SECTION IV FOOTBALL: NEWARK VALLEY GIVES STATE CHAMPS TOO MANY GIFTS IN LOSS (24 PHOTOS) (2019-09-21)
BY TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports ReportNEWARK VALLEY — To win football games you need to cut down on the number of advantages you give to the opposing team. When that foe is the defending state champion, you can't afford to give them any gifts.
Unfortunately for Newark Valley, the opportunities it afforded Susquehanna Valley led to a 58-21 victory for the Sabers here Saturday afternoon. Top-ranked Sus Valley would turn three interceptions and a pair of blocked punts into touchdowns to build a comfortable 30-point advantage at the half.
"We've got to play cleaner," said NV head coach Ted Hardenstine. "Good team, bad team, you have two blocked punts and that many turnovers, you're not going to win.
"Hats off to them. I don't want to underestimate or undercut what they did because they earned a lot, but we certainly shot ourselves in the foot a bunch of times as well. We had a couple of flashes at times, but definitely not as consistent as we need to be to win football games."
The blocked punts came on consecutive NV possessions and thwarted an impressive start to the day for the Cardinals. Newark Valley had already scored on the game's first possession and Caden Bennett intercepted a pass for a touchback on SV's first possession.
A botched play and a penalty put NV into a fourth-and-20 at its own 10 and the first of two consecutive blocked punts gave the Sabers the ball at the NV 22. It took Mitch Knapp two runs to reach the end zone, but the PAT kick went wide left to leave the Cardinals clinging to a 7-6 lead.
After Logan Haskell saved a potential TD by Bennett on the ensuing kickoff return, the Sabers blocked another punt and it took Knapp just one 33-yard run to put SV on top. Haskell's PAT pass to Matt Fiorentino put SV up for good, 14-7.
On the next kickoff return, this one by Radyn Ford, Haskell once again stopped a potential TD return, but couldn't prevent the Cardinals from Reaching paydirt. Two double-digit runs by Josh Duke and Mike Wandell's 26-yard pass to Ford set up Bennett's 1-yard plunge to tie the score at 14 with 21.2 second left in the first quarter.
It took the Sabers just seven plays to get the lead back as Haskell hit a wide-open Pat Cooper with a 34-yard TD strike. Another missed PAT attempt left the visitors on top, 20-14.
On the second play of the ensuing possession, Hayden King picked off Wandell. Haskell scored on a 20-yard keeper, the Sabers finally put a PAT kick between the uprights and SV had a 28-14 lead with 8:37 left in the half.
Newark Valley's woes continued on its next drive as Brendan Hoffman picked off a Wandell pass on the third play and returned the ball 24 yards for a TD. Haskell's PAT run pushed the lead to 36-14 with 6:55 remaining before intermission.
The Cardinals appeared to turn things around on the next drive, marching 71 yards down to the SV 2. However, on third-and-goal from the five, Anthony Dominguez stepped in front of a Wandell pass in the end zone and took the pigskin 103 yards in the other direction. Haskell's PAT run made it 44-14 at the break.
The Cardinal defense would stop Sus Valley at the NV 39 to opn the second half, but NV would go three and out, and runs of 19 and 21 yards by Dominguez would set up King's 5-yard run for a 51-14 lead at 5:21 of the third period.
NV countered with a 7-play, 75-yard drive to to close the gap to 51-21 with 1:05 left in the third. A 43-yard sweep around the right side by Ford and Bennett's 24-yard dash to the left helped move the ball to the SV 5. Ford scored from a yard out and Dawson Moncalari added the final NV point of the day with the PAT kick.
An unsuccessful onside kick attempt gave the Sabers the ball at the NV 42 to end the third quarter. Four plays later, RJ Glassman scored on a 25-yard run and Haskell's kick closed out the scoring, giving Sus Valley a 58-21 cushion.
The Sabers would pick off one more pass on the day, stopping a Cardinal drive inside the SV 40, but Mike Post recovered a fumble at his own 27 five plays later.
At the onset of the day, it appeared things might actually go Newark Valley's way. The Cardinals took the opening kick at the 18 and quickly reached midfield on a 32-yard Wandell-to-Jake Armstrong pass. Four plays later, Wandell hooked up with Armstrong again and the big tight end broke a tackle at the 24, and lumbered into the end zone for the game's first score. Moncalari's kick made it 7-0.
The NV defense responded in kind with Bennett intercepting a Haskell pass for a touchback. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, their misfortunes began shortly afterward.
NV has been dealing with some illness in the lineup and Saturday's heat didn't help matters any — not to mention the Cardinals have been dealing with a variety of injuries to various personnel since the preseason.
"Sicknesses, injuries are all part of the game of football and part of the season, and we're never going to let that be something that gets in our way of winning," Hardenstine said. "I was proud of the way the guys fought through and didn't make excuses about it, so we'll hope to build off of that and that attitude to hopefully hit the ground running with the division next week getting started."
Newark Valley is trying to snap a seven-game skid which dates back to last season. Hardenstine is hoping it begins Friday night when the Cardinals (0-3) open Section IV Division III play at OM / WG (1-2).
"It's going to have to take a couple more plays to be made by our kids in a game and getting our kids to realize there's never been a game on the best teams we've been a part of, the worst teams we've been a part of, there's never a game where everything goes smooth. You're always going to face some adversity along the way," Hardenstine said. "We need to have some kids respond and step up as leaders and show our kids the way, put them on their back a little bit."
Statistically, NV out-gained Sus Valley, 315-302. Bennett picked up 106 yards on 16 touches with 94 coming on the ground. Wandell completed five of 14 passes for 112 yards with Armstrong making two grabs for 75 yards. Ford added 66 yards offense, and Wandell, Josh Duke, Andrew Obregon, Hayden Flesher and Josh Post combined for an additional 67 on the ground.
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IN PHOTO 1: NV's Jake Armstrong. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR
