NEW BERLIN – For all those who doubted the improvement of Unadilla Valley-Edmeston’s football team this season, here’s the summary of the 2010 team: The Storm are the real deal.
UV-E shook off a fumble on the one-foot line as it was going in for a score in the second quarter, stopped the Trojans on a first-and-goal from the 10 after a blocked punt, and stopped Greene’s last-ditch drive fto pick up its first-ever win over Greene, 14-7, Friday night before a large home crowd.
The win was the third straight for UV-E, and the first in Class C division play. “What’s it been, 15 years?” said UV-Edmeston first-year coach Stan Foulds of the drought against Greene. “Nobody thought we could do this. I don’t think we got the respect especially after they beat us (61-0) last year. They thought Greene would just run away with it.”
The first indicator this was a different scenario than last year was on the Trojans’ opening drive. Greene, who came into the game averaging over 300 yards rushing per game, moved for three straight first downs, and seemed destined to put points on the board. The drive stalled, though, at the UV-E 29 after two incomplete passes, a fumble that lost a yard, and a stuff of a run.
The Storm embarked on a methodical 11-play drive that went 70 yards and two feet. Zak Ruffles nearly hit the endzone pylon on a 19-yard run inside the Greene one. On the next play, though, a mix-up in the handoff exchange led to a fumble recovery by the Trojans.
UV-E threatened late in the first half when Brandon Miles connected with Ruffles on a 50-yard pass over the middle to the Greene 13. Two plays later, another mix-up on a pass play led to an interception by Greene’s Dan Treadwell at the two.
Early in the second half, UV-E junior Zach Montgomery had an all-world highlight reel series of plays in less than two minutes’ time that led to a pair of Storm touchdowns.
Montgomery kicked off to the Trojans in the second half, and the ball landed short between the Greene return man, and just behind the blocking wall. The ball was never handled cleanly, and Montgomery, covering on the kickoff, pounced on the loose ball at the 24. Two plays later, Miles threw a high ball to Montgomery in the endzone. Montgomery outjumped Treadwell juggling the ball for an instant, then pulling it in for the first score.
The Trojans mishandled the next kickoff as well, and were pinned at their own five yard line. After Kurt Shear was stopped for a one-yard loss, the Trojans attempted an outside handoff to Jeff Carlin. Carlin never had a handle on the ball, and it bounced around in the endzone. On the spot was Montgomery to recover the ball for a touchdown. Ruffles converted his second straight point-after kick giving the Storm a 14-0.
Montgomery wasn’t done just yet.
Montgomery squibbed a kickoff that caromed off a Trojans player, and Montgomery once again recovered a fumble – three recoveries in all of 70 seconds and two touchdowns.
Greene was shaken and advanced into UV-E territory where it had a fourth-and-four at the Storm 44. Set to punt the ball, up man Keegan Cerwinski grabbed the short snap, and dashed around the outside on the left. He appeared bottled up, but popped out of the pile and was running down the left sideline. With one man to beat, Kody Homann, Cerwinski cut back to the middle as Homann was falling down. Homann was able to reach around and poke the ball out – stopping a sure touchdown. Derek Rollins recovered the ball for the hosts at the 13.
Greene had another golden opportunity to score early in the fourth. UV-E punter, Ruffles, had his ball blocked at the 45, and it bounced backward at least 25 yards. Isaiah Webb scooped the ball up for Greene, then had the ball knocked away as it eventually settled at the UV-E 10 for a first-and-goal. Four plays later, the Storm held as a pass from Cerwinski to Josh Brigham fell incomplete in the endzone.
The Trojans’ Jeremy Flohr intercepted a Miles pass at the 28 setting up Greene’s lone touchdown. Cerwinski rolled right and hit Treadwell in the end zone cutting the lead in half. The Trojans narrowly missed recovering the onside kick, but had one more opportunity with the ball after a UV-E punt. The remaining time on the clock served as the Trojans’ enemy. Cerwinski managed just one first-down completion before time expired.
“This is a big win for their team and their program,” said Greene coach Tim Paske. “We still had opportunities to win. We weren’t able to punch it in when we had first-and-goal, and the onside kick went through two of our guys’ hands. There were different situations in the game...they just did a nice job on us.”
The third straight win for UV-E surely will have other teams in the division taking notice. “This is a huge win for us. It’s a great win and it’s a sweet one,” Foulds said. “We scouted them and prepared all week. I thought we adjusted well during the game to what they were doing.”
Although UV-E did not put up huge offensive numbers, it did have its best offensive balance rushing for 120 yards and passing for 98. Brett Gage turned into the team’s workhorse in the second half – and the fourth quarter in particular. Gage finished with 18 carries for 88 yards, 42 of those yards coming in the last quarter as he helped kill some of the clock.
Greene finished with 179 rushing yards, 127 below its season averaging coming into the game. “We knew it would be tough grinding out the yards,” Paske said. “(UV-E) had a belief in one another, and that goes a long way. “We still can control what we do in our division. We have to get it done one game at a time, and each game the rest of the year is a playoff game.”
Score by quarters
Gre. 0 0 0 0–7
UV-E 0 0 14 0–14
Scoring Summary
Third quarter
UV-E: Brandon Miles 23 pass to Zach Montgomery (Zak Ruffles kick)
UV-E: Montgomery recovers fumble in endzone (Ruffles kick)
Fourth quarter
G: Keegan Cerwinski 28 pass to Dan Treadwell (Beers kick)
Team Summary
G UV-E
First downs 11 9
Total Yards 223 222
Rushes-yds 41-179 38-124
Passing yds 44 98
Comp-att-int 2-18-0 3-7-2
Punts-avg 1-34 4-34
Fumbles-lost 3-2 2-1
Penalties-yds 4-40 6-45
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (G) Kurt Shear, 23-81; Keegan Cerwinski, 10-68, Jef Carlin, 5-26, Akeem Daniels, 3-4. (UVE) Brett Gage, 18-88, Zak Ruffles, 8-23; Will Westbrook, 5-14, B. Miles, 7-(-1).
Passing: (G) Cerwinski, 2-18-0, 44 yards, TD. (UVE) Miles, 2-5-1, 73 yds, TD; Ruffles, 1-2-1, 25 yards.
Receiving: (G) Dan Treadwell, 1-28, Jeff Carlin, 1-6, (UVE) Zach Montgomery, 2-48, Zak Ruffles, 1-50.


Photo by Brian Horey