Game 4 vs Greene

Blue Devils avenge Greene 22-14!
CF strikes back after 2011 loss to the Trojans!

Articles courtesy of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin and the Chenango Evening Sun

First-half touchdowns decisive for Blue Devils

Kevin Stevens
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

GREENE - Chenango Forks turned two critical miscues by Greene into second-quarter touchdowns Friday night in a 22-14 victory that figures to loom large in the Section 4 Football Conference's Division V title chase.

The second of the two came on a 37-yard pass from John Colm Sweeney to Cody DeOrdio 18.4 seconds before halftime, and Isaiah Zimmer's two-point run - from 1.5 yards courtesy of a Trojans penalty - made for a 22-8 Blue Devils advantage.

Though limited to a single first down until the final couple minutes of second-half play, Forks improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in Division V. Greene (3-1, 0-1) absorbed its first regular-season loss since Week 8 of the 2010 season.

Fullback Isaiah Zimmer closed with 113 rushing yards and Colm Sweeney with 69 passing yards on two completions for Forks, which trailed by 8-6 before capitalizing on the first significant Greene blunder.

The Trojans fumbled away the football on second down and Forks' Ryan Bronson recovered at the hosts' 7-yard line 2:44 into the second quarter - after a 43-yard punt by Zimmer had shoved Greene back at its 9.

The last of three successive carries by Zimmer went inside and covered 1 yard for a TD, and Jake Green made an exceptional lunging reception of Colm Sweeney's two-point pass just inside the right boundary for a 14-8 advantage.

The Trojans' next crack at a tying score went south when, on a fourth-and-6 play from the Blue Devils' 7-yard line, Jeremy Flohr made a leaping grab of a pass from Joe Beckwith, only to descend on white paint outside the back of the end zone.

That left Forks 93 yards to cover in 4:05 remaining before halftime.

The Devils advanced to Greene's 37-yard line in 10 plays, most helpful of which was a 31-yard, third-and-8 gain by Green on a toss play toward the home sideline. That marked his second third-down conversion of the drive.

The touchdown was a perfect stunner - to both sidelines as well as those making up what was judged to be the largest assemblage of spectators for a Greene game in recent memory.

Colm Sweeney scooted to his right and had a look while defenders pressed, only to set his feet and let fly in the direction of DeOrdio, who'd inexplicably freed himself a dozen or so yards behind the nearest defender. He made the catch without incident and gratefully zipped the remaining 20 or so yards across the goal line.

"I don't know, they covered the slotback that went in motion and I found myself wide open," DeOrdio said. "JC threw me the ball and we connected for a touchdown. I was pretty surprised that I was completely open, but it worked out so we'll take it."

Said Forks coach David Hogan: "We had practiced this pass play for the last couple of weeks. We felt it was an opportune time to give the play a try and fortunately for us, it worked out."

As for just why it worked out with such astonishing ease? "I'm not so sure," he said. "Very fortunate. It was a big play just before the half and if we didn't get that, who knows what would have happened?"

Greene coach Tim Paske said: "We had a missed assignment. But, hey, it's things we were working on all week, we just didn't get there. That happens, we'll grow from it."

Greene defenders were clearly bent on denying red helmets passage anywhere near the goal line after halftime.

The first three Forks possessions went three-and-out, and go ahead and identify when was the last time that happened.

Thing was, Blue Devils defenders seemed near-equally stubborn, and on the first play after a scoreless third quarter DeOrdio intercepted a third-and-20 pass to give Forks possession at its 17-yard line.

Greene's final possession began at its 33-yard line with 6:50 remaining and concluded with Trevor Parrish rushing 3 yards for a score to make it 22-14 with 3:03 remaining. The drive-maker on that one was an exquisitely executed collaboration from Beckwith to Flohr that went for 41 yards down the home sideline.

Forks, so offensively challenged to that point in the second half, needed a little something to tuck away the win _ and got it in the form of rushes by Bronson (once) and Zimmer (twice) that went for first downs.

