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2014 Chenango Forks Varsity Football

Game 11 vs Utica Notre Dame

Blue Devils 57, Jugglers 14
CF Wins Its' 11th NYSPHSAA Central Region Football Championship

Articles courtesy of the
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, Utica Observer-Dispatch
and the Syracuse Post-Standard

to Game 10 - Newark Valley    

to the 2014 team page    

to Game 12 - Maple Grove/Chautauqua Lake



Blue Devils dominant in quarters triumph

Kevin Stevens, kstevens@pressconnects.com
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
 

CICERO — Chenango Forks thumped Utica Notre Dame early and didn’t ease up Saturday in a 57-14 romp past the Jugglers in a Class C state football quarterfinal at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.

Most Valuable Player Jack Sherwood rushed for 139 yards and three touchdowns, and passed for another score as the Blue Devils improved to a 10-1 record. Sophomore L.J. Watson rushed for 91 yards and scored on a pair of dazzling efforts.

Notre Dame (9-2), a state playoff participant for the first time in 15 years, looked every bit the postseason greenhorn in the face of Forks’ reigning state champions.

The Blue Devils turned their first four possessions into touchdowns, and

along the way gobbled up a Jugglers turnover and struck for a defensive score.

“You can get anything when you play in the state playoffs,” Sherwood said. “They haven’t been here in a while so that definitely could have accounted for it, but we had a really good game on top of that, too.”

Pretty good?

Forks rushed for 399 yards, did not punt and led by 44 points five minutes into the third quarter — against a fifth-ranked squad that came in on a five-game win streak. The reward is a semifinal berth opposite unbeaten Section 6 champion Maple Grove/Chautauqua Lake in what will be a contest pitting New York’s firstand second-ranked Class C teams.

It was a score by Sherwood late in the first half that erased any doubt as to which team would advance.

Notre Dame’s Jerome Brabham was the fortunate recipient of a deflected football in the middle of the field and his heads-up work made for a 69-yard touchdown reception 3:25 before halftime. That made it a 29-6 difference and put a bit of bounce back in the Jugglers’ step. Ever so briefly, that is.

On the next play from scrimmage, from the 31yard line, Sherwood kept the ball on an option and started between the tackles. With more than adequate blocking helping the cause, he worked his way into freedom and drifted toward the left sideline to win a race across the goal line.

Notre Dame goes 69 yards for a quick lift, only to be answered by Sherwood’s 69-yarder 19 seconds later.

From there, it was a mere formality through intermittent snow showers.

“They were biting on the mid-line the whole day, that’s probably what they wanted to do,” Sherwood said. “They were tackling the fullback, I pulled it and went right up the middle. We had some great blocks, I made a couple cuts and I was able to outrun their kids.” But Play of the Game? That was turned in by Watson, and brought the day’s second touchdown.

Two snaps after Watson made a diving interception near midfield, he took a pitch toward the Devils’ sideline on a play that appeared headed for a whole lot of nothing. Instead, Watson patiently worked forward, spun out of trouble once — then a second time — to make his way through a pack of defenders and complete a 45-yard scoring run. “There was nothing there, I just spun back and saw a hole,” he said. “I got through there somehow, got into the end zone.”

“We call it Quick Pitch Right,” coach David Hogan said. “There were people outside the end. He spun off one of the outside would-be tacklers and I think he broke another tackle and the next thing you know he was off to the races. It was beautiful.”

Tony Silvanic — perfect on seven PAT’s for the afternoon — made it 15-0 with 2:12 left in the opening quarter.

The difference grew to three TDs when Ryan Bronson chased down a free football after Jugglers QB Kevin Warmack muffed a shotgun snap, and raced the remaining 30-plus yards for a score with 39.2 seconds to play in the quarter. That was one of myriad defensive contributions made by Bronson, who belted one ball carrier after another after another.

Forks’ defense as a whole turned in a superlative showing, limiting third-season QB Warmack — who’d rushed for 632 yards the previous two weekends — to 74 yards.

A 24-yard Sherwoodto- Robert Story pass play covered the biggest chunk on a 60-yard drive for the Devils’ fourth touchdown, and then came the telltale exchange of 69-yard blows that served to deflate Notre Dame.

