All of the offseason work, the monotonous preseason drills, the running, the sweating, the aches and pains, and the anticipation of playing the first game of the season will be rewarded with the opening of the 2010 football season tonight.
All six of Chenango County’s football teams kick off under the lights, but had their initial taste of competition a weekend ago in controlled scrimmages against other area clubs.
Greene invited five other schools to participate on its field turf, the largest such scrimmage that we heard about. Norwich, Chenango Valley, and Deposit-Hancock were three of the other five teams on hand, said Greene coach Tim Paske, who gave his assessment of the participants
Norwich: “Norwich is big up front as usual, they’re physical, and come and hit you. I saw a lot of good things with them, and their kids believe in their system. They’re going to be tough.”
Chenango Valley: “They had a few kids injured, but they have some talent and size up front...(their success) may depend on getting the ball to the right people.”
Deposit-Hancock: “They have a lot of players and athletes to pick from, and Terry Raymond (D-H head coach) said he is doing a lot more teaching, especially to the Hancock kids learning a new system. By the end of the season, they will be a force to be reckoned with.”
At Oxford, head coach Mike Chrystie takes his team to an annual scrimmage where the Blackhawks see the likes of Chenango Forks, Vestal, and Delhi. One might think Oxford is the proverbial lamb being sent to the slaughter facing two significantly larger schools with winning programs (Forks, Vestal), and a Delhi team that is typically among the best in Class D.
“Some people might look at that scrimmage as a mismatch for us,” Chrystie said. “I’d like to think it’s a competitive scrimmage, and it prepares us for a successful season.”
Chrystie said he thought his team performed “pretty good,” and the big thing is that his team came away injury-free.
Sherburne-Earlville coach, Mike Jasper, said his team had perhaps its best overall scrimmage in the five years he has been on the coaching staff. The scrimmage included Section IV teams UV-Edmeston, Bainbridge-Guilford, and Section III’s Morrisville-Eaton.
“I felt we did some really good things on offense and defense,” Jasper said of the scrimmage. “We were able to score multiple times on Morrisville and UV. We struggled a little bit against B-G, but we were able to throw it well. It was encouraging because we weren’t running our entire offense.”
Tim Mattingly, B-G’s head coach, came away from that same scrimmage with positive thoughts as well. “I was satisfied with the way it went, and we executed better than I thought we would,” Mattingly said.
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Just a quick note: I will be phoning Stan Foulds, first-year head coach of UV-Edmeston, quite a bit over the next two months. Not once will I be disappointed waiting for Mr. Foulds to answer. Foulds has perhaps the best ringback tone I have ever heard. It’s a verse from Boston’s “Foreplay/Long Time” off the group’s seminal debut album released in 1976. Growing up, Boston was one of my favorite bands, and that ringback tone brings back fond memories.

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Many sports enthusiasts point to this weekend as their favorite time of the sports season. If you’re not able to check out some of the local games, head to WCDO, 100.9 FM Friday night and Saturday afternoon. A good source reported to us that one-time local broadcaster, Harry Graves, is returning to the booth. The local football radio schedule for Friday: Whitney Point at Norwich, 6:50 p.m., WCHN, 970 AM; B-G at Unadilla Valley-Edmeston, 6:45 p.m., WCDO, 100.9 FM; Oneonta at Greene, 6:50 p.m., WZOZ, 103.1 FM; Delhi at Unatego, 6:45 p.m., WDHI, 100.3 FM; and Corning at Owego, 6:45 p.m., WEBO, 107.9 FM/1330 AM.
For Saturday: Sidney at Walton, 1:15 p.m., WCDO 100.9 FM/1490 AM and WDLA, 92.1 FM/1270 AM.

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For a look at our five local games, please read on:



Whitney Point at Norwich, Friday, 7 p.m.
Norwich hasn’t seen the Golden Eagles since the 2004 season when the Tornado reached the Section IV, Class B title game only to lose to eventual state champion Chenango Forks, 15-6.
Norwich blew out the Golden Eagles, 43-7, and through the intermittent times the two have played over the past 20-plus years, NHS has typically dominated the rivalry.
Whitney Point, now a Class C school, moved the program in the right direction with a 6-3 record. The lone defeats were to Chenango Forks, Walton, and Greene. The first two were playoff teams, and the Trojans were a playoff type of team.
Early on, the tone of the game will be set by each team’s offensive and defensive fronts. Norwich appears to be particularly deep on the line with as many as eight or nine guys rotating onto the field. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles graduated a number of key players off of last year’s team, some of those were key skill position players.

Oneonta at Greene, Friday, 7 p.m.
Greene’s Paske specifically requested to have his defense play against Norwich’s offense in last weekend’s scrimmage. Oneonta’s offense is similar to the Tornado’s, and it was a good opportunity for Paske’s team to test itself. “Oneonta is a tough, physical team that wants to hit you,” Paske said. “I think they’ll want to set the tone with their running game and see three yards and a cloud of dust.”
Bryce Wooden, is the top returning rusher for the Yellowjackets’ running game, and 6-foot-4 quarterback Keegan Trombley runs the offense for head coach Adam Hoover.
Playing on the field turf, it’s more likely fans will see a cloud of rubber pellets than dust. Nevertheless, Paske is excited to face a team coming off a Class B playoff appearance. “The good thing is that it is a non-league game, and it will tell us where we’re at right off the bat,” he said.

Newfield at Oxford, Friday, 7 p.m.
Oxford clashes with Newfield in a non-division opening game tonight, and it’s a renewal of a rivalry that garnered a lot of heat in the early part of the decade.
A lot has changed over the past few years as each program taking a step back from the days when competing for a sectional title was the norm.
“We got a look at their scrimmage on tape, and they will give you a lot of different looks on offense,” Chrystie said, who noted that the Trojans may run an option, a shotgun offense or even simple smash-mouth football. “We have to be prepared for a lot of different things.”
Most of Oxford’s returning experience comes from the skill positions, and that should afford the Blackhawks well when it has scoring opportunities.

Bainbridge-Guilford at Unadilla Valley-Edmeston, Friday, 7 p.m.
The Storm bring an 18-game losing streak into tonight’s home game against the Bobcats. B-G is responsible for one of those setbacks, an opening-game defeat in 2008.
Tonight is the first time in two years that the two clubs have officially played, but it was just a weekend ago that both clubs were at the same scrimmage. “They have some big kids, a new coach, and I’m sure they’ll have a lot of enthusiasm playing the first game at home,” said B-G coach Tim Mattingly.
Mattingly hopes to bring his team back to the playoffs this year, and the Bobcats can set the tone for the season tonight. “If our offensive and defensive lines come together, I think we’ll do well,” Mattingly said.

Sherburne-Earlville at Canastota, Friday, 7 p.m.
The Marauders face a team that not only made the playoffs last season in Section III, but won its first-round playoff game. S-E faced Canastota last year in the midst of a four-game losing streak, and lost, 13-7. The year before, the decision went the Raiders’ way, 13-6.
“We’ve played them tight the last two years, and have similar squads this year,” Jasper said. “I expect another tight game. With our experience coming back from last year, I hope we can keep the margin in our favor.”