Oxford to honor 1982 team prior to game with Unadilla Valley
Ray Dayton came on board as head coach of Oxford a little too late to piece together a remembrance of a past great Oxford team. That club, in 1981, went unbeaten under head coach Tony Abbott. This season, with the welcomed help of the Oxford boosters, Dayton and the 2012 Blackhawks will honor the 1982 Oxford Blackhawks that also went 10-0 winning a sectional game and finishing seventh in the state in the small school state rankings.
“Both of those teams (‘81 and ‘82) had great seasons, and to finish seventh in state that year, that was a big deal,” Dayton said. “This is a sports crazy town, and we wanted to bring back those players to honor them. We’re hoping some of our kids can feed off of that. Football has been a monster here, and our kids need to see the people who created that monster.”
Dayton gave a lot of credit to Tony Abbott and his assistants, Don Cooper and John Curtis, for building a great football program that was a consistent winner for over three decades. “We’re trying to build the program up like it was before, and I hope we get a good crowd to watch,” Dayton said.
As for the issue of actually playing the game, Oxford will look to even its mark on the season at 1-1 against visiting Unadilla Valley. UV is a bit of an unknown quantity since its opening game against Deposit-Hancock was canceled. The Eagles had multiple players suspended for the contest bringing their team numbers below the state minimum standard.
“We scouted their scrimmage, and it looks like (UV) has some big kids up front and a couple of good backs,” Dayton said of the Storm. “I know their coach (Daryl Decker) is excited, and he has his kids excited to play. Other than that, we really don’t have a clue.”
Dayton has reason for optimism in this game. Coming off a scrimmage that featured Chenango Forks and Vestal, the Blackhawks’ offense continued to click against Walton, and an early TD in the third quarter had Oxford in front 21-12. Walton, though, returned the next kickoff for a touchdown, and took control of the game with an impressive ground game to pull out a 42-28 win.
In the loss, Oxford amassed over 370 yards of total offense against a Warriors team that is usually stingy on the defensive side of the ball. “I felt we did a good job of moving the ball in the scrimmage, and did the same thing against Walton,” Dayton said. “We feel we have a pretty good offense. Defensively, we need to get better, and I’m sure we will this week.”
Four other games are scheduled this week among our local grid outfits, all of which are tonight. Below are inside looks at those matchups:
Walton (1-0) vs. Greene (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.
The aforementioned Walton club faces its second straight Chenango County foe when it plays at Greene. The Trojans have met Walton several times in the 10-year tenure of head coach Tim Paske, but have yet to record a victory. “This is the type of game we wanted on our schedule, and it’s the level of competition we want,” Paske said. “Walton is always in the playoffs, not only competing for division titles, but section and state titles.”
Walton typically spreads its rushing attempts out to several ballcarriers, but went almost exclusively to fullback Mike Beers, who had 226 yards on 26 carries last week. Austin Kilmer added the big-play threat with a pair of long TD runs. Dalton Kaminsky, a strong-armed quarterback, gives the Warriors an aerial threat.
The Trojans, for their part, spent a large part of the preseason reacquainting themselves with the offensive playbook. Greene ditched last year’s “pistol offense” in favor of its previous offensive scheme.”We kind of went in reverse this year,” Paske said. “We spent a lot of time repping the offense and making sure the kids were comfortable. We still worked on the defense, but we really didn’t put 11 guys together as a unit until last weekend. I was a little nervous not knowing what to expect, but the kids did a great job reading their keys and pursuing to the football.”
Indeed, the Trojans’ defense was on point allowing just two first downs the entire game to Susquehanna Valley and 52 total yards of offense. It was the defense – and special teams – that keyed a big halftime advantage in a 43-0 blowout. “There were some things we needed to work on offensively after last week, but I definitely think Walton is a team we can play with,” Paske said. “It will be a heck of a measuring stick.”
Norwich (0-1) at Owego (0-1), Friday, 7 p.m.
