Football

Norwich 49, Chittenango 20
CHITTENANGO – No echoes from the past were heard at Chittenango Friday night.
The Bears defeated Norwich 21 years ago in the first year of the statewide football tournament, but have not seen the Purple Tornado since that Nov. 93 day. They may not want to dip into the Tornado waters again anytime soon.
"I think the pieces are starting to come together and people are fitting into their roles," said Norwich coach Mike Chrystie after his club's second straight win.
After stopping Norwich on its opening possession, NHS was uncontainable until the reserves and second-stringers took the field full-time.
Cole Rifanburg threw three TD passes and Mike Oralls rushed for 158 yards and a career-high four touchdowns as Norwich led 36-0 at the half with a safety thrown into the mix.
"Michael ran it very hard and he looked like a man among boys," Chrystie said. "Everyone was clicking offensively, and we also created a number of turnovers."
Cole Rifanburg hooked up with older brother Tristan Rifanburg on a 25-yard scoring pass to start the game, and added TD tosses of six and five yards to Zan Stewart.
Oralls’ TD runs covered 14, 27, 23, and two yards.
Matt Parrella had two interceptions and Everett Thompson also picked off a pass. Chittenango did not get a whiff of the end zone until late in the third quarter when the game's outcome was no longer an issue.
With two wins under its belt and a homecoming game against Chenango Valley this Friday, the Norwich fortunes are clearly looking brighter than they did two weeks ago.
"We knew we had to weather the storm the first three weeks and come out of it a better football team," Chrystie said. "We feel like we're right there and back in the race for a playoff spot."
Score by quarters
Norw. 20 16 13 0–49
Chitt. 0 0 6 14–20
Scoring Summary
First quarter
N: Cole Rifanburg 25 pass to Tristan Rifanburg (Zan Stewart kick)
N: Rifanburg 6 pass to Stewart (Stewart kick)
N: Mike Oralls 14 run (kick failed)
Second quarter
N: Oralls 27 run (Stewart kick)
N: Safety, Chittenango back tackled in endzone
N: Rifanburg 5 pass to Stewart (Stewart kick)
Third quarter
N: Oralls 23 run (kick failed)
N: Oralls 2 run (Stewart kick)
C: Michael Addison 7 run ( pass failed)
Fourth quarter
C: Addison 2 run ( Theodore-Gondeck pass to Wyatt Myers)
C: Justin Theodore-Gondeck 33 pass to Matt Millman (kick failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (N) Mike Oralls, 13-158; Nick Murphy, 4-48; Cole Rifanburg, 6-17, Alec Weaver, 4-16; Tristan Rifanburg, 4-15; Randy Stokes, 5-12; Jordan Vinal, 1-4. (C) Michael Addison, 20-89; Antonio Cutrie, 5-26; Anthony Lozipone, 2-7; Daniel Brazeau, 1-4; Hunter Hendrix, 1-4; J. Theodore-Gondeck, 3-(-5); Joshua Diable, 7-(-6).
Passing: (N) Cole Rifanburg 6-9-0, 108 yds, 3 TDs; (C) J. Theodore-Gondeck, 5-20-3, 68 yds, TD.
Receiving: (N) Zan Stewart, 4-70; Tristan Rifanburg, 2-38. (C) Duncan Smith, 4-35; Matt Millman, 1-33.

Sherburne-Earlville 42, Mount Markham 25
SHERBURNE – In its final regular season home game, Sherburne-Earlville kept its hopes of a third straight postseason appearance alive rushing for over 400 yards in Friday’s win over Mount Markham.
With both clubs entering the game with one division loss apiece, the contest served as an elimination game in terms of postseason aspirations. “We have to look at every remaining game as a playoff game; we can’t afford a loss,” said S-E coach Mike Jasper.
Garrett DuVall put S-E on the board with his first scoring run of the season, and Matt Hull had TD dashes of 44 and 33 yards in the second quarter.
Still, the Mustangs hung tight. Kyle Yager busted a long run in the first quarter to set up a one-yard TD run, and Yager returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown after Hull’s second TD run to make it a 20-13 game at halftime.
“We made some mistakes that kind of bit us, but they really only drove it on us once in the game,” Jasper said.
Hull, Ronnie Price, and Cody Marango added scoring runs in the second half. Hull finished with 146 yards rushing, Brodie Roebuck had 96, and DuVall 72.
Mount Markham had another kickoff return for a touchdown that ended the game’s scoring. “We had an opportunity to play or dominate the game better than we did, and we kept giving them chances to stay in the game,” Jasper said.
That said, the S-E stable of skill players is making life difficult for opponents. “The offensive line is doing its job, and when you have that many people that can run it, that’s a problem for defenses,” Jasper said.
S-E (4-1) is at Frankfort-Schuyler this week.
Score by quarters
MM 0 13 6 6–25
S-E 7 13 8 14–42
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
SE: Garrett Duvall 3 run (Duvall kick).
Second quarter
MM: Kyle Yager 1 run (kick blocked).
SE: Matt Hull 44 run (Duvall kick).
SE: Matt Hull 33 run (kick failed)
MM: Kyle Yager 85 kick return (Dillon Bleaking kick).
Third quarter
SE: Matt Hull 10 run (Hull pass from Cody Marango).
MM: Adam Westbrook 1 run (kick failed).
Fourth quarter
SE: Ronnie Price 3 run (Duvall kick).
SE: Marango 16 run (Duvall kick).
MM: Robert Holmes 75 kickoff return (run failed).
Individual Statistics (SE only)
Rushing Matt Hull 13-146; Brodie Roebuck 13-96; Garrett DuVall 11-72; Cody Marango 6-54 ; Aaron Price 5-29 ; Hunter Owen 3-13; Adam Palmer 3-13; Jack Buell 1-8. Total 55-431.
Passing: Cody Marango 3-9-0 42 yds.
Receiving: Ben Khoury 2-31; Gavin Giroux 1-11.

