Mistakes, stingy Owego defense lead to opening loss for Tornado
NORWICH – The script for John Martinson’s first game as head coach of Norwich was written beautifully on the opening drive, that is, until Owego made a sudden revision.
The Indians, who dropped a four-point loss to Norwich a year ago, avenged that loss here Friday night winning 21-7.
Parker Evans put the game away scoring on a two-yard run with 1:43 left in the contest to give Owego a two-touchdown lead.
“They had a good game plan going inside and outside, and we knew the Parker Evans kid was a good runner,” Martinson said. “Up front, offensively and defensively, they beat us up in the trenches. We have a lot of work to do.”
Owego made it a point to get the ball to Evans as many times as possible, but it was Evans’ timely defensive play that turned the game’s tide early.
Norwich took the opening kickoff, and in typical fashion, marched toward the goal line on a time-consuming drive. The Tornado racked up four first downs mixed power running with a timely first-down pass. Christian Hotaling barreled almost untouched for an 11-yard gainer for another first down, when, he was hit low by Evans. Evans popped the ball loose, and the Indians’ Dan Baileys recovered ending the threat.
The first miscue for NHS was one of five turnovers in the game. “Was it that many turnovers,” asked Owego coach Steve Virkler. “They were sticking it down our throats pretty good on the opening drive. Evans came up to make a big hit, and that gave us some momentum.”
Owego didn’t immediately convert the turnover into offensive points, but the fumble seemed to shake some sense and stability into its defense. After a three-and-out by the Indians’ offense, the turnover bug bit Norwich again.
A fumbled handoff on second-and-seven was recovered by Owego’s Devin Sherman. Owego moved into TD range, and completed a 59-yard scoring drive when Scott Larabee hit Mark Merritt on a five-yard fade pass into the left corner of the endzone.
“We did everything we wanted to do, especially the opening drive,” Martinson said. “We knew we could execute on offense, but you cannot put the ball on the floor that many times...we had many penalties on our part, and you cannot beat a team like Owego making that many errors.”
Norwich assembled its one and only scoring drive of the game going 82 yards in the final 1:41 of the first half. Using a shotgun spread formation, Norwich quarterback Casey Edwards picked apart the Owego defense connecting on big passes to Andrew Austin, Paddy Law, and Hotaling. Austin caught a 27-yard first-down pass with under 15 seconds left moving the ball to the Owego 22. After a five-yard motion penalty, Norwich saved one of its more spectacular offensive plays in team history for the last play of the half.
In what resembled a play drawn-in-the-dirt on the spot, Edwards had his linemen split near the left sideline, two receivers wide right, with just he and his center in the middle of the field. On the snap, Edwards scrambled left, nearly fell down avoiding an Owego lineman, then rolled right and threw ball on the run to Seth Thomsen in the endzone for the tying score with no time on the clock. Josh Favaloro’s extra-point tied the game, and head coach Martinson dashed off the field, the first to the locker room.
“We worked on that offensive package, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to show it tonight,” Martinson said. “The competitive side in me said, ‘you know what, the clock is on our side.’ We put Seth in there and told him to run deep. Casey made a great throw and we took the momentum into halftime.”
Norwich stuffed Owego’s offense on three plays to start the second half to keep the momentum going. After a short punt, Norwich had just 44 yards to cover for the go-ahead touchdown. Edwards hit Austin with a 14-yard first-down pass to move the chains, but the Owego defense immediately stiffened. Evans intercepted an Edwards pass at the goal line, and brought it back 52 yards. Four plays later, running back Joe Terenzi hit paydirt on a 35-yard scamper.
“I thought our defense did a tremendous job tonight,” Virkler said. “We talked at halftime about how the last score was a broken play, and they made a play out of it. To that point, I thought we had played pretty well defensively.”
Norwich’s four possessions in the second half yielded one punt and three turnovers, still, the Purple Tornado were within one score until Evans’ capping score.
“No doubt, our kids hung in there and fought,” Martinson said. “They’re extremely disappointed because they thought they were going to pull this one out. Again, we made too many mistakes.”
Norwich plays at Ithaca this coming Friday.
Football Summary
Score by quarters
Owego 0 7 7 7–21
Norwich 0 7 0 0–7
Scoring Summary
Second quarter
O: Mark Merritt 5 pass from Scott Larabee (Dave Barton kick), 8:40.
N: Seth Thomsen 27 pass from Casey Edwards. (Josh Favaloro kick), :00.
Third quarter
O: Joe Terenzi 35 run (Barton kick), 5:28
Fourth quarter
O: Parker Evans 2 run (Barton kick), 1:43.
Team statistics
O N
First downs 13 13
Rushes-yds 38-165 32-115
Passing yds 55 99
Comp-att-int 6-9-0 7-16-2
Punts-avg 3-28.7 2-33.0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-3
Penalties-yds 3-20 6-58
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (O) Parker Evans, 23-77; Joe Terenzi, 11-72; Clark Evans, 3-17; Scott Larabee, 1-(-1). (N) Mackay Hotaling, 9-40; Paddy Law, 6-38; Christian Hotaling, 6-27; Casey Edwards, 9-10; Tyler Hoffman, 1-1; Josh Favaloro, 1-(-1); Seth Thomsen, 1-0.
Passing: (O) Larabee, 6-8-0, 55 yds, TD.; P. Evans, 0-1-0, 0 yds. (N) C. Edwards, 7-16-2, 99 yds, TD.
Receiving: (O) P. Evans, 3-33; Dan Baileys, 1-14; Mark Merritt, 1-5; Clark Evans, 1-3.
The Indians, who dropped a four-point loss to Norwich a year ago, avenged that loss here Friday night winning 21-7.
Parker Evans put the game away scoring on a two-yard run with 1:43 left in the contest to give Owego a two-touchdown lead.
