After a one-year absence, the Route 12 rivalry returns tonight at 7 p.m.. Second-year Oxford coach Mike Chrystie had his share of battles against Greene between the lines, but this is his first as a mentor on the sidelines.
Greene coach Tim Paske sports a 2-2 mark against Oxford over his first five years, and other than a 12-point win over the Blackhawks in his rookie campaign, every contest has gone to the wire. “The two towns are only 13 miles apart, and the kids on each team see each other quite a bit through the year,” Paske said. “It’s always good to compete against a close neighbor, and this rivalry has a lot of history. Fathers used to play in the game, and now their sons are playing in it.”
Paske eyes this as step one up the ladder toward the goal of making the postseason. He has a wealth of experience returning, and plenty of new faces with promising potential. At last weekend’s scrimmage, the Trojans more than held their own, and in most cases got the better of the opposition.
“We just want to get off the ball tonight and execute,” Paske said in summing up the game’s keys.
Chrystie is long on skill position players, but lacking the veteran experience on either side of the ball. In the Blackhawks’ rugged four-way scrimmage against Chenango Forks, Vestal, and Delhi, Chrystie felt his team made enough good plays to be optimistic. “We didn’t exactly light it up, be we came away healthy and executed some good things,” he said. “Any time you can play well in a scrimmage like that, it usually works out well when you get to the division.”
Plenty of unknowns also take front and center for Chrystie, whose abundance of young talent will strap it up under the lights at Greene for their first varsity game. “When you have a young team that works hard, you don’t know what you’ll get until you line up and play,” Chrystie said. “It all starts up front. We have great skill guys, and skill players always get the glory when the five men up front are doing their job.”

Cazenovia (0-0) at Sherburne-Earlville (0-0), Saturday, 7 p.m.
In the court of off-field analysis, one would have to quickly conclude that this Section III, Class C division opener should not be close. In the last two meetings, Cazenovia has put up over 100 points on the Marauders’ defense en route to back-to-back Class B titles. The only losses for the Lakers in those two title years came in the state playoffs, while S-E has just two combined wins in that same time frame.
Still, anything can happen on the football field. In fact, S-E head coach Mickey James is counting on that. “We have a lot of ways to attack, and we’re a much more well-rounded offense,” James said. “They have a good quarterback and good tailback that we have to stop. If we don’t, they’ll put points on the board. But they’re beatable, and so are we. We expect to come in and win, that goes without saying.”
The Marauders lost 1,000-yard back Billy Northey, who is now playing at Utica College. In his place are a bevy of running backs and receivers along with incumbent quarterback Logan Klockowski. “I think Cazenovia probably expects to come in here and win,” James said. “I think the teams from our scrimmage thought the same thing, and they got a rude awakening.”

UV-Edmeston (0-0) at B-G (0-0), Friday, 7 p.m.
Bainbridge-Guilford poured in on in the second half of an opening win over the Storm a year ago. It is a result UV-E intends to reverse. “We thought we were better than what the final score (32-14) was last year,” said Storm coach Jack Loeffler. “The kids are looking to this game as much as any we play.”
The Bobcats’ lightning-quick tailback, Dustin Ross, rushed for over 100 yards and two TDs last year putting him on a course to break 1,000 yards. Ross did not appear in last week’s scrimmage, but is ready to go, said Bobcats coach Tim Mattingly. Mattingly said a lot of questions on the offensive line were answered, and he believes his team’s tenacious nature and quickness will combat UV-E’s superior size. “We expect them to run right at us, and we’re ready for that,” Mattingly said.
B-G has won the last three meetings between the two schools by a combined score of 102-32.

Owego (0-0) at Norwich (0-0), Friday, 7 p.m.
Norwich plays last year’s Class B, Division IV playoff teams in weeks one and two, and starts with an Owego team that returns last year’s leading rusher, Parker Evans, and one of the more dangerous receivers in the section last season, Harley Edwards. Week two features Division II champion Waverly, so the Tornado will clearly not ease into the season with any breathers. “I’d just as soon play all league games instead of breaking up the divisions,” said Norwich coach John Pluta. “This way, we’ll know right off the bat where we stand.”
Pluta came away from the scrimmage pleased that a few more I’s were dotted and T’s crossed. He had some concerns about timing and execution that appear to be rectified. “We wanted to work on the trouble spots, and we’re pretty pleased that we seemed to work that out,” he said.
Norwich did not get the opportunity to play Owego last year, and hasn’t faced the Indians since a 14-7 loss in 2005. Pluta did take in more than one Owego game a year ago, and also worked with Indians head coach Steve Virkler at the Governor’s Bowl this past season. “He does one of the better jobs in the section, and they are usually a physical team,” Pluta said.