Owego was unable to hold a 10-0 lead losing to upstart Windsor, who went a winless 0-9 last season. Norwich, too, had the early advantage last week before succumbing to Union-Endicott, 28-7. “Our goal this week has been to play the entire game with consistency,” said Norwich coach John Martinson. “Especially the third quarter. It’s been our Achilles’ heel giving up a TD at the beginning of the second half. We need to play the same way for 48 minutes whether we are up or down, and not allow the scoreboard to determine our effort.”
Martinson likens Owego to his club in many ways. The Indians have good size up front on the line, but, like Norwich, use a lot of players two ways. With heat and high humidity in Friday’s forecast, the aim for Martinson is to keep guys fresh and hydrated in order to make a strong push in the final two quarters. “Owego is an extremely well disciplined, well coached team,” Martinson said, who also noted the team’s playmakers. “Zach House is a quick, elusive back who attacks the perimeter, and Dylan Angulas has a lot of speed, and they use him similar to the way Chenango Valley used Adam Greene last year. We’ve also been working on defending Owego’s bootleg pass, which they run on non-passing downs”
In its opener, Norwich showed flashes of its offensive potential moving the ball well on multiple occasions against U-E, but only finishing the initial drive of the game. Kyle Edwards and Grant Brightman led the Tornado running game, while quarterback Mike Sutton, in his first varsity start completed 50 percent of his passes throwing for 87 yards and a touchdown.
Delhi (0-1) at Bainbridge-Guilford (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.
In the Bobcats’ and Bulldogs’ season-openers, the final score for both contests was exactly the same. For B-G, though, it was an impressive 42-6 road victory, while Delhi was routed by Liberty. “I thought Liberty was pretty good, but I don’t think that final score is really indicative of what we’ll see from Delhi Friday night,” said B-G coach Tim Mattingly.
Last season’s Delhi-B-G matchup was an aberration from the typical results with the Bobcats rolling to a 27-6 victory. Delhi was held to 158 total yards, and simply struggled to slow down the balanced B-G attack. The Bulldogs do return three key offensive players from last year’s matchup in quarterback Ben Denison and running backs Brian Ingram along with Ryan Telian. Mattingly said the Bulldogs have good size up front, and on defense, the Bulldogs have usually done a good job of defending B-G’s offense. “Over the years, their coach (Dave Kelly) has done a really job coaching against us and defending our offense,” Mattingly said. “We’ve played each other forever, and I’m sure Dave will come up with some things to counter what we’re doing.”
Morrisville-Eaton/Hamilton (0-1) at Sherburne-Earlville (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.
A season ago, the Marauders easily controlled M-E/H in a 28-7 victory. Coincidentally, one game into the season, the Vipers (previously the Emerald Knights), opened the 2012 season with a 28-7 defeat to Canastota. The lone score for M-E/H came on a third-quarter touchdown pass in which J.T. Metz hooked up with Dakota Miller. Canastota regained control with its running game, and finished with over 250 rushing yards in the win.
“They were a young team last year with a new coach, but they have more experience and talent back at the skill positions,” said S-E coach Mike Jasper. “Their coaching staff is also familiar with our system.”
Being familiar does not mean the Vipers will be able to slow S-E. The Marauders scored 48 points, the most in the Mike Jasper tenure, and did so with ease in the passing and running game. On the flip slide, a pair of late touchdowns from Mount Markham made the final score, a 48-26 S-E win, a bit deceiving. Still, Jasper hopes for improvement on the defensive side of the ball. “We need to read our keys and not get caught up in their motion and play fakes,” Jasper said of M-E/H. “Our defensive backs need to make good run/pass reads and not let their receivers (Miller and Lucas MacLaury) make big plays.”
If the Marauders continue to pile up the points – and the yards – like last week, they may not need too many defensive stops. “We had some success in the air, but we don’t want to live there all the time,” Jasper said. “We always want to establish a solid ground game.”
