SECTION IV FOOTBALL: OWEGO FALLS TO WAVERLY IN CRUCIAL DIVISION BATTLE (24 PHOTOS) (2025-10-18)
Tioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — Waverly quarterback Ben Shaw accounted for most of the yardage on the game-winning drive as the Wolverines battled past Owego, 14-7, in a crucial Section IV football clash here Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, Waverly clinched the Division III title and dropped the River Hawks down to third place. Owego can lock up a playoff spot and the Class B third seed next week.
“It felt like offensively we were kind of clicking more so than we have the past two, three weeks, but kind of the same thing every now and then, get behind the sticks,” Owego coach Patton Taylor said.
“I thought it was a very well-played game by both teams,” Waverly coach Jason Miller said.
The Wolverines put together a 47-yard drive early in the fourth quarter and quarterback Ben Shaw wasted little time moving the pigskin toward the Owego end zone. He found Ronin Ault open for a 7-yard pass, then ran a keeper for two more.
After an Owego penalty gave Waverly a first down at the 33, Ben Shaw found Ault open again, this time for a 12-yard gain. Ben Shaw tacked on a 6-yard keeper to the 15 before the game was halted briefly due to a power outage to the scoreboard.
Once the scoreboard lit back up, Ben Shaw was stopped for no gain, but found Hogan Shaw for seven yards and a first-and-goal at the eight. Ben Shaw ran three consecutive keepers, the last from the one for a touchdown. Hogan Shaw’s PAT kick made it 14-7 with 7:35 remaining in the game.
“He just wills his way,” Miller said of his QB. “A lot of times it's not because of his speed. We did a good job kicking out and sealing everything down to the inside, and he was able to get in. He's been really good within the five-yard line.
“Line did a fantastic job, has done a fantastic job all year, especially in those types of situations. Putting an extra blocker with the tailback in that situation gets a little more, one more guy that takes care of another guy that they have in a box, so it does a good job of just pressing forward and leaning forward. I'm glad to see him continue to do that.”
Following a River Hawks three-and-out, Waverly would take advantage of a late hit penalty and an unsportsmanlike conduct flagging directed at the sideline to move the ball to the Owego 41. A holding penalty moved the ball back into Wolverine territory, but Ben Shaw completed back-to-back passes to Daltton Davis for 10 yards and Matthias Welles for 11 to put the ball at the Owego 30.
The Wolverines would turn the ball over on downs at the Owego 24, but left the River Hawks with just under 2 ½ minutes on the clock. Dylan Brace picked up three yards on the next two plays, then the Wolverines declined a holding penalty. Following an incomplete pass by Garret Phelps, the River Hawks’ QB scrambled for eight yards and a first down at the 37.
The next six plays resulted in three incomplete passes, two sacks, a 13-yard completion to Brace and an interception by Jusrin Koenig which came at the Waverly 46 with three seconds to go.
“They did everything they could to save that time out,” Miller said. “David mentioned that fourth down conversion saved us a lot of time and gave us an option there. We kept our timeouts. We were able to think about that play, but they do throw the ball.
“I think they throw the ball very well. I thought against them we had a pretty good plan. They didn't come out and do that. They stuck to the run, ran the quarterback off some outside veer look, which we haven't seen since the (Steve) Virkler days. There were a lot of different things they did.
“Similarly, we did a lot of different things that we haven't been doing in the last four or five weeks so I think it was just a really good defensive battle. I thought both defensive coordinators did a really good job of just containing and maybe bending a little bit, but never really breaking.”
The Wolverines scored the game’s first TD on a 2-yard Ben Shaw keeper with 22 seconds remaining in the first half. It took Waverly just three plays to find the end zone with Ben Shaw 46-yard toss to Chase Wheeler setting up the TD. Hogan Shaw's kick gave the visitors a 7-0 advantage.
Owego opened the second half with a 45-yard kickoff return by Sam Sherwood, allowing the offense to start at the Waverly 48. Despite a trio of penalties, the River Hawks would find the end zone to knot the score.