Watson returned the second-half kickoff 32 yards to the Jugglers’ 48, and seven plays later made a sensational leaping reception despite significant congestion in the left side of the end zone to complete a 19-yard scoring play on fourth-and-15. Sherwood’s last TD came on a 33-yard keeper two plays after Silvanic recovered a fumble by Warmack. All told, it was perhaps Forks’ most thorough showing of the season, and suggests that the team is near peak performance at a fine time.

“We’re not sure we’ve played our best game. It was certainly one of the best games we’ve had,” Hogan said.  


Notre Dame can't keep up with Chenango Forks in Class C quarterfinal  

Defending state champion Chenango Forks scored touchdowns on six of its first seven possessions, led 29-0 in the second quarter and rolled to a 57-14 win over Section III champion Notre Dame in a Class C state quarterfinal game at Cicero-North Syracuse High School on Saturday.

Ron Moshier
Utica Observer Dispatch

CICERO

Quarterback Kevin Warmack and middle linebacker Joe Flynt were hobbling around Notre Dame High School’s locker room Saturday.
 
Both were hurting, Warmack with a high-ankle sprain, Flynt with a bum knee. And the agony of defeat -- a season-ending, 57-14 loss to Chenango Forks in a Class C state quarterfinal game at Cicero-North Syracuse High School -- wasn’t helping any.
 
“They showed why they’re the No. 1 team in the state,” Warmack said. “They’re big, they’re strong, and they won the battle up front.”
 
There was no doubt about that.
 
Defending state champion Chenango Forks (10-1) scored touchdowns on six of its first seven possessions, led 29-0 in the second quarter, and limited Warmack – who had rushed for nearly 200 yards per game – to 71 yards on 19 carries.
 
It was 50-6 with 4½ minutes left in the third quarter when the Blue Devils – who at the time had held Notre Dame to five first downs and 111 total yards -- started resting their starters.
 
“That’s what the weight room does for you,” Notre Dame first-year head coach Jake DerCola said, his Section III champion Jugglers finished at 9-2. “They smacked us around pretty good and we didn’t recover. They set the tone.”
 
Chenango Forks senior quarterback Jack Sherwood ran for 140 yards and three touchdowns and threw for another score. Sophomore halfback L.J. Watson added 90 yards on seven carries and scored twice for the nothing-fancy, but fundamentally-sound Blue Devils, who gained 409 of their 452 total yards on the ground.
 
“They’re basic plays, but what they do they do very well, and they really fire off the ball,” DerCola said. “They’ve got size. They’ve got speed. They’ve got power. … I’d be surprised if they didn’t win it again.”
 
A gimpy Warmack, helped from the field with an ankle injury with 8:36 left in the first half, returned to throw a 69-yard touchdown pass to junior wideout Jerome Brabham that made it 29-6. But one play and 19 seconds later, Sherwood made a great ball fake and sped 69 yards on the option and it was 36-6 at the half.
 
Warmack, who later threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to junior Nick Sullivan, finished 9 of 16 for 152 yards. Brabham, named Notre Dame’s MVP during the post-game ceremony, had seven receptions for 130 yards.
 
Including a 26-yard loss on a high snap through Warmack’s hands – Ryan Bronson returned the fumble 28 yards for a Chenango Forks touchdown – the Jugglers managed only 49 yards on the ground.

Young Notre Dame football team learns from 'eye-opening' loss


Notre Dame High's 57-14 loss in the state quarterfinals was a rather telling mismatch that showed the Jugglers' many underclassmen ? all but four starters return ? just how good the best Class C football teams in the state really are. And just how much work needs to be done to compete with the Section IV likes of ...

Ron Moshier
Utica Observer Dispatch

Notre Dame High quarterback Kevin Warmack was right.

“This game here doesn’t define our season,” Warmack was saying Saturday, not long after the Jugglers’ 57-14 loss to Chenango Forks in the Class C state quarterfinals. “It had been 15 years since our school won a section championship – you can’t take that away. ...

“There were a lot more good times than bad.”

No argument there. The Jugglers claimed their first Section III title since 1999 and avenged their only regular-season loss with that 32-20 Carrier Dome win over previously-unbeaten Herkimer, and they were ranked fifth in the state entering Saturday’s Central Region matchup with defending state champion Chenango Forks.