After a slow start running the ball last week, S-E finished with 265 yards rushing to complement the 180 yards passing from quarterback Matt Smith. Senior Devven Ferris had 191 combined yards rushing and receiving, and junior Austin Jasper had 126 combined rushing and pass receiving yards.
“Both of those teams (‘81 and ‘82) had great seasons, and to finish seventh in state that year, that was a big deal,” Dayton said. “This is a sports crazy town, and we wanted to bring back those players to honor them. We’re hoping some of our kids can feed off of that. Football has been a monster here, and our kids need to see the people who created that monster.”
Dayton gave a lot of credit to Tony Abbott and his assistants, Don Cooper and John Curtis, for building a great football program that was a consistent winner for over three decades. “We’re trying to build the program up like it was before, and I hope we get a good crowd to watch,” Dayton said.
As for the issue of actually playing the game, Oxford will look to even its mark on the season at 1-1 against visiting Unadilla Valley. UV is a bit of an unknown quantity since its opening game against Deposit-Hancock was canceled. The Eagles had multiple players suspended for the contest bringing their team numbers below the state minimum standard.
“We scouted their scrimmage, and it looks like (UV) has some big kids up front and a couple of good backs,” Dayton said of the Storm. “I know their coach (Daryl Decker) is excited, and he has his kids excited to play. Other than that, we really don’t have a clue.”
Dayton has reason for optimism in this game. Coming off a scrimmage that featured Chenango Forks and Vestal, the Blackhawks’ offense continued to click against Walton, and an early TD in the third quarter had Oxford in front 21-12. Walton, though, returned the next kickoff for a touchdown, and took control of the game with an impressive ground game to pull out a 42-28 win.
In the loss, Oxford amassed over 370 yards of total offense against a Warriors team that is usually stingy on the defensive side of the ball. “I felt we did a good job of moving the ball in the scrimmage, and did the same thing against Walton,” Dayton said. “We feel we have a pretty good offense. Defensively, we need to get better, and I’m sure we will this week.”
Four other games are scheduled this week among our local grid outfits, all of which are tonight. Below are inside looks at those matchups:
Walton (1-0) vs. Greene (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.
The aforementioned Walton club faces its second straight Chenango County foe when it plays at Greene. The Trojans have met Walton several times in the 10-year tenure of head coach Tim Paske, but have yet to record a victory. “This is the type of game we wanted on our schedule, and it’s the level of competition we want,” Paske said. “Walton is always in the playoffs, not only competing for division titles, but section and state titles.”
Walton typically spreads its rushing attempts out to several ballcarriers, but went almost exclusively to fullback Mike Beers, who had 226 yards on 26 carries last week. Austin Kilmer added the big-play threat with a pair of long TD runs. Dalton Kaminsky, a strong-armed quarterback, gives the Warriors an aerial threat.
The Trojans, for their part, spent a large part of the preseason reacquainting themselves with the offensive playbook. Greene ditched last year’s “pistol offense” in favor of its previous offensive scheme.”We kind of went in reverse this year,” Paske said. “We spent a lot of time repping the offense and making sure the kids were comfortable. We still worked on the defense, but we really didn’t put 11 guys together as a unit until last weekend. I was a little nervous not knowing what to expect, but the kids did a great job reading their keys and pursuing to the football.”
Indeed, the Trojans’ defense was on point allowing just two first downs the entire game to Susquehanna Valley and 52 total yards of offense. It was the defense – and special teams – that keyed a big halftime advantage in a 43-0 blowout. “There were some things we needed to work on offensively after last week, but I definitely think Walton is a team we can play with,” Paske said. “It will be a heck of a measuring stick.”
Norwich (0-1) at Owego (0-1), Friday, 7 p.m.
Owego was unable to hold a 10-0 lead losing to upstart Windsor, who went a winless 0-9 last season. Norwich, too, had the early advantage last week before succumbing to Union-Endicott, 28-7. “Our goal this week has been to play the entire game with consistency,” said Norwich coach John Martinson. “Especially the third quarter. It’s been our Achilles’ heel giving up a TD at the beginning of the second half. We need to play the same way for 48 minutes whether we are up or down, and not allow the scoreboard to determine our effort.”
