SECTION IV FOOTBALL: SVEC WINS UGLY OVER NEWARK VALLEY (2023-09-16)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY — There’s simply no other way to put it. SVEC’s 11-0 Section IV Division V victory over Newark Valley Saturday afternoon was downright ugly.
Referees assessed 24 penalties for 178 yards and neither team’s offense could find the end zone. In the end, it was the Eagles’ defense which stepped up to record all the points with two safeties and a pick six.
“Our defensive unit, they're strong, they're tight, they play together, they feed off each other and I’m really proud of the way that those guys work,” SVEC coach Mike Chaffee said. “They had their backs up against the wall a couple times. They stayed strong and they leaned on each other, and they came out on top.”
Both teams battled hard, but it was almost as if Murphy’s Law had possessed both sides.
“We didn't play clean enough,” NV coach Ted Hardenstine said. “It was a hard fought game. We did some really good things at times. First half especially, we were able to move the ball and came out pretty strong I thought, offensively, but we just couldn't finish drives.
“Some were kind of bad breaks and some of them were self-inflicted with guys leaning, getting false start penalties. It’s stuff we’ve got to clean up and get better at some of those little things.”
Chaffee had some similar sentiments about his team.
“Any time we did get anything going, we'd have a penalty or something would bring us back,” he said. “We were able to move the ball despite probably what our stats were, despite the scoreboard, but offensively, every time we moved the ball, we’d shoot ourselves in the foot and it'd come back.
“That's kind of been the theme from the first two games too. We put the ball on the ground, stupid penalties. It's just something that we’ve got to continue to work on and continue to try and fix.”
This game’s lone touchdown, a 30-yard interception return by SVEC’s Charlie Hilbert, sealed the Eagles’ third victory in as many games. It came with 2:42 remaining, then Andrea Lo Presti squeaked the PAT kick over the crossbar to make it 11-0.
SVEC almost tacked on a late offensive TD, but a personal foul negated Jacek Teribury’s 26-yard TD run with 2:15 on the clock.
The Eagle scored their initial points on a safety with 3:04 to go in the third period.
NV’s Alec Rosenberg recovered a SVEC fumble at his own three, but the Cardinals went backward. Three consecutive penalties inched Newark Valley toward its own goal line and on second-and-11, Hilbert broke through the line and found Logan Rhodes attempting to sweep around the left side.
SVEC would get the ensuing kickoff at midfield, but traveled in reverse and ended up punting.
The Cardinals punted on their next possession early in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles would fake a punt and Teribury would pick up a first down. A horse collar penalty moved the pigskin to the NV 40.
A pair of double-digit runs by John Johnston and Teribury and a face mask penalty helped set up a first-and-goal at the two, but SVEC coughed up the ball on the next play.
Facing a second-and-10 from the three, NV dropped the rock, but recovered it in the end zone, giving the Eagles another safety and a 4-0 advantage.
Newark Valley attempted an onside kick, but SVEC recovered, only to turn the ball over on downs at the NV 29.
The Cardinals moved the ball well on their first possession of the game despite penalties. Dan Truesdail picked up 36 yards on seven rushes and Hinckley found Tim Wojtysiak with a 20-yard pass to the SVEC 15, but a holding penalty hurt the drive and NV turned the ball over on downs at the 10.
The teams traded punts, then Zach Cornell tipped a Teribury pass to Truesdail for an interception at the end of the opening stanza.
Newark Valley would move the ball down to the SVEC 7, but a pair of tackles for losses and another penalty created a fourth-and-goal at the 27.
SVEC would move the ball to the NV 11, but three incomplete passes and a tackle for a loss gave the Cardinals the ball at the 12.
The Eagles failed to convert a fake punt on the first possession of the third quarter, then NV was forced to punt following a pair of false start flaggings.
The teams then traded fumbles with Teribury and Austin Cottrill recovering the rock at his own one a couple plays prior to the first safety.
The Cardinals were flagged 17 times for 123 yards while the Eagles suffered eight penalties for 55 more.
NV turned the ball over four times and the Eagles gave it away three times.
Both teams can learn from the day’s miscues.
“The takeaway is that the kids have got a lot of heart,” Chaffe said. “We definitely have kids that are willing to fight and willing to do what it takes to win. What we really need to do is just continue to move the ball on offense and not to not hurt ourselves with penalties and turnovers.”
“Real proud of the way our guys fought,” Hardenstine said. “I think we have a group here that we can still do something with. I was proud of the way we fought and there were a lot of times where we easily could have folded, where momentum and the side of the field that we were on looked pretty bleak, and we responded a number of times and came up with a big play.
“We talk a lot about our kids having grit and I thought they showed it a bunch of times today. Unfortunately, we just weren't able to make enough plays to get on the right side of the scoreboard.”
SVEC had 209 yards offense to 159 for Newark Valley.
Teribury ran for 109 yards on 16 carries as SVEC had 171 yards on the ground. He completed just two of nine pass attempts for 38 yards, but one was a 37-yarder toss to Logan Aman.
Truesdail had 15 carries for 61 of NV’s 106 rushing yards and added three receptions for 15 more yards. Wojtysiak caught one pass for 20 yards and Gabe Merrill grabbed one pass for 15 more.
SVEC (3-0, 1-0) hosts Deposit/Hancock Friday night in its first home game of the season. NV (0-2, 0-1) visits Harpursville/Afton (0-3, 0-2) Saturday afternoon.
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IN PHOTO 1: SVEC’s Deveon Aman brings down NV’s Logan Rhodes for a safety. ... TCSR STOCK PHOTO.
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