But then came the “bad,” a rather telling mismatch that showed Notre Dame’s many underclassmen – all but four starters return – just how good the best Class C football teams in the state really are. And just how much work needs to be done to compete with the Section IV likes of a Chenango Forks, whose Blue Devils have won 11 of their last 12 state tournament games against the best Section III has to offer.

“Obviously, there are teams out there who are a lot better,” said two-way starter Joe Flynt, a Notre Dame junior linebacker and offensive lineman. “Obviously, to get to this level, we’re going to have to get a lot better.

“This was a big eye opener for us. To be able to compete, everybody’s going to have to get bigger and stronger.”

That was a point of emphasis Saturday, after the Juggler were convincingly run down, run over, and run out of state title contention by a big, physical Chenango Forks team whose no-frills, north-south, smash-mouth approach produced 29-0 and 50-6 leads before the Blue Devils called off the dogs late in the third quarter.

“I just said, ‘Guys, take a look. That’s what the weight room does,’” Notre Dame head coach Jake DerCola said.

Junior wide receiver and defensive back Jerome Brabham found that out the hard way.

“We have a lot of work to do, not only on the field but in the weight room,” said Brabham, who had seven receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown.

On Saturday, Notre Dame (9-2) started only three seniors – Warmack, TE-DE Joe Sullivan and RB-DB Jack Heaton – because Vinnie LoConti fractured his tibia in the win over Herkimer. Brabham, an all-state receiver played some quarterback this fall, will likely take over for Warmack next year. Warmack, a three-year starter, rushed for nearly 2,000 yards, scored 30 touchdowns, and threw 18 touchdown passes this season.


Chenango Forks runs over Notre Dame 57-14 in Class C state semifinal

Josh Carney
Syracuse Post-Standard

With temperatures in the mid-30s for most of the game, the Chenango Forks Blue Devils leaned on its big offensive line to help dominate the line of scrimmage in the Blue Devils 57-14, Saturday.

Running through gaping holes provided by the Blue Devils offensive line, quarterback Jack Sherwood and running backs L.J. Watson and Ryan Bronson ran roughshod over the Utica-Notre Dame Jugglers with snow falling and the winds swirling in the Class C State Semifinal matchup at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.

The Blue Devils took control right from its opening drive, marching 78 yards in nine plays. On the ninth play Sherwood kept the ball on a read-option, scampering around the left end for the 18-yard touchdown that seemingly opened the floodgates for Chenango Forks.

Returning the ensuing kickoff to its own 31 yard line, Jugglers quarterback Kevin Warmack threw an interception on the second play of the drive that was just out of reach of his favorite wide receiver, Jerome Brabham. In a sign of things to come, it was Watson who made the diving interception, setting up the Blue Devils at its own 45 yard line.

After a 10-yard connection from Sherwood to tight end Bob Story, Watson took the handoff over the right side where he broke a handful of tackles on his way to a 45-yard touchdown run that made it 15-0 Blue Devils just 10 minutes into the game.

The game turned for the worse less than two minutes later for Utica-Notre Dame.

Facing a 4th and 4 from its own 46 yard line, Warmack was unable to handle a high snap and had to retreat in the backfield trying to recover it. At the same time a Blue Devils defender wrapped up Warmack causing him to fumble again. The ensuing fumble bounced right to Bronson who scooped up the loose football and raced 30 yards for the score as the Blue Devils went up 22-0 in the first quarter.

Coupled with the fumble return for the touchdown, Bronson added a rushing touchdown and a two-point conversion to go with his impressive defensive showing for the Blue Devils.

“He’s been doing that all year, he’s been doing it for four years,” Chenango Forks head coach Dave Hogan said. “We’ve come to expect that out of Ryan. He’s a tremendous player.”

As Bronson and the rest of the Blue Devils defense combined to shut down the impressive duo of Warmack and Brabham, Sherwood went to work on the ground for Chenango.

Following a 69-yard touchdown pass from Warmack to Brabham that was tipped twice before Brabham pulled it in, Sherwood responded on the very next play with a 69-yard touchdown run of his own that put Chenango up 36-6 at the half.

“The guys up front did a great job of staying on their blocks,” Sherwood, who was named Game MVP, said. “When they’re doing that up front, you see the success we have. I just read their blocks and found room to run.”

