Game 1 - 2012 Chenango Forks Varsity Football

Game 1 vs Unatego

Blue Devils crunch Unatego 35-6!
Win is fifteenth straight season opening victory!

Articles courtesy of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin and the Oneonta Daily Star

A Debut Of Dominance

Chenango Forks' powerful run game earn big victory

By Kevin Stevens
Press & Sun-Bulletin

TOWN OF CHENANGO - Four Chenango Forks touchdowns to three Unatego first downs in Saturday's opening half fairly well captures what the teams' football season opener was all about.

The Blue Devils manhandled Unatego in a 35-6 rout that brought 139 rushing yards on 23 carries - before halftime, on searing artificial turf - by fullback Isaiah Zimmer.

Forks' first four possessions went for scores, the first covering 12 plays and the fourth lasting 11 - and concluded with a forward pass of all things.

"This win was big," two-way lineman Mike Doll said. "Last year, we had a nasty taste in our mouth and we wanted to get that out."

Part of that unpleasantness to gargle away came in the form of a 21-0 loss to Unatego in Week 7 of 2011, a setback these Blue Devils were bent on avenging.

Zimmer, a 190-pound junior, carried for 14 yards on the first play from scrimmage and rushed eight more times on the initial Blue Devils' drive. That began at their 40 and ended with Ethan Cook carrying across from the 1-yard line 6:12 into the contest.

The first of consecutive Unatego three-and-outs followed and, after a 14-yard punt, the Devils took possession at the Spartans' 42. Five Zimmer rushes advanced to the 7, Ryan Bronson took a pitch 6 yards before being sent out of bounds, and Zimmer finished by scoring on his feet.

The second of sophomore Jack Sherwood's 5for-5 PAT showing made it 14-0 with 2:14 to play in the quarter.

The third touchdown drive began at Forks' 48yard line and featured a 22-yard rush by quarterback John Colm Sweeney, who feigned a handoff to Zimmer to spring himself into space. To that juncture, Zimmer had carried 16 times in under 11 minutes - what defense wouldn't gnaw on that fake?

The first play of the second quarter brought an 18-yard rushing touchdown by Zimmer, who was gift-wrapped free sailing into the secondary. That play as much as any illustrated the quality work done up front. Big boys primarily responsible for Saturday's one-sided first half: D.J. Jones, Zach Ford, Mike Doll, Hunter Luybli, Jack Barnett and Taylor Lindsey.

"A lot of times Isaiah was getting tackled by the safety - untouched until he got to the safety," Forks coach David Hogan said. "And not just Isaiah but our other backs as well. You know there are a lot of nice things going on up front when that happens."

The Blue Devils had to work for their fourth touchdown, facing 96 yards of turf after Sherwood intercepted a Unatego pass four minutes into the second quarter.

Where to start? How 'bout three successive rushes by Zimmer out to the 28, then back-to-back change-ups by Jake Green that went for 11 and 19, respectively. Biggest pickup of the drive was a 31-yard burst by Colm Sweeney, again after simulating an exchange to Ironman.

The score came on a roll right/pass right on which Colm Sweeney found Cody DeOrdio in the end zone.

Asked to size up his teams first-half showing, Doll said: "We made a couple mistakes, they can be fixed. That was only one step. Each day, we get better."

While offensive execution experienced a significant drop-off after halftime, Blue Devils defenders remained sharp. Unatego's first four second-half possessions netted minus-5 yards, and its fifth was halted when Nick Cannon intercepted a pass with 6:18 remaining in the game.

"That's definitely a good offensive team with a lot of weapons. We played very well today," Hogan understated.

Ahead for Forks is a Friday-night trip to Oneonta, which figures to be a hair riled up after being dealt a 45-7 thumping by Sidney.

Staff Report
The Oneonta Daily Star

Chenango Forks 35, Unatego 6

Fullback Isaiah Zimmer scored three touchdowns in the first half, helping host Chenango Forks to a 28-0 lead in a non-division Section Four Football Conference game as the Blue Devils avenged a 21-0 loss to the Spartans last season.

“Their line is pretty much the same as last season,” said Unatego coach Frank Microni, whose team went 5-4 last season. “They’re just big and strong, and they execute very well. We had a hard time in the first half just handling them up front.”

The Spartans avoided the shutout when Josh Feyerabend scored on a 13-yard run in the fourth quarter.

“I’m not happy about the loss,” Microni said. “After the game I thought we were in a lot of trouble, but after watching the film I’m not as concerned.”

Unatego quarterbacks Tyler Butler and Feyerabend combined to go 3-for-17 for 37 yards and two interceptions.

“It was a combination of everything,” Microni said of his team’s passing difficulties. “We had some bad throws, we dropped some balls and they played good defense. I thought our offensive line handled their pressure well when we did throw. It was a combination of things and it’s nothing we can’t correct.”

Unatego travels to Seton on Saturday night.

“We just have to execute and we have to be fundamentally sound,” Microni said. “We’ll work all week at getting fundamentally sound. If we do our stuff, we do good stuff. Blocking-wise we had chances for some big plays, but we were blocking the wrong guys.”