Game 6 - 2016 Chenango Forks Varsity Football

2016 Chenango Forks Varsity Football

Game 6 vs Windsor

The Blue Devils defeat Windsor 41-20!
LJ Watson breaks the school record with 307 yards rushing!

Articles courtesy of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

Website editor note - last week in the game vs Susquehanna Valley LJ Watson tied a CF record with 5 TDs in one game (ran for four TDs, caught one pass for a TD). He now shares the CF record with Rick Jenks who had 5 rushing TDs vs Newark Valley in 1970.

In that very same 1970 game vs Newark Valley, Rick Jenks set the school record with 274 yards rushing. That record LJ broke yesterday vs Windsor with 307 yards.

Superiority up front leads Forks over Windsor

- Rob Centorani , rcentorani@pressconnects.com

The Hogan Bowl was elementary. Watson saw to that.

Chenango Forks senior L.J. Watson cut, juked, spun, sped and powered his way to a 307-yard rushing total and three touchdowns as the host Blue Devils defeated Windsor, 41-20, Saturday in a Section 4 Football Conference Division IV game.

While both sides had a Hogan calling the shots, only one had Watson and only one dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage.

Windsor senior Nate Fendick accurately summarized what transpired on Forks' turf as he left the field.

"They're grown men," he said. "They're not kids."

Even as the scoreboard revealed a six-point spread between the teams at halftime, eyes and numbers told a far different story. The Black Knights had negative-9 yards rushing over the first two quarters while Forks rolled up 207 on the ground.

And the moment Watson burst through a hole on the right side and dashed 57 yards down the sideline for a touchdown on the first play of the third quarter, the outcome seemed a mere formality.

Before the quarter concluded, the 6-0 Blue Devils scored three more touchdowns, including a pretty 71-yarder by Watson, and held a 41-7 lead.

As for that 451-42 disparity in rushing yards … well, Watson had a lot to do with it, but so too did the Blue Devils' linemen on both sides.

Offensively, Forks runners often made it through the first wave of defenders with little-to-no contact. Defensively, the Blue Devils shut down Windsor's ground game, turning the Black Knights into a one-dimensional unit.

Those doing the grunt work Ryan Ehrets, Brandin Paulhamus, Dustin Gould, Joe Tiernan and Joey Aldrich opened lanes for Watson & Co., and Ehrets, Paulhamus and Tiernan also spearheaded a defense that controlled things in the middle.

"(Our ability to control the line) definitely made a big difference, especially in the second half," Ehrets said. "It definitely allows our backs get through the holes and defensively, it allows our linebackers to make plays."

Through 24 minutes of game clock, the Black Knights kept things interesting.

Watson ripped off two spectacular runs on Forks' 59-yard scoring drive on its opening possession. On the first, he rolled over a Windsor defender, got back to his feet and continued on for a 21-yard gain. One play later, he did his best impression of a top, spinning off two defenders en route to a 15-yard scoring run off the right side. Bryant LaMere's extra point made it 7-0 with 6:42 left in the first quarter.

Windsor (4-2, 0-2) answered with a wild 16-play drive that tied it. Eight rushes netted 2 yards, but senior quarterback Cory Hagerman went 5-for-8 for 65 yards. On fourth-and-8, Hagerman hit Jordan Haven near the right sideline for 11 yards. Then on third-and-17, Hagerman lofted a pass to the right side. Kieran Horton out-jumped a Forks defender for a 30-yard gain to the 5.

Finally, on fourth-and-goal from the 6, Hagerman rolled right, found some daylight along the right sideline and rammed his 235-pound frame into the end zone. Horton's PAT knotted the score with 2:37 left in the quarter.

A 38-yard touchdown run by Jeremiah Allen midway through the second quarter put the Blue Devils ahead for keeps. Allen broke one tackle at the line, another about 8 yards downfield and continued into the end zone to make it 13-7.

Then came that avalanche of 28 third-quarter points.

Watson's 57-yarder came on a quick-hitter off the right side.

"When I saw the hole, I just kind of turned on the burners," he said. "When we have a play like that, we get energized and the other team just gets let down."

Windsor's ensuing drive stalled at Forks' 39. Eight running plays later, the Blue Devils led 27-7. Watson blew through the middle for a 24-yard gain to the Black Knights' 2 and one play later, Tim McDonald scored from the 1.

An interception by Kris Borelli ended Windsor's next drive.

The following play? Vintage Watson.

He hopped through a hole on the right side, made a sharp cut left, made another cut to the left to elude a defender and sprinted down the left sideline on a 71-yard touchdown that probably covered 120 in terms of yards traveled.

"L.J. is L.J.," said Windsor coach Tim Hogan, younger brother of Forks coach Dave Hogan. "He's tough to stop no matter where he is. He can stop on a dime and he's back to full speed in a millisecond. How are you going to stop that?"

Watson's final carry of the day resulted in a 30-yard gain down the right sideline. Allen scored from 5 yards on the next play and Forks' cushion was 41-7 heading to the fourth quarter.

Hagerman, who threw for 192 yards, scored on a pair 1-yard runs in the final quarter, long after most of Forks' starters departed. Five of Hagerman's completions went to Trevor Kimble and covered 102 yards.

"When you win the game up front, typically you're going to win the game," said Dave Hogan, who embraced his brother at midfield following the game. "I felt we certainly did that today."