Tioga 44, Oxford 14
OXFORD – The lesson the Oxford staff imparted on the players from the loss on Friday to Tioga was, “this is where we want to be as a program.”
Jesse Manuel and Brad Jump had two TD runs for the Tigers, and Sam Burns threw a 95-yard TD pass to Josh Kithcart late in the first half that made it a 35-0 game.
“No wonder those guys are ranked number three in the state,” said Oxford coach Jeff Newton. “In all my years of coaching, that’s one of the better teams that I’ve seen.”
Tioga ran for 400 yards with Manuel and Jump each topping 100 yards rushing on the day. After a Manuel 9-yard TD run in the first, Jump scored on 23- and 52-yard jaunts. Sandwiched between Jump’s scores was a 55-yard TD run from Adam Zwierlein that came after an Oxford turnover.
“They were dominant on both sides of the ball, but they had a lot of class, too,” Newton said. “They fly around and have 11 guys (on defense) making plays. They’re a well-oiled machine.”
Oxford scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Bryan Simpson, who finished with 106 yards rushing, hit paydirt on a 17-yard TD run; Angelo Gonzalez hit Nick Neer on a four-yard scoring pass with less than 20 seconds left in the game.
Simpson, too, had upwards of 20 tackles. “He really was a man among boys on defense,” Newton said of Simpson. “All of our kids played hard, and they never quit.”
Score by quarters
Tio. 14 21 10 0--44
Oxf 0 0 0 14—14
Scoring summary
First quarter
T: Jesse Manuel 9 run (Tanner Folk kick)
T: Brad Jump 23 run (kick good)
Second quarter
T: Adam Zwierlein 55 run (kick good)
T: Jump 52 run (kick good)
T: Sam Burns 95 pass to Josh Kithcart (kick good)
Third quarter
T: Manuel 33 run (kick failed)
T: 32 field goal good
Fourth quarter
O: Bryan Simpson 17 run (kick failed)
O: Angelo Gonzalez 4 pass to Nick Neer (Gonzalez pass to Lyons)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (O) Bryan Simpson, 19-106, Gonzalez, 3-2; Trenton Lyons, 2-21; Nick Neer, 2-8; Garett Sylstra, 1-2. (Tioga) Jesse Manuel, 12-147; Brad Jump, 5-125; Zwierlein, 3-61; Burns, 2-3; #11, 3-5; #20, 9-53; #1, 1-(-2), #10, 3-3; #23, 3-5. Total: 41-400
Passing: (O) Gonzalez, 7-18-1, 78 yds, TD. (T) Burns, 3-5-0, 102 yds, TD, #1 1-1-0, 15 yds.
Receiving: (O) Trenton Lyons, 2-4, Nick Neer, 4-24; Kevin Davis, 1-50.

Greene 7, Lansing 6
LANSING – At this point of a football season, winless teams just do not beat unbeaten clubs. Clearly, Greene wasn’t aware of that typical football truism.
The Trojans dominated previously-unbeaten Lansing from start to finish, and if not for three lost fumbles, would have likely rolled to a blowout victory.
Cole Nelson’s TD run in the second quarter and Wyatt Johns’ extra point proved enough for Greene to win its first game of the season – and on the road, no less. “It’s a huge win for us,” said Greene coach Dave Gorton. “It proves the kids still believe in themselves, and I’m pleased with how hard they continue to work.”
Greene’s first five drives of the game all went for 50 yards or more; however, two ended in fumbles, two ended on downs, and the other was the aforementioned touchdown.
Lansing was held to just four first downs in the game – three in the second half – and resorted to a trick play for its lone score when it completed a 36-yard halfback option pass for a touchdown in the fourth. The Bobcats tried another trick play for the two-point conversion, but were denied.
Lansing lined up to kick the extra point, but the snap went directly to the kicker, who then completed a pass to the tight end. Greene defender Tyler Dickman made the tackle a half-yard short of the goal line to preserve the Greene lead.
The Trojans received the ball on the next possession with six minutes left, and converted multiple first downs to run out the clock.
“Physically, we did very well with Chenango Forks the previous week, and we gained a lot of confidence that we could do that against other programs,” Gorton said.
Sophomores Zach Orzell and Luke Erickson combined for over 200 yards rushing, and Greene, as a team, totaled over 300 yards rushing. Erickson had 126 yards and Orzell finished with 116 on the ground.
Score by quarters
Gr. 0 7 0 0–7
Lan. 0 0 0 6–7
Scoring Summary
G: Cole Nelson 2 run (Wyatt Johns kick)
L: Detrick 36 TD reception. (Pass failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: (G), 52-314. Luke Erickson, 17-126; Zach Orzell, 21-116; Cole Nelson, 8-41, TD, Shawn Brigham, 1-17; Kyle Nowak, 4-14; Tyler Dickman, 1-5. (L) 22-46 yds.
Passing: (G) Orzell 0-5-0, 0 yds. (L) 5-7-0, 48 yds.
Receiving: (G) none.