Week 12, he said, "They're a confident bunch of kids looking forward to the next challenge."
Post-game
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