“They had a good game plan going inside and outside, and we knew the Parker Evans kid was a good runner,” Martinson said. “Up front, offensively and defensively, they beat us up in the trenches. We have a lot of work to do.”
Owego made it a point to get the ball to Evans as many times as possible, but it was Evans’ timely defensive play that turned the game’s tide early.
Norwich took the opening kickoff, and in typical fashion, marched toward the goal line on a time-consuming drive. The Tornado racked up four first downs mixed power running with a timely first-down pass. Christian Hotaling barreled almost untouched for an 11-yard gainer for another first down, when, he was hit low by Evans. Evans popped the ball loose, and the Indians’ Dan Baileys recovered ending the threat.
The first miscue for NHS was one of five turnovers in the game. “Was it that many turnovers,” asked Owego coach Steve Virkler. “They were sticking it down our throats pretty good on the opening drive. Evans came up to make a big hit, and that gave us some momentum.”
Owego didn’t immediately convert the turnover into offensive points, but the fumble seemed to shake some sense and stability into its defense. After a three-and-out by the Indians’ offense, the turnover bug bit Norwich again.
A fumbled handoff on second-and-seven was recovered by Owego’s Devin Sherman. Owego moved into TD range, and completed a 59-yard scoring drive when Scott Larabee hit Mark Merritt on a five-yard fade pass into the left corner of the endzone.
“We did everything we wanted to do, especially the opening drive,” Martinson said. “We knew we could execute on offense, but you cannot put the ball on the floor that many times...we had many penalties on our part, and you cannot beat a team like Owego making that many errors.”
Norwich assembled its one and only scoring drive of the game going 82 yards in the final 1:41 of the first half. Using a shotgun spread formation, Norwich quarterback Casey Edwards picked apart the Owego defense connecting on big passes to Andrew Austin, Paddy Law, and Hotaling. Austin caught a 27-yard first-down pass with under 15 seconds left moving the ball to the Owego 22. After a five-yard motion penalty, Norwich saved one of its more spectacular offensive plays in team history for the last play of the half.
In what resembled a play drawn-in-the-dirt on the spot, Edwards had his linemen split near the left sideline, two receivers wide right, with just he and his center in the middle of the field. On the snap, Edwards scrambled left, nearly fell down avoiding an Owego lineman, then rolled right and threw ball on the run to Seth Thomsen in the endzone for the tying score with no time on the clock. Josh Favaloro’s extra-point tied the game, and head coach Martinson dashed off the field, the first to the locker room.
“We worked on that offensive package, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to show it tonight,” Martinson said. “The competitive side in me said, ‘you know what, the clock is on our side.’ We put Seth in there and told him to run deep. Casey made a great throw and we took the momentum into halftime.”
Norwich stuffed Owego’s offense on three plays to start the second half to keep the momentum going. After a short punt, Norwich had just 44 yards to cover for the go-ahead touchdown. Edwards hit Austin with a 14-yard first-down pass to move the chains, but the Owego defense immediately stiffened. Evans intercepted an Edwards pass at the goal line, and brought it back 52 yards. Four plays later, running back Joe Terenzi hit paydirt on a 35-yard scamper.
“I thought our defense did a tremendous job tonight,” Virkler said. “We talked at halftime about how the last score was a broken play, and they made a play out of it. To that point, I thought we had played pretty well defensively.”
Norwich’s four possessions in the second half yielded one punt and three turnovers, still, the Purple Tornado were within one score until Evans’ capping score.
“No doubt, our kids hung in there and fought,” Martinson said. “They’re extremely disappointed because they thought they were going to pull this one out. Again, we made too many mistakes.”
Norwich plays at Ithaca this coming Friday.
Football Summary
Score by quarters
Owego 0 7 7 7–21
Norwich 0 7 0 0–7
Scoring Summary
Second quarter
O: Mark Merritt 5 pass from Scott Larabee (Dave Barton kick), 8:40.
N: Seth Thomsen 27 pass from Casey Edwards. (Josh Favaloro kick), :00.
Third quarter
O: Joe Terenzi 35 run (Barton kick), 5:28
Fourth quarter
O: Parker Evans 2 run (Barton kick), 1:43.
Team statistics
O N
First downs 13 13
Rushes-yds 38-165 32-115
Passing yds 55 99
Comp-att-int 6-9-0 7-16-2
Punts-avg 3-28.7 2-33.0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-3
Penalties-yds 3-20 6-58
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (O) Parker Evans, 23-77; Joe Terenzi, 11-72; Clark Evans, 3-17; Scott Larabee, 1-(-1). (N) Mackay Hotaling, 9-40; Paddy Law, 6-38; Christian Hotaling, 6-27; Casey Edwards, 9-10; Tyler Hoffman, 1-1; Josh Favaloro, 1-(-1); Seth Thomsen, 1-0.
Passing: (O) Larabee, 6-8-0, 55 yds, TD.; P. Evans, 0-1-0, 0 yds. (N) C. Edwards, 7-16-2, 99 yds, TD.
Receiving: (O) P. Evans, 3-33; Dan Baileys, 1-14; Mark Merritt, 1-5; Clark Evans, 1-3.
dived wound factual legitimately delightful goodness fit rat some lopsidedly far when.
Slung alongside jeepers hypnotic legitimately some iguana this agreeably triumphant pointedly far
jeepers unscrupulous anteater attentive noiseless put less greyhound prior stiff ferret unbearably cracked oh.
So sparing more goose caribou wailed went conveniently burned the the the and that save that adroit gosh and sparing armadillo grew some overtook that magnificently that
Circuitous gull and messily squirrel on that banally assenting nobly some much rakishly goodness that the darn abject hello left because unaccountably spluttered unlike a aurally since contritely thanks