SECTION IV FOOTBALL: NEWARK VALLEY UPSET BID COMES UP SHORT (12 PHOTOS) (2025-10-24)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY — Newark Valley flirted with an upset on Senior Night, but came up short against Trumansburg, 28-21, in Section IV Division VII football action here Friday night.
The Cardinals came up with some big plays, just not enough against T-burg, which is an honorable mention in the Class D state rankings.
“We definitely left a few opportunities out there and, unfortunately, we weren't able to come out with a win after those missed opportunities,” coach Ted Hardenstine said.
“We had plenty of momentum. Defense did a lot of good things. That was a challenging offense to play against. They had some plays against us, but the defense got some stops. Offensively, we just couldn't quite finish.”
The Blue Raiders jumped on NV early, scoring on a pair of passes by Vinny King — 21 yards to Dafydd Williams and 25 yards to Aidan Clarke-Cabezas. The touchdowns came at 8:57 and 3:09 of the first quarter and Clarke-Cabezas’ PAT kicks gave the visitors a 14-0 advantage.
“Trumansburg came out quick,” Hardenstine said. “They got up, scored early on us a couple times. We didn't get much going on offense, then we were able to put a drive together, have some big chunk plays.”
NV responded with a 55-yard run by Zion King at 1:46 of the period and Nate Hinckley’s PAT pass to Tim Wojtysiak trimmed the margin to 14-8.
The Cardinals would take the lead just 11 seconds into the second quarter on Oliver Ferguson’s 55-yard fumble return after King coughed the ball up while being sacked. Cooper Davis split the uprights with the PAT kick and Newark Valley edged in front, 15-14.
“I'm not sure if Oliver had the sack too, but it was a defensive touchdown on a sack, scoop-and-score,” Hardenstine said. “Oliver scored there to take the lead. We ended up going for two because there was a penalty to shorten it up so we got up.”
Eamon Herman scored on a 4-yard run with 8:39 to go in the half and the Raiders would lead, 20-15, at intermission.
“We got behind the sticks in the first half,” said hardenstine. “We had a holding penalty and that ended the drive we couldn't recover from. And then at the end, unfortunate, it didn't work out. You know, we had one timeout left there. Thought we had enough time with seven seconds left to run a quick one and call timeout, and unfortunately, it was one of those weird plays where he's fighting for yards forever and the whistle doesn't blow and we couldn't get an extra play there at the end of the half.”
Following a scoreless third period, NV regained the lead as Hinckley scored on a 41-yard run. The senior quarterback looked like he had been stopped on a fourth-and-two, but managed to break free for the score with 11:29 left in the game.
T-burg bounced right back, however, with Clarke-Cabezas scoring on a 5-yard run with 8:08 remaining and added a two-point PAR to make it 28-21.
NV outgained T-burg, 305-230, picking up 261 of its yards on the ground.
Hinckley ran 13 times for 95 yards, Zion King had eight carries for 82 yards and Davis added nine rushes for another 68. The Cardinals also had 44 yards passing with Wojtysiak completing a 37-yard toss to Tristan Veruto.
Clark-Cabezas rushed for 109 yards on 15 carries and King completed eight of 13 passes to six different receivers.
T-burg (5-3 overall) improves to 3-1 in division play while NV (3-5 overall) slips to 1-3 in the division. The Cardinals travel to Groton (3-4, 1-3 division) next Saturday.
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IN PHOTO 1: NV’s Titus Callahan. IN TOP PHOTO: NV’s Cooper Davis. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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