SECTION IV FOOTBALL: OWEGO ROLLS TO 35-7 VICTORY OVER VESTAL (24 PHOTOS) (2019-09-20)
BY TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports ReportOWEGO — Owego stepped outside its division and, with the exception of a couple of hiccups, crjuised to a 35-7 victory over Vestal at Christy J. Valvo Stadium Friday night.
The Indians would score on a trio of 1-yard runs to build a 21-7 halftime advantage and never looked back.
Quarterback Nick Wasyln got things going — once the Indians got going. After connecting with his brother, Mike, for a 13-yard gain out near midfield, he threw three straight incompletions, the first two ending the team's initial possession.
"It was jitters in the beginning of the game. We were just taking our eye off the ball," said Owego head coach Steve Virkler. "I thought Nick was right on the money with his throws, especially early on and we didn't capitalize on that, but then we kind of buckled down and started feeding the big fella (Gio Fabi) the ball a little bit and got behind him and we were able to get some first downs and pout some points on the board.
After punting on its first two possessions, Owego would get the ball at the Vestal 36 late in the first quarter. A Nick Wasyln pass to Zach Miner and a pair of 7-yard runs by Fabi helped move the ball down to the one, where Wasyln plunged in for the touchdown. Nate Bennett's PAT kick made it 7-0 with 32.3 seconds left in the period.
Nick Wasyln added a second 1-yard keeper with 4:52 to go in the second quarter, capping a 13-play, 76-yard drive. He Wasyln hooked up with Bennett on two throws for 21 yards and Fabi toted the rock five times for 41 yards to highlight the effort.
In the first play of the ensuing possession, the Golden Bears were dinged with a personal foul and were pushed back to their own 16, but QB Andrew Carr dashed for 18 yards on a keeper to erase the sting of the penalty. Three plays later, Collin Kintner found a hole on the right said and darted through for a 55-yard TD run to close the gap to 14-7.
However, that was one of the few hiccups in Owego's defensive strategy.
"The one drive, I think we had two breakdowns," Virkler said. "The one went for a touchdown ... but other than that I thought we were pretty stiff defensively and did some real good things, and I thought it was a good overall team effort."
Of course, it didn't take long for the Indians to retaliate after giving up the score. On its next possession, Owego took just seven plays and slightly more than two minutes to march 65 yards and build a 21-7 halftime cushion.
Fabi had runs of 12 and 15 yards. Travis Raynor and Ben Miller picked up nine and 15 yards, respectively, and in between, Nick Wasyln threw to Miner for 14. Fabi bulled in from the one to cap the drive.
Vestal nearly scored again on Owen Mieczkowski's 51-yard kick return, but Evan Bidwell brought him down at the Owego 26 to avoid a potential TD.
"Kickoffs still concerns me," said Virkler. "Last week, our kickoff was our weakest special team and I thought tonight again, we gave up one big one. They didn't score, but right there before half we gave them field position with an opportunity to score. Our defense kind of backed them up and didn't let them punch it in. That's got to get better. We've got to fix that if we're going to compete with the really good teams."
The Bears would push the ball to the 11, but Carr was tackled twice for losses as the clock ran out on the first half.
Vestal received the second-half kick, but turned the ball over on downs at its own 49. Miller picked up 23 yards down to the 28 and six plays later, Wasyln went around the left side on an 11-yard scamper as the Indians increased their lead to 28-7 midway through the third quarter.
After an exchange of punts, Owego drove the nail into the Bears' coffin with Cameron Doane's fumble recovery at the Vestal 43.
The Indians tacked on an insurance TD three plays later. Following an 11-yard Wasyln-to-Wasyln pass to the 32, Fabi swept right and displayed some nice speed down the sideline for the game's final TD.
"I was really happy for him," Virkler said. "He made a good adjustment on that because it was supposed to be a middle play and then they kind of clogged it up, and I thought our line got a really good push on that and then he took over and showed his athleticism, had a nice stiff-arm down there on the 10-yard line and took it in."
While the Owego scoring was limited to Nick Wasyln and Fabi, and Bennett's 5-for-5 PAT kicking effort, the Indians had several players contribute to the victory.
"One hundred percent," said Virkler. "Our first two games, Forks was tough and we had a really tight game, obviously, with Norwich, and we had some guys that didn't get a lot of time, but they continue to work hard every day in practice. They make us better. We talk about that all the time. We've got 31 guys on the squad, there's 31 guys that are making us better. Happy that we could get everybody in the game today and get some quality time."
Owego racked up 319 yards offense and Vestal had 201, 84 coming on its TD drive.
Fabi rushed for 123 yards on the night and eight other backs combined for 117 more. Mike Wasyln caught four passes for 39 yards, Miner caught two for 27 and Bennett grabbed a pair for 23.
Owego (2-1) hosts Oneonta (1-2) for Homecoming Friday night.
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IN PHOTO 1: Owego's Mason Pratt (65) leads the way for Ben Miller. ... PHOTOS 1-16 BY TIM TAYLOR. PHOTOS 17-24 COURTESY OF CATHY DOANE.