The second half was much of the same for both teams as Sherwood and Watson ran wild, while Warmack and Brabham had a rough go of it.

“I told the kids at half that it was 0-0,” Hogan said. “They did a good job of sticking to it and staying in the game.”

For good measure, Sherwood connected with Watson for a 19-yard TD in the third quarter that sealed the game for the Blue Devils, who went up 43-6.

“You never want to feel comfortable in a game as a coach,” Hogan said. “But that play, I felt, did it. It was a heck of a play by Jack.”

Sherwood also tacked on a 37-yard touchdown run, his third of the game, before the Blue Devils starters gave way to the backups for the fourth quarter.

With the win, the Blue Devils march on in its defense of its state title.

“It feels about the same,” Sherwood said. “We just have to stay focused and do what we do.”


JUGGLERS FALL TO CHENANGO FORKS IN STATE QUARTERFINAL

Fred Miller
Hometown Sports

The Utica Notre Dame Jugglers football team, Champions of Section III for the first time since 1999, fell in New York State Regional round playoff action today, 57-14, to Section IV Champion, Chenango Forks Blue Devils, in a game played at CNS High School.

Chenango Forks, the State’s #1 ranked Class “C” team and the defending State Champion, jumped out to a 20-0 first quarter lead on UND and never looked in the rear view mirror.

After a stalled Notre Dame drive off the opening kickoff, Chenango Forks took its opening possession to the house, when quarterback, Jack Sherwood, took it in from 16 yards away. The two-point run was good and with 3:18 to go in the first quarter the Blue Devils had a 7-0 lead.

The next Jugglers possession ended when Kevin Warmack’s pass was intercepted by Blue Devils defensive back, Cody Lamond.

A personal foul against the UND defense, on the end of Chenango’s first play, set the Devils up at the Jugglers doorstep.

The next play saw sophomore sensation L.J., Watson, motor home from 45 yards away. The extra point gave Chenango Forks a 15-0 lead with 2:08 to go in the opening period.

On Notre Dame’s third possession, the shotgun snap sailed over the head of Warmack and was scooped up by Blue Devils defender, Ryan Bronson, who rumbled 54 yards for another score. Tony Silvanic’s point after gave C-F a 22-0 lead, which is the way we’d go to the second quarter.

Chenango would go up 29-0, on a 1 yard TD run and Silvanic point after, with 3:42 to go in the first half.

Utica Notre Dame played today without two way starter and senior captain, Vin Loconti, who has been a force on defense this season. Loconti suffered a season ending injury last week, in the Section III Championship Game, against Herkimer.

Juggler’s fans had another scare today, when Kevin Warmack sustained a high ankle sprain late in the first half that he was never really able to shake off. Warmack was held to just 79 yards on 19 carries on the ground, but passed for 152 yards on the day.

After sitting out a series of plays on offense and defense, Warmack returned, and on his first play, hit Jerome Brabham with a pass that went through the hands of a Blue Devils defender.

Brabham plucked the tipped ball out of the air and raced 68 yards for UND’s first touchdown, with 3:25 to go in the half. The conversion failed and the Jugglers were within 29-6. Jerome was solid all game long with 130 yards on seven receptions.

On the first play of its next possession, Chenango Forks quarterback, Jack Sherwood, called his own number again and the big fella scampered 69 yards for another touchdown. The point after was good and Chenango Forks took a 36-6 lead to the intermission.

Sherman was the biggest man on campus in this run, rushing for 140 yards and three scores and passing for another to teammate, LJ Watson.

The Section IV wrecking crew amassed 419 yards, on the ground, against a worn out UND defense.

At the half, first year Head Coach, Jake DerCola, told My Hometown Sports, ESPN Radio 99.1 FM, “The message to my team, is that there is a whole half of football left and giving up is not an option.”

Blue Devils Head Coach, Dave Hogan, told ESPN 99.1 FM, My Hometown Sports, “I am extremely proud and pleased with my team’s complete effort in the first half. I expect more of the same from them in the second half.”

With Warmack and another key Juggler’s defensive player, Joe Flynt, clearly hobbled hobbled by first half injuries, the Jugglers yielded 28 second half points to a Chenango Forks team that was hitting on all cylinders.

