Miscues hamper Tornado in playoff loss to River Hawks
Congratulations to the Norwich Purple Tornado football team on a good 2024 season; best of luck to the seniors. (Photo by Morgan Golliver)
OWEGO – Norwich was on its heels from the first offensive play of the game. Coupled with an unfortunate amalgamation of untimely execution and miscues, the Purple Tornado saw their football season end Friday night at Owego.
The River Hawks built a two-score lead midway through the first quarter, and answered Norwich’s brief stint of momentum to pick up a 34-14 victory in the semifinals of the Section IV Class B playoffs.
It was the second win for Owego (8-1), who beat Norwich (6-4) 28-6 in the regular season.
“We shot ourselves in the foot over and over again,” said Norwich coach Mike Chrystie. “We had controllable mistakes, that for the most part, we’ve been good with all year. To couple those negative plays in a big game was disheartening.”
At the outset, it wasn’t a mistake but merely a big shot in the gut from Owego that led to an early lead.
Following a Norwich penalty on the first series of the game, Owego quarterback Dalton Malmstrom connected with receiver Caleb Cole on a short pass. That seemingly innocuous connection led to a prolific catch-and-run that yielded a 42-yard gain to the Norwich 12.
Two plays later, the River Hawks’ Dylan Brace scored the first of his two scores from seven yards out.
Two possessions later, Owego moved the ball into Norwich territory, but the Purple Tornado stopped a fourth-and-one situation.
As nice as that stop was, Norwich was unable to convert a first down leading to its second punt of the game.
On this boot, instead of Norwich covering the punt cleanly like the first punt of the game, Owego’s Jack Buchsbaum fielded the ball at his team’s 20. After some nifty moves and reversing his field, Buchsbaum housed the 80-yard return leading to a 13-0 lead.
“We pride ourselves with our special teams, and to this point of the season, we hadn’t had any punt coverage issues,” Chrystie said.
Still, Norwich showed resolve in the second quarter.
Quarterback Steven Dowdall hit Leland Montgomery on a 20-yard TD pass paring the deficit to 13-7 following the successful point-after kick.
And, a key defensive stop on the next possession gave Norwich the ball at the 50-yard line with an opportunity to tie or take the lead.
Yet, Murphy’s Law - anything that can go wrong will go wrong – reared its head immediately.
On the first play of that next possession, Norwich fumbled a handoff away ending that threat.
Norwich staved off that misfortune with another key fourth-down stop, and again had the ball with an opportunity to take the lead.
Norwich’s offense stalled after one first down, and was forced to punt from near midfield. The ensuing punt snap; however, sailed over Norwich punter Zack Parker’s head, and the change of possession had Owego in prime scoring territory.
Four plays later, Owego raised its lead to two scores.
Malmstrom tossed a 14-yard scoring pass to Evan English with 32 seconds left in the half giving the River Hawks a 21-7 advantage.
Norwich moved the ball in spurts in the second half to no avail, while Owego cashed in on a pair of short scoring drives raising the home club’s lead to 34-7 entering the fourth.
Braden Hagenbuch, who finished with 23 carries for 135 yards, capstoned his successful season for the Tornado scoring from 12 yards out with less than three minutes remaining in the game.
“I’m extremely proud of this group, and they came to work every day,” Chrystie said. “They were an absolute joy to be around every single day, and I can’t say enough good things about the senior leadership.”
Tornado musings: Braden Hagenbuch joined an exclusive Norwich club eclipsing the 1,000-yard rushing mark following his 135-yard performance on Friday. Hagenbuch finished with 1,146 yards on 152 carries. That single-season total likely puts Hagenbuch among the 10-best single-season rushing marks in Tornado annals.…Steven Dowdall finished his three-year career with 29 games at quarterback, 3,287 passing yards, and 35 touchdown passes. The total yards and touchdown passes are the highest total of any Norwich quarterback over the past 30 seasons...Norwich won the total yardage battle, albeit in a defeat, 268-249….Norwich has had little trouble putting points on the board the past two seasons. Norwich averaged 29.4 points per game this season, and 31.7 per game a year ago.
Score by quarters
NHS 0 7 0 7--14
Owego13 8 13 0—34
Scoring Summary
O, Dylan Brace 4 run (Adam Arhbal kick); O, Jack Buchsbaum 80 punt return (kick failed); N, Steven Dowdall 20 pass to Leland Montgomery (Zack Parker kick); O, Dalton Malmstrom 14 pass to Evan English (Buchsbaum run); O, Brace 4 run (kick failed); O, #17 3 run (Arhbal kick); N, Braden Hagenbuch 12 run (Parker kick).
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Owego team 32-118; Norwich: Braden Hagenbuch 23-135, TD; Leland Montgomery 2-22; Steven Dowdall 3-(-3); Zack Parker 1-(-2).
Passing: Owego: Dalton Malmstrom 6-8-0 82 yds, TD; Elijah Lewis 1-1-0, 40; Dylan Brace 1-1-0, 9yds; Buchsbaum 0-1-0, 0 yds.(N) Dowdall 7-19-0, 105 yds; TD.
