Every local team hopes to come out of its preseason scrimmage injury free. It’s the first opportunity for football teams to hit someone other than a teammate, and the only tuneup before the start of the regular season.
And the long-awaited regular season starts tonight. Most of the area coaches believed their teams performed adequately, although every positive was mitigated by something that needs improvement.
In Norwich last weekend, Sherburne-Earlville and Bainbridge-Guilford joined the four-way scrimmage that also included Whitney Point. Some area teams have year-to-year rivalries such as Greene vs. Oxford and Bainbridge-Guilford vs. Oxford. Sherburne-Earlville, who is entering its tenth season in Section III, has not played any local teams other than UV-Edmeston since its shift to conference play up north. One could see the intensity lift when the Marauders exchanged blows with B-G, and especially Norwich. “There was some pretty good hitting,” said S-E coach Mike Jasper. “(Norwich) got us for one play early in their series, but after that, we did pretty well. We had the ball for a short series on offense, but weren’t able to do much.”
Norwich coach John Martinson asked just one thing of his team: To play physical. Did the Norwich team please its coach? “We had great intensity, and the coaching staff was pretty pleased with how hard the kids played,” Martinson said. “The scrimmage was helpful for us.”
Bainbridge-Guilford, the smallest school at the scrimmage, had varying amounts of success. “I was pretty pleased with the way it went,” said B-G coach Tim Mattingly. “Our first series against Norwich, I though their defense smacked us in the mouth pretty good. Then we did okay. We were working on our basic stuff, and just trying to get better at that.”
Oxford had perhaps the toughest test matching up against Chenango Forks and Vestal. None of the teams flashed anything deeper than the first few pages of their playbook, and the Oxford defense met the challenge of the physically bigger Golden Bears and Blue Devils. “They hit us (Vestal and Chenango Forks) with a couple of things we haven’t seen before, but overall, the defense played pretty well,” said Oxford first-year coach, Ray Dayton. “The defense will probably be our strong suit, at least early in the year.”
A couple of changes in the schedule were made from when Section IV originally released the 2011 schedules earlier this year. Unadilla Valley-Edmeston was supposed to host Bainbridge-Guilford tonight. Instead, the game was moved to B-G. Also, Oxford’s home game against Unatego tonight was shifted to the Spartans’ home site.
Below are previews of this week’s opening slate of games

UV-Edmeston at Bainbridge-Guilford, Friday, 7 p.m.
The Storm come into the a season as somewhat of an unknown quantity. These days, it is the norm for opposing team scouts to take in scrimmages. UV-E, due to a scheduling problem, did not play in a scrimmage last weekend. “I do know that they have good numbers out for the team, and they have some good size,” said B-G coach Tim Mattingly. “I also know their new coach is a Walton grad, so we’re expecting some Walton stuff on offense and defense.”
The Bobcats sealed last year’s opening-game victory with a late score from Billy Holden. Holden figures to be the offensive workhorse for the Bobcats at running back. Too, quarterback Corbin Palmer has already shown a fine rapport with 6-foot-4 receiver Ryan Porter.

Oxford at Unatego, Friday 7 p.m.
From last week’s scouting, Oxford coach Ray Dayton ascertained that the Spartans will attempt to utilize starting quarterback Tyler Butler in every possible way. “He runs it, he throws it,” Dayton said. “Everything the do on offense they try to run through him.”
As mentioned earlier, Oxford’s strength may come from its defense, and junior middle linebacker Paul Wonka will probably have a busy night chasing down Butler. Wonka may also be the feature running back along with Shawn McKee. Quarterback Jody Smith showed a nice touch in the scrimmage, and he’ll have able targets to throw to in Andrew Golden, Paul Martin, and Adam Pierson among others.

Norwich at Sus Valley, Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
Last year’s 33-6 Norwich win over the Sabers was a bit of an anomaly, especially since recent battles between the two clubs have often gone down to the wire.
“We had a chance to see them in the scrimmage, and they are big and physical,” Martinson said. “(Laurent) Dure is still there, and he’s just an outstanding back with great speed. They were pretty vanilla with their offense, but we expect they will try to get to the outside, and run some counters and some bootlegs.”
Other than third-year starting quarterback Seth Thomsen, Norwich’s skill position players are largely untested. Also, the offensive line, a key to the Tornado running game, struggled with inconsistency at times last year. Norwich’s success in this game will likely hinge on its ability to consistently move the chains with its running game.

Seton Catholic Central at Greene, Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
Seton Catholic Central should present Greene’s defense with some potential difficulties. Quarterback Caleb Scepaniak is one of the most highly touted signal-caller’s in Section IV. He’ll have wide-bodied Javon Reagan as a primary target at tight end, while running backs Joe Crowley and Jon Kline balance the attack.
“They like to run it off tackle out of a traditional pro set, and we like that,” said Greene coach Tim Paske. “That kind of plays into our defense’s hands, and we’re geared to stop the run.”
The Trojans’ best defense may again be a ball-control offense. Greene has perhaps the biggest offensive line in all of Chenango County, and experienced runner Keegan Cerwinski leading the way. “We feel if our defense can hold teams to two touchdowns or less, we should win games with the offense we have,” Paske said. “The kids believe that, we just need to execute.”

Frankfort-Schuyler at Sherburne-Earlville, Friday, 7 p.m.
The Marauders enter the 2011 season off a five-game winning streak, its best stretch of success in 11-man football in over 20 years. In Frankfort-Schuyler, S-E faces a team that beat it 12-3 a year ago, and returns eight starters on offense and seven on defense. “Mistakes cost us last year against them,” said S-E coach Mike Jasper. “They have a couple of physical backs coming back, and one speed kid. We’ll need to make sure we’re crisp and clean on offense and defense, and not making the little mistakes.”
At the scrimmage, Jasper said his team played especially well on defense. Standouts from the scrimmage were John Keller on the offensive and defensive lines, Jesse Quinn, Cory Musician, Devven Ferris, and Austin Jasper. “We look a little ahead of where were last year on offense,” Jasper said. “We seem to have a good idea of what we’re doing up front.”