Notre Dame did get on the board late in the fourth, when junior receiver, Nick Sullivan, grabbed a 15 yard touchdown pass from Warmack. Warmack then hit Jerome Brabham with the two point conversion, which marked the final time these two players, teammates since they were little kids, would connect for a completion. Congrats on a great run guys.

With the win, Chenango Forks, (10-1), will travel to Rochester for a date with Maple Grove. The winner of that game will play in the State Championship at the Carrier Dome, on 11/29.

Utica Notre Dame finishes a fine season at (9-2) and will forever enjoy that Section III banner, as it hangs in Michael Walsh Gym.


 


01 02 03 04   Tot
Chenango Forks 22 14 14 7 - 57
Utica Notre Dame 0 6 0 8 - 14
  • CF - Jack Sherwood 18y run (Ryan Bronson run)
  • CF - LJ Watson 45y run (Tony Silvanic kick)
  • CF - Bronson 32y fumble return (Silvanic kick)
  • CF - Bronson 1y run (Silvanic kick)
  • ND - Jerome Brabham 69y pass from Kevin Warmack (pass failed)
  • CF - Sherwood 69y run (Silvanic kick)
  • CF - Watson 19y pass from Sherwood (Silvanic kick)
  • CF - Sherwood 33y run (Silvanic kick)
  • ND - Nick Sullivan 15y pass from Warmack (Brabham pass from Warmack)
  • CF - Tim McDonald 5y run (Silvanic kick)
     

TEAM STATISTICS 

  UND CF
First Downs 10 20
Rushes-Yards 28-72 50-399
Passing Yards 160 56
Comp-Att-Int 8-15-2 3-6-0
Total Offense 43-232 56-455
Punts-Ave yards 3-29 0
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-0
Penalties-Yards 5-27 4-20
.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Utica Notre Dame rushing

  • Kevin Warmack      20-74
  • A.J. Papa           1-7
  • Jack Heaton         2-4
  • Joe Sullivan        1-1
  • Jerome Brabham      3-(-3)
  • Sammy Bianco        1-(-11)

Chenango Forks rushing

  • Jack Sherwood      6-139, 3 TDs
  • LJ Watson          8-91,  1 TD
  • Ryan Bronson      10-54,  1 TD
  • Tim McDonald      10-40,  1 TD
  • Tyler Wilson       4-34
  • Dylan Studer       3-12
  • Jacob Krupp        3-12
  • Cody Lamond        1-7
  • Gunnar Giordani    1-4
  • Dan Crowningshield 1-4
  • Isaiah Roman       3-2

Utica Notre Dame passing

  • Kevin Warmack 8-for-15, 160y, 2 TDs, 2 ints

Chenango Forks passing

  • Jack Sherwood 3-for-6, 56y, 1 TD

Utica Notre Dame receiving

  • Jerome Brabham    6-138, 1 TD
  • Nick Sullivan     1-15, 1 TD
  • Riley Davis       1-7
     

Chenango Forks receiving:  

  • Rob Story         2-37
  • LJ Watson         1-19, 1 TD

Preview Article(s) 

Chenango Forks backed solidly by Bronson, Luybli

Kevin Stevens
Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

Senior linebackers are leaders of a top-shelf defense for defending state champions

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Bronson doubles as fullback, Luybli as O-lineman.
  • Coach David Hogan labeled the two 'heart and soul' of defense.
  • Next for the Blue Devils is state quarterfinal against Utica Notre Dame.

Utica Notre Dame will be introduced Saturday to side-by-side disruptive forces well-known to football programs within Section 4.

Chenango Forks' Class C title defense will resume at noon Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse against the Jugglers, whose offensive task it will be to solve a defensive puzzle with a pair of senior linebackers the key pieces.

Ryan Bronson and Hunter Luybli are the cornerstones of a defense that has limited seven of 10 opponents to seven or fewer points, and which on Saturday defended Newark Valley right out of its comfort zone in a 42-21 triumph for the program's fifth sectional title over the last six years.

"I told them both before the game, if they play well we're going to win this game. And I absolutely believe that they played outstanding," Blue Devils coach David Hogan said of the pair's contributions against Newark Valley.

Bronson, 5-foot-8 and 190 pounds according to the roster, doubles as starting fullback. Luybli, 5-11 and 210, does his offensive work up front. Each was a first-team all-state selection last season, Bronson on defense and Luybli on offense.