Receiving: Owego team 8-131; (N) Kassen Stubb 2-41, Montgomery 3-34, TD; Zack Parker 2-30.
The River Hawks built a two-score lead midway through the first quarter, and answered Norwich’s brief stint of momentum to pick up a 34-14 victory in the semifinals of the Section IV Class B playoffs.
It was the second win for Owego (8-1), who beat Norwich (6-4) 28-6 in the regular season.
“We shot ourselves in the foot over and over again,” said Norwich coach Mike Chrystie. “We had controllable mistakes, that for the most part, we’ve been good with all year. To couple those negative plays in a big game was disheartening.”
At the outset, it wasn’t a mistake but merely a big shot in the gut from Owego that led to an early lead.
Following a Norwich penalty on the first series of the game, Owego quarterback Dalton Malmstrom connected with receiver Caleb Cole on a short pass. That seemingly innocuous connection led to a prolific catch-and-run that yielded a 42-yard gain to the Norwich 12.
Two plays later, the River Hawks’ Dylan Brace scored the first of his two scores from seven yards out.
Two possessions later, Owego moved the ball into Norwich territory, but the Purple Tornado stopped a fourth-and-one situation.
As nice as that stop was, Norwich was unable to convert a first down leading to its second punt of the game.
On this boot, instead of Norwich covering the punt cleanly like the first punt of the game, Owego’s Jack Buchsbaum fielded the ball at his team’s 20. After some nifty moves and reversing his field, Buchsbaum housed the 80-yard return leading to a 13-0 lead.
“We pride ourselves with our special teams, and to this point of the season, we hadn’t had any punt coverage issues,” Chrystie said.
Still, Norwich showed resolve in the second quarter.
Quarterback Steven Dowdall hit Leland Montgomery on a 20-yard TD pass paring the deficit to 13-7 following the successful point-after kick.
And, a key defensive stop on the next possession gave Norwich the ball at the 50-yard line with an opportunity to tie or take the lead.
Yet, Murphy’s Law - anything that can go wrong will go wrong – reared its head immediately.
On the first play of that next possession, Norwich fumbled a handoff away ending that threat.
Norwich staved off that misfortune with another key fourth-down stop, and again had the ball with an opportunity to take the lead.
Norwich’s offense stalled after one first down, and was forced to punt from near midfield. The ensuing punt snap; however, sailed over Norwich punter Zack Parker’s head, and the change of possession had Owego in prime scoring territory.
Four plays later, Owego raised its lead to two scores.
Malmstrom tossed a 14-yard scoring pass to Evan English with 32 seconds left in the half giving the River Hawks a 21-7 advantage.
Norwich moved the ball in spurts in the second half to no avail, while Owego cashed in on a pair of short scoring drives raising the home club’s lead to 34-7 entering the fourth.
Braden Hagenbuch, who finished with 23 carries for 135 yards, capstoned his successful season for the Tornado scoring from 12 yards out with less than three minutes remaining in the game.
“I’m extremely proud of this group, and they came to work every day,” Chrystie said. “They were an absolute joy to be around every single day, and I can’t say enough good things about the senior leadership.”
Tornado musings: Braden Hagenbuch joined an exclusive Norwich club eclipsing the 1,000-yard rushing mark following his 135-yard performance on Friday. Hagenbuch finished with 1,146 yards on 152 carries. That single-season total likely puts Hagenbuch among the 10-best single-season rushing marks in Tornado annals.…Steven Dowdall finished his three-year career with 29 games at quarterback, 3,287 passing yards, and 35 touchdown passes. The total yards and touchdown passes are the highest total of any Norwich quarterback over the past 30 seasons...Norwich won the total yardage battle, albeit in a defeat, 268-249….Norwich has had little trouble putting points on the board the past two seasons. Norwich averaged 29.4 points per game this season, and 31.7 per game a year ago.
Score by quarters
NHS 0 7 0 7--14
Owego13 8 13 0—34
Scoring Summary
O, Dylan Brace 4 run (Adam Arhbal kick); O, Jack Buchsbaum 80 punt return (kick failed); N, Steven Dowdall 20 pass to Leland Montgomery (Zack Parker kick); O, Dalton Malmstrom 14 pass to Evan English (Buchsbaum run); O, Brace 4 run (kick failed); O, #17 3 run (Arhbal kick); N, Braden Hagenbuch 12 run (Parker kick).
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Owego team 32-118; Norwich: Braden Hagenbuch 23-135, TD; Leland Montgomery 2-22; Steven Dowdall 3-(-3); Zack Parker 1-(-2).
Passing: Owego: Dalton Malmstrom 6-8-0 82 yds, TD; Elijah Lewis 1-1-0, 40; Dylan Brace 1-1-0, 9yds; Buchsbaum 0-1-0, 0 yds.(N) Dowdall 7-19-0, 105 yds; TD.
Receiving: Owego team 8-131; (N) Kassen Stubb 2-41, Montgomery 3-34, TD; Zack Parker 2-30.
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