Norwich changed coaches, but kept the continuity with its long-established winning tradition. Greene, meanwhile, laid another brick on the foundation of the most successful local football team over the past five seasons.
The Purple Tornado and Trojans combine for 14 of our 26 2009 Chenango County All-Stars as we unveil the best gridders from this past season.
Norwich stumbled out of the blocks losing its first three games, and was on the verge of dropping a fourth in its division opener against Windsor. A big stop near its own goal line prevented the Black Knights from scoring what would likely be the winning touchdown. Norwich went on to win in overtime, won five straight games, was unbeaten in division play, and the lone division champion among our six County teams.
“I couldn’t be more happy with the way things turned out,” said Norwich first-year head coach John Martinson, who served as an assistant coach under John Pluta for two decades before taking over the top position this season. “We had a rough start, but we learned what we needed to do to get wins.”
Norwich fell back on a strong running game and a stingy defense to win a quintet of games. Norwich’s starting backfield of Mackay Hotaling, Christian Hotaling, and Seth Thomsen all made our all-star group. Also on the team is returning all-star Andrew Austin, Alex Williams, Paddy Law, Mike Reilly, and Casey Edwards.
Greene won seven games for the third time in four seasons; however, its string of three straight playoff appearances was snapped. Nonetheless, Greene had the top scoring offense, gave up the least points, it averaged the most yards per game, and gave up the fewest yards per game. Not a bad result for a team that was perhaps as good as its previous playoff teams. “The biggest thing about this group of players is that they went 16-3 over the past two seasons, and you need to celebrate your successes,” said Greene coach Tim Paske. “That’s the best two-year stretch we’ve ever had here at Greene and something to be proud of. Maybe the expectations have gotten a lot higher. People were pretty disappointed, but if you look at it, we won seven games. We have set the bar higher for all future teams.”
Bainbridge-Guilford was Chenango County’s only other playoff representative, and finished with a 6-3 season on the heels of a 5-4 playoff team a year ago. It’s 28-14 loss to eventual sectional champion Groton was much closer than the final score indicates, and was the toughest anyone played Groton during the Indians’ 10-game winning streak. “With the loss of Dustin Ross (1,000-yard rusher), I think a lot of people thought we might be down this year,” said B-G coach Tim Mattingly. “I think we surprised some teams. We showed our physical brand of football, and with the athletes we had, our team was better this year than last year.”
Oxford was in the playoff hunt until a week eight loss to Bainbridge-Guilford. Back-to-back losses at the end of the season prevented the Blackhawks from snapping a three-year winless streak. Still, Oxford had the area’s top passer in junior John Wonka, and senior Jeremy Nelson led the area in receiving yards.
“We didn’t meet all of our goals as a team, but we were relevant this season,” said Oxford mentor Mike Chrystie, referencing his team’s playoff bid. “This year’s group, more than other teams, was disappointed to not make the playoffs. With that comes higher expectations. You need higher expectations instead of settling for a .500 record. We want to win division titles and go to the playoffs.”
Sherburne-Earlville, under first-year coach Mike Jasper, matched its 3-6 record of a year ago. Unlike the previous seasons when it faded down the stretch, the Marauders won two of their last three games, the last a non-league victory over Morrisville-Eaton, who was a Section III playoff team.
“The good thing is we’ll have a lot of seniors back next year and we’ll have returning players at all of the skill positions,” Jasper said. “We’ll have better experience all-around, and we have to transition that into doing the right things on the field.”
Unadilla Valley-Edmeston finished with its second straight winless season, although fortunes may change quickly for the Storm, who will welcome players from a strong junior varsity team this past season that lost just one game.
On today’s pages, we invite you to grab a turkey leg, and peruse our 2009 high school all-star team.