Norwich gridders sting Yellowjackets, 43-7
NORWICH - The expectation around Norwich football this season was that it had a pretty good offense – as long as it held on to the football.
One week after committing nine turnovers, the Purple Tornado had none here Friday night, and Oneonta found out how good the NHS offense can be when it hits on all cylinders in a 43-7 Purple whitewashing of the Yellowjackets.
Senior quarterback Mike Sutton completed three passes, and all went for touchdowns. Junior running back Michael Oralls had a career-high 162 yards rushing and two touchdown runs, and Sutton had his own TD run. To cap the evening, junior Zan Stewart proved Norwich has capable special teams booting a 35-yard field goal that made it 43-0 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter.
One had the feeling Norwich could have named its final score after racing out of the gate early with Usain Bolt-like acceleration. Less than eight minutes into the contest, Norwich had three touchdowns on the board.
“We knew we had some holes to fill from last week,” said Norwich coach Mike Chrystie. “We did a good job preparing for this game tonight, and it showed.”
Prepared, Chrystie said? And how!
Senior Keagan Franklin nearly broke the opening kickoff for a score, and was tackled near midfield to start NHS’s opening drive. Every offensive play for Norwich over the next seven minutes and 47 seconds gained positive yardage, and in most cases sizable chunks of real estate to gash the ‘Jackets’ defense.
On the eighth play of that first drive, Sutton connected with a wide-open Jaden MacRabie for a 13-yard TD pass. After forcing Oneonta to punt after three plays, Sutton’s do-it-yourself quarterback scramble ended in a 47-yard score.
Following a Norwich kickoff out of bounds, Oneonta set up shop at its 35 yard line. On the first play, OHS QB Jake Crotser overthrew his target to the waiting arms of Sutton for the easy interception at the NHS 44.
Norwich took its time with this possession – relatively speaking – using six plays to complete a 56-yard scoring drive. This TD, though, was one for the highlights as Sutton did his best Johnny Manziel impression. On a second-and-long at the Oneonta 22, Sutton rolled to the left for a pass attempt, but was immediately staring down two blitzing Oneonta defenders. Sutton spun back to the right and rolled across the field where he hit receiver Matt Burke for the touchdown. Burke started on the left side of the line of scrimmage, and during Sutton’s improvisation, continued his pass route into the far right corner of the end zone.
While that play was scintillating, most of Norwich’s offense was simply good execution and tough running. Oralls was shedding Oneonta tacklers and often carrying them for extra yards all evening. Those efforts paid dividends with a 44-yard TD run in the second quarter for the 27-0 halftime lead.
Oneonta drove for two first downs in the offensive sequence that preceded Orall’s TD run, but on a fourth-and-short, MacRabie tackled Crotser for a four-yard loss to end the scoring threat.
Norwich’s starters added two more scores in the third quarter before ceding to the reserves. Sutton hit MacRabie on a nine-yard score, and Oralls capped his day with a one-yard TD run.
“We just executed well tonight,” Chrystie said. “Both teams (tonight) were coming off bad losses, and we were the team that improved the most from last week. Our backs did a better job of hitting the holes, and the line did a better job with its assignments. When we do that, we’re going to open some holes for our backs.”
Oneonta scored late in the game against the NHS reserves, but through three quarters of play, had just 64 yards of total offense against the improved Tornado defense.
Norwich plays Owego this Friday.
JV notes: Just like the varsity team, the JV squad evened its mark at 1-1 defeating Oneonta, 21-6. Norwich amassed 302 yards of offense, and held OHS to just 37 rushing yards for the game. Nick Murphy led the NHS rushing attack with 122 yards and a touchdown. Jordan Vinal threw for two TDs – one to Cole Rifanburg and the other to Carlos Ithier – finishing with 54 yards. The Norwich JV team visits Oswego Sept. 21.
Score by quarters
Oneonta 0 0 0 7–7
Norw. 21 6 13 3–43
Scoring Summary
N: Mike Sutton 13 pass to Jaden MacRabie (Zan Stewart kick)
N: Sutton 47 run (Stewart kick)
N: Sutton 22 pass to Matt Burke (Stewart kick)
N: Mike Oralls 44 run (kick blocked)
N: Sutton 9 pass to MacRabie (kick blocked)
N: Oralls 1 run (Stewart kick)
N: Stewart 35 field goal.
O: Austin Scheer 14 run (Mat Robinson kick)
Team Summary
N O
First downs 11 10
Rushes-yds 37-243 47-140
Passing yds 44 0
Comp-att-int 3-6-0 0-6-1
Punts-avg 1-36 3-28.7
Fumbles-lost 2-0 3-1
Penalties-yds 8-60 2-20
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (N) M. Oralls, 17-162; M. Sutton, 5-47; J. MacRabie, 7-34; K. Franklin, 7-21; B. Budd, 1-(-21). (O) Austin Scheer, 13-60; Sam Sherrill, 14-40; Skylar Thompson, 7-25; Matt Bitzer, 3-13; James Longo, 3-4; Jake Crotser, 7-(-2).
Passing: (N) Mike Sutton, 3-6-0, 44 yds, 3 TDs; (O) Crotser, 0-6-1, 0 yds.