	01	02	03	04		Tot
Chenango Forks	7	6	28	0	-	41
Windsor	7	0	0	13	-	20

CF - LJ Watson 15y run (Bryant LaMere kick)

W - Cory Hagerman 6y run (Kieran Horton kick)

CF - Jeremiah Allen 38y run (LaMere kick failed)

CF - Watson 57y run (LaMere kick)

CF - Tim McDonald 1y run (LaMere kick)

CF - Watson 71y run (LaMere kick)

CF - Allen 5y run (LaMere kick)

W - Hagerman 1y run (run failed

W - Hagerman 1y run (Horton kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

	Windsor	CF
First Downs	11	16
Rushes-Yards	32-42	47-451
Passing Yards	192	0
Comp-Att-Int	11-27-1	0-1-0
Total Offense	43-234	48-451
Punts-Ave yards	4-31	0-0
Fumbles-Lost	1-0	0-0
Penalties-Yards	2-15	7-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Windsor rushing

Cory Hagerman 20-25, 3 TDs
Dante Kimbrough 10-11
Carmine Spano 1-4
Jordan Haven 1-2

Chenango Forks rushing

LJ Watson 20-307, 3 TDs

Tim McDonald 16-75, 1 TD

Jeremiah Allen 5-54, 2 TDs

Sean Wiser 2-7

Dan Crowningshield 1-5

Seth Bush 2-3

Nick Boyle 1-0

Windsor passing

Cory Hagerman 11-for-27, 192y, 0 TD, 1 int

Chenango Forks passing

Cody Bogue 0-for-1, 0y, 0 TD, 0 int

Windsor receiving

Trevor Kimble 5-102
Jordan Haven 4-44
Kieran Horton 1-30
Nate Fendick 1-14

Chenango Forks receiving:

none

JV Score: CF 22, Windsor 6

Preview Article(s)

- Staff report, Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin

Hogan Bowl

Windsor will play one of its biggest games in recent memory when it travels to unbeaten Chenango Forks at 1:30 p.m. Saturday for a Division IV game.

The 4-1 Black Knights are coached by Tim Hogan and David Hogan coaches the Blue Devils. Tim and David are Windsor graduates and brothers.

“We’re going to enjoy this one and be ready to go,” Tim Hogan said after Friday’s win over U-E. “It’s Windsor versus Forks, not Dave vs. Tim, that’s the way we take it.”

In terms of standings, it’s a huge game for the Black Knights. Windsor’s lone loss this season came in a 14-11 Division IV setback to Norwich in Week 3. Should Windsor lose this week, it would drop to 0-2 in division.

“Forks is an amazing team, first in the state,” Hagerman said of squad that won Class C state titles the past three seasons. “We just have to have a great week of practice.”

Windsor (4-1) at Chenango Forks (5-0), 1:30: On this side, a Windsor squad that has averaged a shade over 58 points per victory this season. And over there, a group of Blue Devils that has permitted a total of 45 this season.

Forks has defeated Windsor 11 consecutive times, though the programs last met five seasons ago. This marks the fourth brotherly matchup of head coaches, Forks’ David against kid brother Tim. …

Post-game Midweek Article(s):

Fifth Quarter: (published Tuesdays)
- Kevin Stevens, kstevens@pressconnects.com @PSBKevin

Forks’ lines top notch

Blocking and tackling, coaches always say how important they are to football.

When evaluating Chenango Forks’ 41-20 victory over Windsor, Black Knights coach Tim Hogan said: “They have the best line on offense and the best line on defense I’ve seen in the whole area. They controlled the line of scrimmage.”

Of the Blue Devils’ tackling, Windsor’s coach added: “(Windsor’s) Dante Kimbrough can break a tackle. You don’t break tackles on them. They tackle better than any team in the section as well. That’s probably why they’ve won three (Class C state championships) in a row. You get hit at the line of scrimmage, you’re tackled at the line of scrimmage.”

Even as the Black Knights drove 67 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, four of their eight running plays went for negative yardage. Tiernen Joseph dropped Kimbrough for a 2-yard loss, Kris Borelli came up to fell Kimbrough for a 4-yard loss on a sweep, Tim McDonald sacked Cory Hagerman for a 3-yard loss and Jeremiah Allen tackled Kimbrough a yard behind the line.

By the second half, Windsor pretty much gave up on its running game.

“We talked about trying to make them one-dimensional and we did,” Forks coach Dave Hogan said. “Those six to seven guys up front did a heck of a job today. When we pretty much knew they were going to throw the ball that makes it easier.”

They didn’t count

Chenango Forks’ L.J. Watson and Binghamton’s Devin Young are two of the most exciting players in Section 4.

When either gets in the open field, those chasing don’t have much of a chance. Both players proved that on touchdown plays that didn’t count this past weekend.

Watson, who gained a school-record 307 yards on 20 carries against Windsor, reached the end zone on consecutive plays in the second quarter only to have both called back by penalties. On second-and-20 from Windsor’s 39, Watson ran a wheel route to the left side. As he looked for the ball, Watson drifted out of bounds, but then made a nice adjustment in front of a Windsor defender, caught the ball with both feet inbound and sprinted the final 20 yards into the end zone. Once a receiver steps out of bounds, he cannot be the first person to touch the ball.

The next play, on second-and-35, Watson found daylight off the right side and zipped 54 yards for an apparent touchdown, but a holding penalty brought it back.

On Friday night at Binghamton, Young was held in check offensively by Horseheads during the Patriots’ 28-0 win. Young finished with one catch for 1 yard and ran three times for 22 yards.

On the defensive side, Young matched up often with the Blue Raiders’ Andrew Clark, who made eight catches for 61 yards. But Young recovered a fumble, forced a fumble and intercepted a pass. On the interception, HH tried to throw deep to Clark along the left sideline. Young had perfect coverage and intercepted it at Binghamton’s 12. The speedy Young then started up field. He made it all the way to the other sideline, eluding numerous defenders on the way to an 88-yard return called back by an illegal block.

“They did a nice job with (Clark), especially on the deep ball,” Blue Raiders coach Kevin Hillman said.