"They are both vocal, but also their leadership comes through in the way they play," Hogan said. "They're physical and they're mental, they are the heart and soul of our defense, for sure.

"Ryan's probably a step faster, although Luybli's gotten a step faster since last year. Both are very, very tough-nosed kids. They're very similar, tough, tough cookies."

Offensive game plans hereabouts have been known to take into account the presence of Forks' linebackers, each ferocious in search of the ball carrier and each a sound finisher when arriving at that carrier.

Luybli summed up the pair's mission as follows:

"First thing I look for is right up the middle, heart of the line, we're going to stop that and then anything outside we're going to go out there. Pretty much anything inside the ends is ours. We spread them out, close in on them and that's what we do, what we've been doing for years.

"We're all over the place."

Indeed.

The Blue Devils were thrilled to have Allan-Michael Rios in the thick of the defense for last Saturday's game. An illness has cost him playing time this season, but the 6-3, 220-pounder appeared more than healthy given his work up front against the Cardinals.

"Let me tell you, it's great to have him back. We need him," Hogan said.

"He played very well Saturday. We were very careful with the way we used him because we don't want a major setback. Throughout the game, he was, 'I feel great, coach, feel great.' Great to have him back and it looks as if he'll be playing more moving forward."
 


Notre Dame football team facing defending state champs

Notre Dame High's football team doesn't mind being the underdog in Saturday's Class C regional final against defending state champion Chenango Forks.

Ron Moshier
Utica Observer Dispatch
 
Notre Dame High's football team has its Section III title.
 
Now, the road back to the Carrier Dome -- and a shot at a Class C state championship -- runs through Chenango Forks.
 
The Blue Devils are the defending state champs. They have won five Section IV titles in the past six years and 10 in the last 12, including five straight Class B titles from 2003-2007.
 
And only once in Chenango Forks' last 11 state tournament appearances have the Blue Devils lost a regional game to a Section III team.
 
On paper, none of that adds up to a Notre Dame victory Saturday afternoon, when the Jugglers play top-ranked Chenango Forks for a Central Region title at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
 
All that's done, however, is make playing the "underdog card" easy for first-year head coach Jake DerCola and his staff.
 
"New coach, new staff, everybody is picking against you. … We've used all of that," DerCola said. "Our guys have responded very well, too.
 
"We're the underdog, but we don't mind that, not at all. It doesn't matter if people are picking us or not. It's more like, 'Your backs are against the wall. Just make a statement. Let's go show them. Let's put Utica back on the map.'"
 
Leading that battle cry, of course, will be all-state quarterback Kevin Warmack, the senior co-captain who Sunday ran for two touchdowns, threw a touchdown pass, and caught a touchdown pass in Notre Dame's 32-
20 victory over previously-unbeaten Herkimer in the Section III finals at the Carrier Dome.
 
Warmack has rushed for 1,920 yards and 27 touchdowns and has thrown for 1,241 yards and 16 scores. He's also scored 30 touchdowns and 204 points.
 
"It's going to be a challenge," Warmack said of Saturday's matchup with Chenango Forks. "They're big, they're fast, and we're going to have to stop their running game. But we've been underdogs before and I have confidence in our team.
 
"We're not intimidated."
 
Running back Jack Heaton has added 423 yards on the ground, including a 73-yard touchdown in the win over Herkimer, and Warmack's favorite target, junior wideout Jerome Brabham, has 37 catches for 545 yards and seven touchdowns.
 
On Saturday, though, they will be facing a Chenango Forks defense anchored by all-state senior linebackers Hunter Luybli (5-11, 210) and Ryan Bronson (5-8, 190).
 
"They're aggressive and they fly all over the place," DerCola said. "We definitely have to get somebody on them. … You watch Chenango Forks on film, though, and I just don't think they have seen someone like Kevin yet.
 
"Somebody with his vision and his quickness is hard to emulate; I really don't know how you can do that."
 
The Jugglers, however, will be without senior defensive end and receiver Vinnie LoConti. He suffered a high ankle sprain and cracked tibia against Herkimer.
 
LoConti's season-ending injury leaves Notre Dame with only three senior starters ­ Warmack, Heaton and TE-DE Joe Sullivan, one of the Jugglers' top receivers and their sack leader on defense.
 
