SECTION IV FOOTBALL: SVEC DROPS SEASON FINALE IN DOUBLE OVERTIME (2023-11-03)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
SPENCER — SVEC’s football season didn’t pan out the way it had hoped, so instead of playing in the postseason, the team picked up an extra game against Lansing.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the season finale didn’t go their way either as they fell to the visiting Bobcats, 18-12, in double overtime Thursday evening.
“Unfortunately we couldn't get one for our seniors there, but the kids fought right ’til the end and it didn't go our way in the last couple seconds,” SVEC coach Mike Chaffee said.
Miscues cost SVEC in the long run. The Eagles coughed up the ball three times, they lost 45 yards on a bad snap and two sacks, and had twice as many penalty yards (60) as their guests did.
“Our kids fought right ’til the end,” Chaffee said, “but it kind of sums up the second half of our season. There's the mistakes. We continue to make mistakes. We've never cleaned them up. We had them throughout the entire season and it's just something that we never overcame. It's the way it's gone for us all season.”
One of those turnovers proved costly. Logan Aman made a nice 10-yard rundown to the one in the second OT, but a Lansing player got a solid hit on the ball and it popped free and bounced into the end zone where the Bobcats’ Korbin Lovejoy pounced on it.
Four plays later, Jaxson Mayo connected with Austin Crandall for a 12-yard touchdown pass and the victory.
SVEC also fumbled with 28 seconds remaining in regulation after Caden McFall picked off a pass at his own 26, only to fumble it back at the 47.
The Eagles’ other fumble came at the Lansing 37 on their first possession of the second half.
SVEC also suffered a key loss at running back when Parker Robinson had his bell rung on the first play of the second quarter. He would return later in the game after a thorough evaluation by the trainer, but never carried the ball again.
The Eagles would grab the early lead during that drive, which covered 72 yards in six plays. It ended with Jacek Teribury throwing a 50-yard TD strike to Aman at 8:31 of the period. Lansing blocked the PAT kick, but SVEC would take a 6-0 lead into intermission.
The Bobcats regrouped during the break and Mayo found Mason Braid open for a 53-yard TD pass at 9:47, capping a four-play, 63-yard drive. Teribury would block the PAT attempt and the game score would be deadlocked at six apiece.
SVEC had just two possessions in the third quarter, one stopped by a turnover and the other ending in the fourth quarter on a sack.
Teribury would score on an 8-yard run in the initial overtime, but Lansing countered with Mayo’s 1-yard keeper. Both teams had their PAT kicks blocked, forcing the second extra session.
The Eagles racked up 251 yards offense, toting the pigskin 48 times for 188 yards and adding another 63 through the air. Teribury (16-79), John Johnston (13-62) and Aman (9-33) led the ground game while Teribury was 5-for-10 passing.
Mayo was 13-for-27 for 187 yards passing and carried the rock 13 times for another 72 yards. Braid caught five of those tosses for 127 yards. The Bobcats ended the night with 289 yards.
Lansing, which played an independent schedule, finished the season at 6-4.
SVEC closed out at 5-5, dropping its final three games and five of the last six after a 4-0 start. The Eagles will lose 10 players to graduation and Chaffee felt bad that the season took a downturn.
“I’m really sorry for the way things ended up for them,” he said. “This group of kids, they worked real hard. They deserved a better outcome than what we had. I’m real proud of the way they've approached things and how hard they worked, and I just wish we could have sent them off in a better way.”
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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