SECTION IV FOOTBALL: SVEC TOPS ONTEORA TO COMPLETE UNBEATEN SEASON (2021-04-17)

BY LARRY JACKSON
Tioga County Sports Report
SIDNEY — SVEC erupted for 30 third-quarter points in a neutral-site win over Onteora of Section IX here in an 8-man football showcase on Saturday night. That outburst allowed for the Eagles to cruise to a 68-41 shootout win.

After playing on Tuesday, the Eagles rallied to victory to finish the season undefeated at 5-0. In the five games, SVEC averaged 54.8 points per game.

“This game was a lot like Tuesday with the preparation time and the start we had,” said SVEC coach Mike Chaffee. “We found the spark that we needed and a couple things went our way to put us on top.”

The game opened up with a touchdown for SVEC, which scored on three plays capped off by a Devin Beach 6-yard touchdown run following two big runs.

On the first play from scrimmage for Onteora, they struck gold with a 65-yard touchdown pass from Owen Allison to Anthony Uhmey. That connection was their bread-and-butter throughout the matchup, and gave them a 7-6 lead.

Onteora scored again, but this time from the defensive side of the ball. A bad snap by SVEC allowed Onteora to scoop-and-score from 11 yards away to bring the score to 13-6.

The Eagles answered to retake the lead on the next possession, and they would never trail again.

Quarterback Nick Thomas found Beach for 36 yards, which set up a Beach touchdown to give his team a 14-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.

With momentum swaying toward Onteora’s sideline following SVEC running back Hunter Haynes leaving the game with an injury, the Eagles scored with 8 seconds remaining in the half on a 38-second drive, capped by a Thomas 40-yard pass to Beach. SVEC led 22-13 at the half.

SVEC came out revitalized in the second half as they poured on 30 points off four touchdowns to separate themselves from the visitors from Section IX. The touchdowns from SVEC came from an average of 34 yards — Beach scored on runs of 56, 55 and 17 years, and Jofre added an 8-yard score.

The Eagles led 52-21 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Onteora did not go away in the fourth quarter as they added three touchdown passes from Allison — two of them to Uhmey. SVEC added two touchdowns from a scoop-and-score of their own along with a Nick Thomas 33-yard scramble to pull away from their opponent for the 27-point victory.

Allison was involved with every touchdown on the offensive end. He threw for four touchdown passes, while rushing for one as well. Allison completed 11 passes on 17 attempts and accounted for 450 total yards.

Beach also had an impressive day both on the ground and through the air as he tallied 218 total yards to go along with four rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown.  Pavel Jofre came off the bench to rush for 65 yards and two touchdowns.

SVEC ends the season with a perfect 5-0 record and will return many underclassmen for the fall season coming in just a few months.

“We had a lot of young guys that played well for us,” Chaffee added. “Hopefully it’s something that we can carry with us into next year.”

NOTE: Due to a technical issue, photos of this game can not be uploaded at this time. They will be uploaded once the problem is corrected.