"We weren't moving the ball an inch in the second half and all of sudden we tell them that we need to get a few first downs to seal it, and fortunately we were able to do that," said Hogan, whose team avenged last season's 21-0 loss to Greene.

The Trojans' first TD was a 9-yard, fourth-down rush by Mike Beckwith in the final minute of the opening quarter.

Forks closes out Greene with running game

Evening Sun Report

GREENE - Held without a rushing first down the entire second half, Chenango Forks stuck to its guns rushing for three late first downs to run out the clock on a surging Greene Trojans team Friday night.

The Blue Devils dealt Greene its first loss of the season getting two TD runs from Isaiah Zimmer and a timely TD pass at the end of the first half in a 22-14 final at Raymond Field.

Greene drove for the only touchdown of the second half to close the deficit to eight points with 3:03 to play. The Blue Devils needed a first down – or two – in a big way. “The thing that sticks out the most in this game to me is that we were able to get those first downs at the end,” said Chenango Forks coach Dave Hogan, who could have pointed to any number of highlights that factored in the victory. “I was nervous until the clock hit zero.”

Until its final possession, Chenango Forks had exactly seven yards rushing on 11 attempts through four possessions in the second half. It was a far cry from the opening two quarters when the Blue Devils ran for 155 yards. “Hats off to Greene, they made some great defensive adjustments in the second half,” Hogan said. ”Really, we just ran the same stuff (at the end of the game), and suddenly it was working again.”

Isaiah Zimmer ran for a pair of first downs on the last drive and finished with 110 yards and two touchdowns. Many of those yards came behind the left side of the Chenango Forks offensive line, but more importantly, none of the Chenango Forks running backs lost a grip on the ball. “We thought they might put the ball on the ground tonight, and they didn’t,”, said Greene coach Tim Paske. “They had done that a little bit in their first three games, but they played a complete game. Our guys saw that, and they learned the importance of taking care of the ball.”

Each team scored on its opening possession. For Forks it was a methodical 14-play, 72-yard drive capped by Zimmer. Greene responded quickly moving 61 yards in just over 4 1/2 minutes. Cole Browning’s 16-yard first-down run was aided by a Forks personal foul penalty that had the Trojans inside the Forks 15. Four plays later, Mike Beckwith scored on a nine-yard run. Dan Treadwell’s two-point run gave Greene its only lead.

After a defensive stop of Forks, Greene regained possession inside its 10. On the second play of the drive, Trojans quarterback Joe Beckwith mishandled the ball leading to a Forks fumble recovery. Zimmer plowed in from a yard for his second score and a one-touchdown lead.

Perhaps the back-breaker for Greene was an end-of-half sequence, one that proved a 14-point swing at the least.

The Trojans moved 43 yards to the Chenango Forks seven. Facing a fourth-down situation, Joe Beckwith rolled to his right targeting Jeremy Flohr. Flohr caught the ball in the back of the end zone, but was ruled out of bounds.

From there, Chenango Forks covered 93 yards in four minutes. On his first pass attempt of the game, quarterback J.C. Sweeney hooked up with Cody DeOrdio on a 37-yard scoring strike. DeOrdio was wide-open on the play, likely due to a blown coverage in the Trojans’ secondary. Those additional points gave Forks a 14-point lead, 22-8, entering the locker room.

“We were able to score right after the fumble, and that pass play was huge – to score at the end of the half,” Hogan said. “(The pass play) is something we’ve been working on. We thought it was the right time, and we were fortunate it worked out.”

Greene did not threaten to score again until late in the game. Beckwith connected with Flohr on a 41-yard pass down the right sideline to initiate the final scoring drive. Six running plays later, Trevor Parrish scored from two yards out.

Beckwith threw for 82 yards in the game, and the Trojans finished with 132 yards rushing, their lowest total of the season. “Not scoring in their end, and their (passing) touchdown, that was a 12- or 14-point swing,” Paske said. “That hurts. We have to finish (drives), and it’s something we have talked about. We’ll learn from this; there is a lot of football left to play.”

Greene (3-1) plays at Sidney Friday.

2012 Chenango Forks Varsity Football

First-half touchdowns decisive for Blue Devils