Receiving: (N) Jaden MacRabie, 2-22; Matt Burke, 1-22.
One week after committing nine turnovers, the Purple Tornado had none here Friday night, and Oneonta found out how good the NHS offense can be when it hits on all cylinders in a 43-7 Purple whitewashing of the Yellowjackets.
Senior quarterback Mike Sutton completed three passes, and all went for touchdowns. Junior running back Michael Oralls had a career-high 162 yards rushing and two touchdown runs, and Sutton had his own TD run. To cap the evening, junior Zan Stewart proved Norwich has capable special teams booting a 35-yard field goal that made it 43-0 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter.
One had the feeling Norwich could have named its final score after racing out of the gate early with Usain Bolt-like acceleration. Less than eight minutes into the contest, Norwich had three touchdowns on the board.
“We knew we had some holes to fill from last week,” said Norwich coach Mike Chrystie. “We did a good job preparing for this game tonight, and it showed.”
Prepared, Chrystie said? And how!
Senior Keagan Franklin nearly broke the opening kickoff for a score, and was tackled near midfield to start NHS’s opening drive. Every offensive play for Norwich over the next seven minutes and 47 seconds gained positive yardage, and in most cases sizable chunks of real estate to gash the ‘Jackets’ defense.
On the eighth play of that first drive, Sutton connected with a wide-open Jaden MacRabie for a 13-yard TD pass. After forcing Oneonta to punt after three plays, Sutton’s do-it-yourself quarterback scramble ended in a 47-yard score.
Following a Norwich kickoff out of bounds, Oneonta set up shop at its 35 yard line. On the first play, OHS QB Jake Crotser overthrew his target to the waiting arms of Sutton for the easy interception at the NHS 44.
Norwich took its time with this possession – relatively speaking – using six plays to complete a 56-yard scoring drive. This TD, though, was one for the highlights as Sutton did his best Johnny Manziel impression. On a second-and-long at the Oneonta 22, Sutton rolled to the left for a pass attempt, but was immediately staring down two blitzing Oneonta defenders. Sutton spun back to the right and rolled across the field where he hit receiver Matt Burke for the touchdown. Burke started on the left side of the line of scrimmage, and during Sutton’s improvisation, continued his pass route into the far right corner of the end zone.
While that play was scintillating, most of Norwich’s offense was simply good execution and tough running. Oralls was shedding Oneonta tacklers and often carrying them for extra yards all evening. Those efforts paid dividends with a 44-yard TD run in the second quarter for the 27-0 halftime lead.
Oneonta drove for two first downs in the offensive sequence that preceded Orall’s TD run, but on a fourth-and-short, MacRabie tackled Crotser for a four-yard loss to end the scoring threat.
Norwich’s starters added two more scores in the third quarter before ceding to the reserves. Sutton hit MacRabie on a nine-yard score, and Oralls capped his day with a one-yard TD run.
“We just executed well tonight,” Chrystie said. “Both teams (tonight) were coming off bad losses, and we were the team that improved the most from last week. Our backs did a better job of hitting the holes, and the line did a better job with its assignments. When we do that, we’re going to open some holes for our backs.”
Oneonta scored late in the game against the NHS reserves, but through three quarters of play, had just 64 yards of total offense against the improved Tornado defense.
Norwich plays Owego this Friday.
JV notes: Just like the varsity team, the JV squad evened its mark at 1-1 defeating Oneonta, 21-6. Norwich amassed 302 yards of offense, and held OHS to just 37 rushing yards for the game. Nick Murphy led the NHS rushing attack with 122 yards and a touchdown. Jordan Vinal threw for two TDs – one to Cole Rifanburg and the other to Carlos Ithier – finishing with 54 yards. The Norwich JV team visits Oswego Sept. 21.
Score by quarters
Oneonta 0 0 0 7–7
Norw. 21 6 13 3–43
Scoring Summary
N: Mike Sutton 13 pass to Jaden MacRabie (Zan Stewart kick)
N: Sutton 47 run (Stewart kick)
N: Sutton 22 pass to Matt Burke (Stewart kick)
N: Mike Oralls 44 run (kick blocked)
N: Sutton 9 pass to MacRabie (kick blocked)
N: Oralls 1 run (Stewart kick)
N: Stewart 35 field goal.
O: Austin Scheer 14 run (Mat Robinson kick)
Team Summary
N O
First downs 11 10
Rushes-yds 37-243 47-140
Passing yds 44 0
Comp-att-int 3-6-0 0-6-1
Punts-avg 1-36 3-28.7
Fumbles-lost 2-0 3-1
Penalties-yds 8-60 2-20
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (N) M. Oralls, 17-162; M. Sutton, 5-47; J. MacRabie, 7-34; K. Franklin, 7-21; B. Budd, 1-(-21). (O) Austin Scheer, 13-60; Sam Sherrill, 14-40; Skylar Thompson, 7-25; Matt Bitzer, 3-13; James Longo, 3-4; Jake Crotser, 7-(-2).
Passing: (N) Mike Sutton, 3-6-0, 44 yds, 3 TDs; (O) Crotser, 0-6-1, 0 yds.
Receiving: (N) Jaden MacRabie, 2-22; Matt Burke, 1-22.
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