Grid Forecast: Greene, Oxford vie for playoff spots

In the one-game-at-a-time approach that coaches like to impart on their players, the game this week for local gridders Oxford and Greene means everything.
The Blackhawks and Trojans, who played to a 20-15 final won the Greene to start this season, have playoff bids on the line.
Oxford has the tougher road, and they head to Delhi Saturday with the loser playing a meaningless non-league game in week nine, while the winner will face Candor in the Class D semifinals. “We’ve been pretty loose and haven’t shown any nerves,” said Oxford coach John Curtis of his team’s mindset. “We’ve been pretty loose all year, but we’ve been tough in the games.”
Greene, meanwhile, faces a Seton Catholic Central team that is off back-to-back losses. As things stand right now, a victory for the favored Trojans would vault them into a Class C semifinal next week against Division V champion Lansing. Only a loss combined with a Unatego upset of unbeaten Sidney would keep Greene from its first playoff appearance since 2000. “We haven’t been there in a while, and the kids are excited to be playing at Alumni Field (in Binghamton) this weekend,” said Greene coach Jeff Paske. “If we win this week, we get to go back and play there again.”
Other than those two matchups, Norwich plays at Oneonta tonight, S-E faces Jordan-Elbridge, and Walton hosts B-G Saturday. UV-Edmeston has a bye. Please read on for capsules of this week’s games:

Greene (6-1) at Seton Catholic Central (3-4), Saturday, 7 p.m. at Binghamton Alumni Stadium
For the second time in three weeks, Greene faces a top-five passer in Section IV. Evan Tripicco pilots the Saints’ offense and has completed 50 percent of his passes for 736 yards and six scores. Shane O’Neil leads the receiving corps with 19 catches for 229, and Chris Perry has a team-high 495 yards rushing. “Trippico is a solid quarterback who delivers the ball well when he sets his feet,” Paske said. “We want to put pressure on him, and we just need to read our keys. Offensively, as long as we execute, we should be fine.”
Greene blanked the Saints last year at home and won at Alumni Field two years ago in the rain, 12-6.

Oxford (5-2) at Delhi (5-2), Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
Delhi presents perhaps the best one-two backfield punch in Section IV with Nate Rockefeller and Brenton Hood combining for 1,429 yards, 14 rushing TDs and a near eight-yard-a-carry average. James Card is no slouch as the third back with nearly 400 yards on the ground and five touchdowns. “We’ve got to play some good defense, and I’m pretty sure Coach Kelly (Dave) will run his top two guys most of the time,” Curtis said. “They will probably get their share of yards, but we want to limit their attempts and hold them under 200 yards.”
Oxford has gotten a spark from Scott Shackelton, who has shown a nose for the goal with 17 rushing touchdowns and over 600 yards. Quarterback Steve Locke is eighth in total passing yards among Section IV quarterbacks with 669 yards, five touchdowns and a 52 percent completion rate.

Sherburne-Earlville (0-7) at Jordan-Elbridge (1-6), Friday, 7 p.m.
Sherburne-Earlville continues to make little strides, although it has yet to pick up a win in seven contests. Against this week’s foe, head coach Mick James expects J-E to employ some “razzle-dazzle.”
“They do a lot of trick plays and used a lot of different formations,” James said. “They have a pretty good fullback and tailback.”
The Marauders, James said, have shown a new level of confidence this week as they look to build for next season. “We’re developing more weapons each week, and we want to try and make them defend the whole field,” he said.

Norwich (3-4) at Oneonta (3-4), Friday, 7 p.m.
Norwich has dominated this longtime series of late including a 24-0 shutout win a year ago and a 55-12 thrashing of the Yellowjackets two seasons ago when the Tornado advanced to their third straight Class B title game. While playoffs are not at stake this season, a winning season is.
The Yellowjackets halted a three-game losing streak beating Sus Valley a week ago. During the losing skein, Oneonta was shutout twice and scored just one touchdown over 12 quarters. For the season, Oneonta is tied for 10th in scoring offense among 12 Class B schools in Section IV. Mike Seroka has a team-high 433 yards rushing and four scores, while quarterback Brandon Southard has thrown for 277 yards and three touchdowns.
The ‘Jackets are led by a third generation of Hoovers in first-year coach Adam Hoover. He is the son of Walton mentor Jim Hoover, Section IV’s all-time winningest coach, and grandson of the late Dick Hoover, the Section IV hall of fame coach who guided Vestal to prominence.
Norwich suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season in a shutout loss to Chenango Forks.

Walton (5-2) at B-G (5-2), Friday, 7 p.m.
Since an opening loss to Unatego when the Spartans ran circles around the Warriors, Walton has looked like its traditionally-tough teams of old. Only a last-second loss to Sidney has interrupted Walton’s slew of victories in Class D play, and a win over Delhi was its most impressive to date.
“Walton has made some adjustments since that game with Unatego, and they’re playing great football right now,” said B-G coach Tim Mattingly.
After losing starting quarterback Patrick O’Brien for the season with a broken leg, the Walton machine has churned ahead with no discernible drop-off behind backup signal-caller Sean Fisher.
Fisher has run the deceptive offense to near perfection, and he is buoyed by veteran running backs Richard Fletcher and Casey Killian. “Even though we’re not in the playoff mix, the kids are excited and we expect a big crowd,” Mattingly said. “Defensively, we expect them to come at us 100 miles per hour. We have to try and withstand that and not get overwhelmed.”

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