Phelps ran three times for 33 yards and Brace had three carries for 31 with Phelps scoring on a 2-yard keeper and Brace splitting the uprights to tie the score at 6:34 of the third period.
The Wolverines had an opportunity to break the deadlock on their next possession. Hogan Shaw connected with Wheeler for 10 yards on first-and-20, then found Davis open for 47 yards to the Owego six.
Waverly coughed the ball up on the exchange on the very next play and the River Hawks’ Atlas Boland recovered the ball at the eight, but Owego was unable to capitalize on the miscue.
“Field position, that was it. Basically the entire game, field position played a big role in that game,” Taylor said. “That fumble down there, that was big, but we go out, our offense is inside the five-yard line. That's a tough spot to be in. We were able to get a little bit of space, but not a whole lot of space. That's just the way it went today.”.
Owego suffered another three-and-out, but three plays later John Farrell made an over-the-shoulder interception at his own five and Owego took over at the three. The River Hawks managed to gain just eight yards and had to punt early in the fourth quarter, leading to the game-winning drive.
Both teams displayed solid defensive efforts to start the game as Waverly punted twice and Owego punted once.
The River Hawks’ second possession of the day started at their own 20, but ended without points as Waverly blocked Brace’s field goal attempt.
Both teams punted on their next possessions before Waverly broke the scoreless tie.
Hogan Shaw’s 54-yard punt helped the Wolverines set up their initial TD as it pinned Owego back at its own seven and the River Hawks could only move the ball out to their own 31 before punting, giving Waverly the ball at its own 48.
Miller was pleased with the Wolverines’ well-rounded team effort.
“I thought there were a lot of contributions,” he said. “Cooper ran really hard early in the game. We had Ronan Alt there in that fourth quarter, made some key receptions. Matthias had that catch down the middle, Chase. There's a lot of guys that got involved, and that's good to see. We're not so one track at what we're doing, so it was nice to be able to distribute the ball around a little bit.”
“We did have our opportunities. It just didn't go our way today,” Taylor said. “The boys played incredibly hard. I'm proud of their effort. They knew heading into this it was going to be that type of game, so the intensity, the effort, the focus, it was all there. Very happy with how the boys played.”
Statistically, the Wolverines, ranked third among the state’s Class B teams, had 250 yards offense and No. 13 Owego had 211.
Ben Shaw went 8-for-16 through the air for 147 yards. Davis caught two passes for 57 yards, Wheeler had two for 56 and Ault had two for 23. Welles grabbed one reception for 11 yards and Hogan Shaw tacked on one for seven more. Cooper Robinson rushed for 80 yards on 15 carries, Ben Shaw had 18 on 13 runs and Welles added three rushes for six yards.
The River Hawks finished with 211 yards offense. Brace rushed for 92 on 17 carries and caught three passes for 41 more. Phelps contributed 45 yards on the ground on 15 runs and was 3-for-11 through the air. Farrell added four rushes for 28 yards and Stefano Scherrer ran the ball once for five yards.
Defensively, Brace and Derique Ellis recorded six tackles apiece. Lynkon Craft and Payden Morales contributed five each,Dylan Davis, Nolan Card and Sherwood added four apiece, and Boland and Dom Scherrer tacked on three each.
Both teams were penalized several times with Owego drawing 11 flags for 85 yards and Waverly getting nine for 99 yards.
Waverly completes its division schedule with a 4-0 record and is 7-0 overall. The Wolverines host unbeaten and Class C No. 1 Chenango Forks on Friday night. Owego (4-3 overall) is 1-2 and in third place in the division. The River Hawks visit Johnson City (1-4, 0-2 division) on Friday.
“Obviously would have liked to have walked out of here with a win and create a log jam in the division, but that's not how it went today,” Taylor said. “But their effort and intensity, couldn’t be happier.”
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IN PHOTO 1: Owego’s Dylan Brace. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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