Martinson likens Owego to his club in many ways. The Indians have good size up front on the line, but, like Norwich, use a lot of players two ways. With heat and high humidity in Friday’s forecast, the aim for Martinson is to keep guys fresh and hydrated in order to make a strong push in the final two quarters. “Owego is an extremely well disciplined, well coached team,” Martinson said, who also noted the team’s playmakers. “Zach House is a quick, elusive back who attacks the perimeter, and Dylan Angulas has a lot of speed, and they use him similar to the way Chenango Valley used Adam Greene last year. We’ve also been working on defending Owego’s bootleg pass, which they run on non-passing downs”
In its opener, Norwich showed flashes of its offensive potential moving the ball well on multiple occasions against U-E, but only finishing the initial drive of the game. Kyle Edwards and Grant Brightman led the Tornado running game, while quarterback Mike Sutton, in his first varsity start completed 50 percent of his passes throwing for 87 yards and a touchdown.
Delhi (0-1) at Bainbridge-Guilford (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.
In the Bobcats’ and Bulldogs’ season-openers, the final score for both contests was exactly the same. For B-G, though, it was an impressive 42-6 road victory, while Delhi was routed by Liberty. “I thought Liberty was pretty good, but I don’t think that final score is really indicative of what we’ll see from Delhi Friday night,” said B-G coach Tim Mattingly.
Last season’s Delhi-B-G matchup was an aberration from the typical results with the Bobcats rolling to a 27-6 victory. Delhi was held to 158 total yards, and simply struggled to slow down the balanced B-G attack. The Bulldogs do return three key offensive players from last year’s matchup in quarterback Ben Denison and running backs Brian Ingram along with Ryan Telian. Mattingly said the Bulldogs have good size up front, and on defense, the Bulldogs have usually done a good job of defending B-G’s offense. “Over the years, their coach (Dave Kelly) has done a really job coaching against us and defending our offense,” Mattingly said. “We’ve played each other forever, and I’m sure Dave will come up with some things to counter what we’re doing.”
Morrisville-Eaton/Hamilton (0-1) at Sherburne-Earlville (1-0), Friday, 7 p.m.
A season ago, the Marauders easily controlled M-E/H in a 28-7 victory. Coincidentally, one game into the season, the Vipers (previously the Emerald Knights), opened the 2012 season with a 28-7 defeat to Canastota. The lone score for M-E/H came on a third-quarter touchdown pass in which J.T. Metz hooked up with Dakota Miller. Canastota regained control with its running game, and finished with over 250 rushing yards in the win.
“They were a young team last year with a new coach, but they have more experience and talent back at the skill positions,” said S-E coach Mike Jasper. “Their coaching staff is also familiar with our system.”
Being familiar does not mean the Vipers will be able to slow S-E. The Marauders scored 48 points, the most in the Mike Jasper tenure, and did so with ease in the passing and running game. On the flip slide, a pair of late touchdowns from Mount Markham made the final score, a 48-26 S-E win, a bit deceiving. Still, Jasper hopes for improvement on the defensive side of the ball. “We need to read our keys and not get caught up in their motion and play fakes,” Jasper said of M-E/H. “Our defensive backs need to make good run/pass reads and not let their receivers (Miller and Lucas MacLaury) make big plays.”
If the Marauders continue to pile up the points – and the yards – like last week, they may not need too many defensive stops. “We had some success in the air, but we don’t want to live there all the time,” Jasper said. “We always want to establish a solid ground game.”
After a slow start running the ball last week, S-E finished with 265 yards rushing to complement the 180 yards passing from quarterback Matt Smith. Senior Devven Ferris had 191 combined yards rushing and receiving, and junior Austin Jasper had 126 combined rushing and pass receiving yards.
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