SECTION IV FOOTBALL: SPOONHOWER, DEFENSE LEAD NEWARK VALLEY TO FIRST VICTORY (2022-10-01)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY — Sloppy may be an understatement, but it can’t overshadow the fact that the Newark Valley football team put a “W” in the books here Saturday.
Landon Spoonhower rushed for more than 100 yards and scored three touchdowns while a solid defense kept Chenango Valley out of the endzone in the Cardinals’ 29-0 Section IV Division III victory.
“I'm really happy for them that they get to feel some success here,” NV coach Ted Hardenstine said. “I've been happy with the work that they put in and it makes it hard when you've been going for a number of weeks now, going back to the beginning of camp, and they haven't had the feel of a win yet. The biggest emotion I'm feeling now is just happy for them to be able to feel a win.”
In a game which featured seven turnovers and 18 penalties, NV dominated most of the first half to pick up its first win of the season.
Newark Valley took the opening possession down to the CV nine in six plays, but fumbled the ball away.
The Cardinals’ defense would stand firm, however, forcing a Warrior three-and-out at the NV 45.
Ten plays later, quarterback Joey Sherwood scored from 10 yards out to score what would prove to be the game-winning TD. His PAT pass to Spoonhower made it 8-0 with 4:37 left in the first quarter.
CV turned the ball over on downs on its next possession after picking up just nine yards.
It took the Cardinals just two plays to build a 14-0 advantage with just over 2 ½ minutes remaining in the period. Sherwood ran 22 yards to the CV 47, then Spoonhower took it from there. The PAT failed.
The Chenango Valley offense came to life on the next possession, moving the ball 47 yards, but sputtered at the NV 27.
Following a short Newark Valley punt, CV pushed the ball deep into NV territory, but Warrior QB Tyler-John Adams fumbled into the end zone where John Mincher pounced on the pigskin.
The Cardinals weren’t able to take advantage of the turnover as Sherwood was intercepted at his own 37.
Chenango Valley returned the favor three plays later, coughing up the ball three plays later with Caleb Karp swallowing up the loose ball.
Sherwood connected with Gavin Mann for a 40-yard gain to the CV 20 on the very next play. Then, on 4th-and-11, Sherwood found Mincher open for a first-and-goal at the 10.
Following a couple of penalties, Spoonhower took a pitch from Sherwood and went seven yards for his second TD of the day. The duo hooked up on the PAT pass and NV had a 22-0 cushion with 1:52 remaining in the half.
The Cardinals went with an onside kick and Chazz Williams recovered the ball for the home team, but NV turned it over on downs.
Three plays later, Danny Truesdail picked off Adams at his own 40 and Newark Valley ran out the clock.
Defensively, NV was solid most of the game and seemed to get stronger as the contest went on.
“Really proud of our guys for sure,” Hardenstine said. “We have a goal about sudden change stops and trying to develop a defensive mentality.
“It's something we started to develop last week. We did a pretty nice job on a couple quick turnarounds up at Sus Valley and our defense got a stop and we definitely built it off of today, so I'm hoping it's going to make kind of an attitude, something that we can hang our hat on as a defense,” Hardenstine said.
CV’s Nate Marinaro opened the second half with a long kick return to the NV 39, but the Warrior offense went backwards and Marino’s punt bounced into the endzone for a touchback.
The Cardinals drove 80 yards in 16 plays with Spoonhower scoring on a 2-yard plunge with 4:24 on the clock. Derek Payne’s PAT kick made it a 29-0 contest.
NV attempted another onside kick with Truesdail recovering it at midfield. The Cardinals, bringing reserve players into the game, drove to the CV 15, before going backwards and turning the ball over on downs at the 28.
The Warriors moved the ball 60-plus yards to the NV 5, but ended up turning the ball over on downs at the 10 with six minutes to play.
Newark Valley chewed up most of the clock before fumbling the ball away at the CV 45 in the final moments.
The NV defense gave up 108 yards in the first half, but only 101 in the second, despite bringing in players off the bench.
“I'm really proud,” Hardenstine said. “We got a lot of young kids a lot of experience today. That's always really important.
“Whenever they can come out on the field and still be a part of keeping the shutout, that's really important to those kids individually. It's important to us as a team and ultimately important to us as a program, so really proud of them.”
The Cardinals rolled up 323 yards offense and overcame four turnovers and nine penalties to improve to 1-3 on the season (1-2 in the division).
“We can't have the holdings, for sure,” Hardenstine said. “We had some discussions at half time about that and it was better in the second half.
“I'm glad we had a game like that though too, because we can correct it on film and tape, but until they have it called on them a few times to believe like, yeah, that's a hold.
“I'm hoping that this helps, like every experience that you have during the year kind of helps build off of itself. I thought the second half we played a much cleaner game as well already, so I hope we can build off of it.”
Thirteen different Cardinals handled the rock with Spoonhower finishing with 114 yards on 15 carries. Sherwood ran for 64 and threw for 85 more. Eric Hunt added 36 yards rushing and receiving, Truesdail and Kaiden Pado ran for 38 and 33, respectively, Mincher added 33 receiving, and Danny Pirger, Cooper Davis, Danny Boldis, Dylan Iverson and Alec Rosenberg all got touches.
The Cardinals have a bye week and return to action
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IN PHOTO 1: NV’s Gavin Mann. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
