SIDNEY Chenango Forks drove 48 yards in 25
seconds for the tying touchdown, and sophomore Jack Sherwood
delivered the go-ahead PAT kick with 60 seconds remaining Friday
night, lifting Chenango Forks to a 31-30 Division V football win
at Sidney.
A John Colm Sweeney-to-Cody DeOrdio pass play
went for 31 yards and the tying touchdown, less than
half-a-minute after the Warriors went ahead on Billy Kozak's
26-yard catch-and-run for a score on a fourth-and-10 play.
Quarterback Patrick Vibbard then connected with
Mike Ward for a two-point pass and a 30-24 Sidney lead with 1:26
remaining.
The Blue Devils took possession after the ensuing
squib kick at Sidney's 48-yard line, and faced third-and-10
before Sweeney passed to Nick Cannon near the visitors' sideline
and Cannon in turn pitched to Jake Green for additional yardage.
The 17-yard gain left first down at Sidney's 31-yard line.
On the next play, Sweeney passed to the right
side of the field to DeOrdio, who made the reception at about
the 12-yard line. He powered through one tackle attempt, then
juked his way clear of a second to complete a stunning comeback.
Sidney's final possession brought four incomplete
passes, and the Blue Devils (6-0) had a 2-0 record in Division
V. Sidney dropped to 4-2, 2-1 in division play.
"I saw myself open again, I broke a tackle and
looked over and there was one guy to beat, cut back to the
inside and there was no one else in front of me so I scored,"
said DeOrdio, who cashed in on Sweeney's ninth completion of the
night.
Correct, nine completions in 17 attempts for the
ground-oriented Blue Devils. Sidney was that stout against the
rush.
"Well, Cody came off the field and said, 'Hey,
coach, I'm open down the sideline,' " Forks coach David Hogan
said of the decisive play. "So it's not rocket science I
said, 'OK, tell him to throw it to you.' Run the same play and
throw it to him and it worked.
"It's amazing, sometimes it just works out that
way."
And on the other sideline: "I'm sick to my
stomach from the highs of scoring that go-ahead score to having
the right personnel on the field and them just making big
plays," Warriors coach Jeff Matthews said. "It had to have been
a heck of a game to watch, a lot of fun if you are for Forks and
our fans must be as sick as I am right now."
Indeed, this one had a lot packed into 48 minutes
worth of clock time.
There was a pass play of 70 yards from Vibbard to Kozak for the
opening points, and a 54-yard third-and-4 rush by Forks' Ethan
Cook as a response two plays into the second quarter.
There was a blocked punt by the Blue Devils
setting up a 26-yard scoring drive finished by Isaiah Zimmer
carrying in from the 1. And there was Sidney answering 2:03
later with Kozak rushing 2 yards for a TD that left Forks ahead
by 16-14 at halftime.
Sidney took a 22-16 lead when Jerrid Cubby
sprinted 45 yards after recovering a fumble created by teammate
Mike Chase. A two-point pass put Sidney out front by 22-16 and
made for the lone score a the third quarter.
Then came the final quarter, in which Forks
struck first in the form of a safety when, from punt formation,
Sidney snapped the football high and out of the end zone with
8:31 remaining.
The Blue Devils took over after Sidney's kickoff
at the hosts' 46-yard line, and drove the distance in 12 plays.
Included was a fourth-down conversion rush of 1 yard by Sweeney
and a pass-interference penalty against Sidney that gave Forks
first down at the 5.
Zimmer carried in over the left side on the next
play to put Forks ahead by 24-22 with 2:52 to play.
Sidney started the next possession at its 36-yard
line and, with aid of roughing-the-passer and pass-interference
penalties, quickly advanced to Forks' 26. However, it was a
fourth-and-10 play on which Vibbard found Kozak out of the
backfield at about the 15-yard line, and Kozak proceeded in
through a defense caught off-guard.
The two-point pass left Forks a six-point hole
from which to climb with 86 seconds remaining.
"We never quit," DeOrdio said. "That's what we've
learned the past few weeks in these nail-biters, we never quit
and we never will."
Warriors fall, 31-30, in thriller
By Rob Centorani
The Daily Star
SIDNEY _ A see-saw fourth quarter that belied the physical and defensive nature of this Section Four Football Conference Division V game on the mud pit that was Sidney's field ultimately was decided by an extra point.
Jack Sherwood sneaked the PAT inside the right upright with about 3 yards to spare to give unbeaten Chenango Forks a wild, 31-30 victory over the Warriors on Friday night.
Sidney (4-2, 2-1) took a 30-24 lead with 1:26 remaining on an impromptu call on a fourth-and-10 from the Blue Devils' 26. Two 15-yard penalties _ a roughing the passer call and a pass interference infraction _ helped Sidney move to the Forks' 26.
But three straight incompletions followed.
Warriors coach called timeout. Sidney had run its drive exclusive out of a spread formation, but on fourth down, it went to its customary double-wing formation. With Billy Kozak lined to quarterback Patrick Vibbard's right, Vibbard took the shotgun snap and rolled his right. Kozak slipped into the left flat and was wide open. Vibbard then whirled and threw perfect pass to back Kozak, who caught it on the run and cruised into the left side of the end zone.
Kozak said he suggested the call to coach Jeff Matthews during the timeout.
Vibbard then hit Mike Ward on a quick slant on the two-point play to make it a six-point game.
But Sidney's ensuing squib kick traveled 7 yards, giving the Blue Devils (6-0, 2-0) possession at the Warriors' 47.
After hitting a hook and lateral on third-and-10, with JC Sweeney hitting Andrew Ziegenfus near the left sideline and Ziegenfus pitching back to Jake Green for a 17-yard gain, Forks scored on the next play.
Sweeney found an uncovered Cody DeOrdio about 20 yards downfield on the right side. DeOrdio made one defender miss with a cut to the middle en route to the end zone with 1:00 left.
Forks hadn't attempted an extra point kick all night, but after taking back-to-back timeouts, Sherwood came on for the winning PAT.
Sidney got the ball back with 52.2 seconds at its 37, but three incompletions followed by a middle screen to Kozak that went nowhere on fourth down ended the Warriors' chances.
"That was by far the most physical game I've played in," said Kozak, who made an impressive adjustment on an underthrown ball by Vibbard and scored on a 70-yard play in the first quarter.
The Blue Devils went ahead, 24-22, with 2:52 left in the fourth quarter after a late pass interference call.
On third-and-goal from the 10, Sweeney threw to the end zone. Sidney's Nate McDonald got his hand on the ball, but about two seconds after the play, the official in the back of the end zone dropped his flag and called interference.
It gave Forks a first down at the 5 and Isaiah Zimmer scored off the left side for his second touchdown of the night.
"It was a great high school football game," said Matthews, whose team will still qualify for the Section Four Class C playoffs with a win at Newark Valley in two weeks. "We don't like to be on the losing side, but that was a great game."
The Warriors saw two key players injured.
Brandon Walters injured his left ankle on the first play from scrimmage. He continued to play at linebacker on the hobbled leg but played sparingly on offense the rest of the way.
The other injury appeared far more damaging. Two-way starter Damian Zimmer made a leaping interception in the middle of the field with 2:36 left in the second quarter. He headed left on the return and didn't appear to see DeOrdio until the last second. DeOrdio went low on the tackle and his helmet hit Zimmer's left knee. Zimmer left the field on a stretcher and was taken to the hospital.