WAVERLY – The Purple Tornado took a drive almost two hours out west on I-86 for what was supposed to be the Section IV Class B match-up of the season.
Norwich had other plans as they brought home their second win of the season after an emotional season opener for the Wolverines of Waverly.
A crowd of nearly 8,000 people was anticipated for the contest as Waverly hosted a fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Softball team that plays all over the United States. The fundraiser was organized by a young man by the name of Paul Girolamo before the season started. Tragically, Girolamo lost is life in a car accident on August 19, just days after practices had started for fall sports across the area. As it was Waverly’s season opener, Girolamo was honored by his teammates and the town, as the saying ‘Forever 44’ was posted all over the stadium.
The Wolverines would carry the emotion from the pregame ceremonies into their play to start the game as they threatened in the first few drives of the game. Waverly forced Norwich into a four-and-out on the Tornado’s first possession. Waverly’s Matt VanHouten would capitalize with six points after a 29 yard reception on their second set of downs. The point after attempt was no good.
The Wolverines would not allow Norwich any breathing room on the first two possessions, forcing the Tornado to punt on both. 
Waverly would run four plays before being forced to punt on a fourth-and-seven. Wolverine punter Eithan McEnulty would have a beautiful spiral punt that would be downed at the Norwich one yard line. With a lot of green turf in front of them, Norwich would take the field for the third drive of the game.
Purple Tornado Grant Wessels would push the team away two yards away from the end-zone on first down on first-and-ten. On the ensuing play, Norwich quarterback Zack Race would connect with his receiver Michael Carson, who came down fighting the Waverly defender for the ball and end up ripping it away, creating a 31 yard completion to give Norwich some breathing room away from the potential safety.
The next call would go to Eric Conant. Conant, who carried for 95 yards in week one, would bounce it out to the outside, pick up a block and turned on the jets for 67 yards and put six point on the scoreboard for Norwich and tying it at 6-6. Kicker Mike Trevisani would kick a good point after to grab the 7-6 lead for Norwich with :58 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Purple Tornado defense would make a few adjustments under the direction of Defensive Coordinator Wes Mills.
“We had to make a couple of adjustments with our linebackers as they noticed one was out of the box,” said Mills. “We had a lot of missed tackles to begin. We buckled down in the second quarter (and in the second half) and started to make some good solid tackles, which helped.”
The Wolverines would punt after three plays following the Norwich touchdown and adjustments. Drew Walsh would push the purple down the field 7, 4, 5, and 9 yards a carry during the drive, each time being tackled by what seemed like the entire Wolverines defense. This would open up the outside for Conant to score his second touchdown of the game from ten yards out, making the score 14-6 after the Trevisani PAT attempt was good.
Norwich’s defense would continue to lockdown the Wolverines offense, not allowing them to run more than four plays again. However, this drive would not end by a Waverly punt. Wessels would find his way into the Wolverines backfield to force and recover the fumble, giving Norwich another offensive possession in good field position.
On the campaign, Norwich would push forward to only be pushed back by penalties including a questionable offensive pass interference call that would take a touchdown away from Carson after making an incredible catch over the Waverly defender. Norwich would end the half with the lead still 14-6.
The Tornado would receive the ball to start the second half but would only run five plays before punting it to Waverly.
The Wolverines would start their first possession of the second-half with quarterback Gavin Judson being sacked by Conant. On the next play, Judson would drop backing looking for a receiver but would find Carson, giving Norwich their second takeaway of the contest.
Race would start the drive off with a nine yard completion to J.T. Vinal and run for seven to give Norwich their eighth first down of the game. Conant would have his number called again on the next play. He would run for another touchdown from 22 yards out but it would be called back due to on offensive hold penalty. Tornado head coach Mike Chrystie, along with many of Norwich’s fans, would question the call. However, Chrystie was the only one to get penalized by the refs, giving Norwich a 1st-and-25.
The Tornado would punt the ball into the end-zone, allowing Waverly to start their next possession at their own 20 yard line.
Norwich’s defense would again answer with a Race interception, giving Waverly their second interception and third overall turnover of the contest. Mills said, “They tested us deep but Zack (Race) and (Michael) Carson came up big for us and made the interceptions. They knocked them [Waverly] down a little bit to take the momentum away.”
The purple would carry the ball for the next nine plays using Conant, Walsh and Wessels. Each of the ballcarriers would chip away yardage to get Norwich just outside the red-zone. Race would drop back to connect with Ty Rifanburg for 19 yards. This would set up Wessels to punch the ball in from a yard out and make the score 20-6. Again Trevisani would kick a good extra point to add one more point for Norwich.
Desperate to put some more points on the scoreboard, Waverly would attempt for a fourth down conversion but would come up short on a incompletion from Judson. Norwich would take the turnover on downs at their own 24.
On second down, Race handed the ball off to Conant for an untouched 75 yard run into the end-zone grabbing his third touchdown of the game. Trevisani would attempt his forth PAT of the night and make it straight through the uprights, making him again perfect for the evening for the second straight game.
Waverly would be unable to score against the stymie Purple Tornado defense, ending the contest 28-6.
Norwich would finish the game with 449 total yards on offense. 367 of those yards were from the ground game. Leading all ballcarriers for the contest was Conant, who rushed for 214 yards on 13 carries, giving him an average of 16.5 yards per attempt. Walsh would pound out his 95 yards on 21 attempts (4.6 yards/carry).
Race would find his receivers five times on ten attempts (50-percent completion percentage) for 82 yards passing. Carson would have the one crucial catch for 31 yards receiving while Rifanburg caught 2 for 25. Zach Mills and Vinal would each have one catch for 17 and nine yards each.
Norwich was led defensively by Walsh with eight tackles, (seven solo and one for a loss). Conant recorded the only sack for the Tornado D while also having six tackles. Wessels and Carson would each have four tackles and be one the good side of a turnover.
“I extremely proud of our team tonight,” said Chrystie. “This was a very adverse environment. Their crowd was into it. The Wounded Warrior foundation brought a lot of people out. There were a lot of adverse situations during the game that our guys were able to overcome every single one of them in the most positive way that I could ask of them. It was an extra bonus that we came out with the win tonight.”
Norwich is now 2-0 on the season and tied with Chenango Forks at the top for the Class B division. Norwich will face Maine-Endwell at home on September 15. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.