SECTION IV FOOTBALL: NEWARK VALLEY SHUTS OUT HARPURSVILLE/AFTON FOR FIRST WIN (September 23, 2023)

By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
HARPURSVILLE — Newark Valley used a balance attack to register its first victory of the season Saturday, shutting out Harpursville/ Afton, 31-0, in Section IV Division V football action.

The win was a nice morale booster for NV.

“It’s been a couple long weeks here when you go through all of camp and then the first two games, and you don't get a win, so I'm glad we were able to play well enough to get a win today and get everybody out on the field and get a little dirty and get a little sweaty,” NV coach Ted Hardenstine said.

The teams traded punts — sort of — to start the game. A sack by Danny Truesdail with some help from Matt Keller forced the Eagles to punt from deep in their own territory. Truesdail got enough of it to drop the ball at the H/A 4.

Two plays later, Logan Rhodes took it in from the three. The PAT run failed, but the Cardinals had a 6-0 lead with 6:50 on the clock.

Failed PAT attempts plagued NV on its first four touchdowns, but would not factor in the outcome of the contest anyway.

NV dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage up until that final H/A possession. Despite the missed PATs, the penalties and a few other mistakes, the Cardinals did show improvement.

“It's the name of the game every single year,” Hardenstine said. “No matter if you come out with wins early or losses early, you just try to make sure that you're improving, to get to the level of play where hopefully you can still be competing into late October and early November. Hopefully we keep taking steps in the right direction, keep getting better and, hopefully we can get a few more wins.”

On Harpursville’s next possession Keller took Cooper Warren down for a loss on third-and-5 and a high snap on the punt gave the Cardinals the ball near midfield.

Zach Cornell found Tim Wojtysiak open for a 28-yard gain to the 17 and six plays later, on the first play of the second quarter, Kaiden Pado plunged in from the one for a 12-0 NV advantage.

The Eagles’ next possession resulted in another blocked punt with Truesdail scooping up the loose pigskin and bolting 35 yards for a TD, giving NV an 18-0 cushion with 9:32 left in the half.

Harpursville quarterback Devon Rowe coughed up the ball on a bad pitch on the first play of the next series and Cooper Davis recovered the ball at the H/A 12. Pado toted the rock into the end zone on the following play to make it a 24-0 game.

The Eagles would finally get a punt into NV territory on a fair catch at the 21, but the Cardinals took just eight plays to score.

A pair of Cornell passes, 16 yards to Pado and 23 yards to Gabe Merrill set the stage for Truesdail’s 19-yard TD run for a 31-0 lead.

With the game moving to a running clock in the second half, a trio of Titus Callahan tackles and another by Pado held Harpursville in check to start the third quarter.

The Eagles put together a goal line stand late in the third period, but were forced to punt from inside the red zone to start the fourth quarter.

NV coughed the ball up at the Harpursville 7 and the host put together a sustained drive to run out the clock with several Cardinal reserves on the field, marching 86 yards in 14 plays before coming away empty. Jackson Hoover’s tackle of Warren at the NV 15 following a 30-yard pass from Jayden DeLeon helped preserve the shutout.

Six Newark Valley backs combined for 164 yards rushing on 32 carries. Davis had 43 yards on six rushes. Rhodes and Truesdail ran the ball six times also, gaining 41 and 35 yards, respectively.

Cornell went 4-for-4 passing for 61 yards with Merrill, Mojtysiak, Pado and Davis grabbing one reception each.

“The more guys we can have contributing, they can get up to be able to play at varsity speed and know their role, it makes us stronger as a team,” Hardenstine said. “That's all part of it. I've been very vocal with our guys on the team, the guys that haven't been playing as much about, hey, we need you, but you need to be able to know what your job is so that we can count on you. I think we saw a few kids that ran with the opportunity today and got some good film on everybody, so even if it wasn't perfect, we'll be able to correct it.”

Harpursville was held to 96 yards rushing and 30 passing with NV making a dozen tackles for losses or no gain.

The Cardinals continued to struggle with penalties, however, chalking up nine for 80 yards.

At 1-1 in the division (1-2 overall), NV kept itself in the hunt for a playoff spot and sits in fifth place behind Tioga, SVEC and Walton (all 2-0) and Delhi (2-1).

Next up is a home game Saturday against Deposit/Hancock (1-2, 0-2).

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IN PHOTO 1: NV’s Matt Keller (R). ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.