Coming off a blowout loss to Johnson City less than a week ago, Norwich football coach Mike Chrystie was faced with the tasks this week of convincing his team to forget about that outcome, and believe it can win in the return meeting Saturday night at Binghamton Alumni Stadium.
“I’ve talked about my personal experiences, and I told them anything can happen in high school football,” Chrystie said.
Chrystie drew on two playoff games during his four-year playing career at Oxford that were relevant to the point he wanted to make with his players. As a freshman, Chrystie played on an Oxford team that beat Deposit in the Class D sectional championship game. It was a near 40-point turnaround from the Blackhawks’ lopsided loss to the Lumberjacks in the regular season. Two years later, Chrystie led a heavily favored Oxford team into the postseason finals against Hancock. This time, Hancock reversed a five-touchdown loss to Oxford with a five-touchdown shutout victory.
“I’ve been on both sides of these types of games, and I know our kids are hungry to prove we are better than we showed last week,” Chrystie said.
Johnson City’s offense was difficult to stop amassing over 400 yards of offense, the defense forced six Norwich turnovers. Other than a long touchdown run by Mike Oralls in the fourth quarter, the NHS offense went nowhere for nearly four quarters.
“What it came down to on both sides of the ball was a lack of execution,” Chrystie said. “On defense, we just weren’t lined up right, and on offense, we were blocking the wrong guys and not hitting the right holes. I know it doesn’t look like it based on the final score (55-7), but there were plays to be made. I don’t think they are 48 points better than us. We went into that game believing it was two evenly matched teams, and I think they (Johnson City) believed the same thing. We just couldn’t sustain anything on offense, and weren’t able to respond to their big plays.”
Norwich was without its starting and backup quarterbacks a week ago, but at least one if not both of those players will be back, Chrystie said. Starter Mike Sutton will likely be a game-time decision, while backup Tristan Rifanburg is ready to go if Sutton has to take a seat.
“We’re ready for the challenge,” Chrystie said. “It’s a playoff game, the sectional semifinals, and it’s time to get excited.”
Game time for Saturday’s contest is 7 p.m.
Elsewhere this week:

Oxford (1-7) at Bainbridge-Guilford (2-6), Friday, 7 p.m.
Longtime local rivals B-G and Oxford meet in a season finale that will establish bragging rights. Up through last season, this clash had division implications. This season, the two clubs moved to separate divisions, and this clash is through sheer happenstance. “Our kids are excited to play at home and to be playing Oxford,” said B-G coach Tim Mattingly. “This has definitely become a rivalry game.”
And that rivalry has gone the Bobcats’ way. Under Mattingly, B-G has won the last six meetings with the only loss in Mattingly’s tenure coming in his first year at the helm, 2006.
Through eight weeks this year, both clubs have had to endure a bit more disappointment than usual, although B-G has upgraded its play the past few weeks with two wins in its last four games. Meanwhile, Oxford has found some success on offense, but is struggling to slow down the other team’s offense. “From what I’ve seen, Oxford has played a very difficult schedule, and they’ve played some teams tough,” Mattingly said. “We only have two wins ourselves, so we’re definitely not taking them lightly.”
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Greene (3-5) at Windsor (2-6), Friday, 7 p.m.
Greene took a big step forward last week against Trumansburg with its most complete offensive performance of the season to halt a five-game losing streak. At Windsor tonight, the Trojans face a team that has six losses, but five are to playoff teams. “They are a physical team with a strong passing game and good speed at the receiver and quarterback spots,” said Greene coach Dave Gorton. “They will present quite a challenge for our defense.”
Despite the difficult schedule, Windsor is scoring about three touchdowns a game, not too shabby for a two-win ballclub. Greene, meanwhile, was blanked three times during its five-game losing streak, and scored just three touchdowns in that span. Gorton hopes that last week’s breakout game will give it momentum heading into his team’s final game. “We are glad to have the opportunity to play (Windsor) and hope we can continue to improve as we have been the past several weeks,” he said.
Editor’s note: Sherburne-Earlville and Unadilla Valley do not have football games scheduled this week.