"LoConti will definitely be missed," DerCola said. "It's definitely going to be tough without him. We've watched film, though, and our guys are confident. I think it helps that we've been battle-tested. Chenango Forks has been in some blowouts and we've battled all season."
 
Notre Dame vs. Chenango Forks
 
Who: Section III champion Notre Dame (9-1) is ranked No. 5 in the state; Section IV champ Chenango Forks (9-1) is No. 1.
 
What: Class C Central Region championship/state quarterfinal.
 
Where: Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
 
When: Noon, Saturday.
 
Past: Notre Dame's only trip to the state playoffs ended with a 20-9 loss to Section IV's Delhi in 1999; Forks beat Section III's General Brown 35-18 last year, and went on to win a Class C state title with a 28-27 victory over Rye Neck.
 
Present: Notre Dame avenged a 28-24 regular-season to Herkimer with a 32-20 win over the Magicians in the Section III finals; Forks' only setback is a 20-7 nonleague loss to defending Class B state champion Maine-Endwell (winner of 48 straight games).
 
Future: Winner plays No. 2 LeRoy (10-0) or No. 3 Maple Grove (10-0) in a semifinal game at noon Saturday, Nov. 22, at Sahlen's Stadium in Rochester.
 

Chenango Forks 9-1 vs. Notre Dame Jugglers 9-1

Fred Miller
Hometown Sports

It is always a great feeling, when you win a sectional tournament and feel that you have accomplished one of your goals.

The Utica Notre Dame Jugglers now must move on to the State tournament. If they think Herkimer was tough, now they must face one of the most dominate programs in all of New York.

The Chenango Fork (C-F) Blue Devils, are the defending Class C state champions. The Blue Devils have won the state title three different times and have been in the state finals a total of seven times. Their only loss of the season was a 20-7 decision to number one ranked, Class B power, Maine-Endwell.

The Devils are a power running team, led by sophomore running back, L.J. Watson, and senior fullback, Ryan Bronson. The Blue Devil defense is also tough, giving up no more than 14 points a game this season, with the exception of their loss to Maine-Endwell.

Following his eight touchdown performance the week before, many wondered what QB, Kevin Warmack, had in his bag of tricks for the sectional final.

Warmack caught a 41 yard touchdown pass from Jerome Brabham, threw a 41 yard pass to Joe Sullivan and ran for two scores of 47 and 74 yards, respectively.

The Jugglers defense smothered the Herkimer rushing attack for most of the game.

Chenango Forks will look to establish the line of scrimmage and try to keep the ball away from Warmack. Notre Dame will, again, need to play nine men in the box, if they hope to slow down the Blue Devils.

If they can take advantage of the speed of Warmack and again play solid defense upfront, the Jugglers could pull out the upset.

If they allow C-F to dominate on the line of scrimmage, it could be a long day for Notre Dame.


Post-game Midweek Article(s):    

Fifth Quarter: 
Published Tuesdays
 

No Contest

The past was just that for Utica Notre Dame quarterback Kevin Warmack when it came to line up and have a go at Chenango Forks, which smacked Section 3's champions around the field in a 57-14 win.

A senior and three-season starter, Warmack was coming off a two-game stretch in which he'd rushed for 632 yards. In the first of those two he went for 387 and scored a Section 3 record-tying eight touchdowns.

Clearly, resistance provided was something far short of what the Blue Devils bring.

Warmack carried on the first play from scrimmage, and was felled after a 1-yard advancement by Ryan Bronson and Jack Sherwood. In fact, six of the Jugglers' first seven rushing plays were QB keepers, but defended to the tune of 2.8-per-rush average.

Warmack's first pass of the game went for a 1-yard loss, courtesy of the Devils' Trevor Borchardt. His second pass was intercepted by a diving L.J. Watson, and two plays later Watson scored Forks' second TD. It was an all-she-wrote 22-0 when Bronson recovered a muffed snap by Warmack and returned for a score in the final minute of the first quarter.

After rushing for just short of 200 yards per game through 10 weeks, Warmack was held to 74 by Forks. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils utilized a dozen carriers in a 399-yard effort.

"I feel like the first two drives when we were putting on some hard hits, I felt that they didn't want to play physical anymore," Watson said. "And that's what we are, a physical team."
 


 


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