SECTION 4 FOOTBALL: BIG PLAYS KEY OWEGO'S VICTORY OVER HORSEHEADS (24 PHOTOS) (2024-09-27)
By Tim TaylorTioga County Sports ReportHORSEHEADS — Big plays were the rule of the day for Owego as the unbeaten River Hawks rolled to a 35-14 Section IV Football Conference victory over Horseheads Friday evening.
A trio of interceptions and a blocked punt, as well as the running of tailback Joseph Palladino, fueled the Owego effort as it improved to 3-0 on the season.
The first pick, by Caleb Cole, led to a 56-yard Elijah Lewis-to-Evan English touchdown pass and a 14-0 advantage midway through the first quarter.
The next squashed a Blue Raider scoring threat and preserved a 21-7 River Hawk lead as Conlan Taylor made a diving interception at his own 2-yard line in the final seconds of the first half.
The final steal was a pick six which English returned 28 yards to paydirt with 2:50 remaining in the third period, giving the visitors a 27-7 cushion. Griffin Stevens blocked Arhbal’s PAT kick.
The interception seemed to give Owego the momentum it needed to clinch the win..
“Our guys, they made big plays in the most critical moments,” Owego coach Patton Taylor said. “English’s pick six, at that time the momentum was up in the air. They stopped us on offense, and then he goes and does that. The momentum is swung right back in our direction.”
Horseheads coach Kevin Hillman saw the English TD interception as a key play for the River Hawks.
“We started getting a little momentum in the second half and then kind of had a missed call. We just kind of messed up something when we went on fourth down, but then we stopped them to get the ball back, and then that interception was kind of a killer.
“You’ve got to give credit to Owego. That was a fantastic drive they had. I don't think we got the ball back again the rest of the game, so that was outstanding. They did a great job, ball control, running the ball, just kind of overpowered us. And, at times, I think this is where they out-physicaled us, so we’ve got to get back to work.”
In addition to those defensive plays, Owego scored its initial TD of the game just one play after Dylan Brace blocked a Raider punt. Palladino found a hole in the line and dashed 35 yards on the River Hawks’ first possession of the game. Adam Arhbal’s PAT kick made it 7-0 at 9:43.
Owego built a 14-0 lead by the midway point of the first quarter. Caleb Cole intercepted a Dom Cardinale pass just over a minute later. Four plays later, Elijah Lewishit English in stride at the Horseheads 27 and the senior receiver raced untouched to the end zone. Ahrbal made it 14-0 at the 6:54 mark.
Undaunted by the early deficit, the Raiders drove 74 yards in 11 plays to close the gap to 14-7 when Cardinale found Lucas Mosher wide open in the end zone for a 7-yard TD toss.
Cardinale ran and passed for 38 of those yards. The drive included a pass interference call that had the Owego sideline up in arms and a 23-yard Cardinale TD run called back due to a block-in-the-back penalty. Trevor Reidy’s PAT kick made it 14-7 with 2:15 to play in the opening stanza.
The River Hawks responded with a four-play, 63-yard drive which saw Palladino break loose on a 54-yard TD run on fourth-and-one. Arhbal’s kick pushed the lead to 21-7 with three ticks left on the first quarter clock.
Horseheads’ next possession sputtered at the Owego 32 and the two teams’ next three possessions ended with punts.
The Raiders’ final drive of the half started at their own 40. Cardinale ran for six yards, hit Keagan Zeller twice for 21 yards and Patrick Laney once for nine more to the Owego 24 before the interception.
The third period saw Owego turn the ball over on downs twice and Horseheads give it up on downs once before the English pick six.
Horseheads’ next possession ended with a punt in the final seconds of the quarter, then the River Hawks proceeded to hold the pigskin and keep it away from the Horseheads offense in the final frame.
Coach Taylor continued to praise the work of his linemen.
“It's getting to the point of redundancy here, but our line did a great job up front,” he said. “Honestly, we didn't think we were going to have that kind of success running the ball, but we did and just kept with it.
“With our pass plays, we made the receptions when we needed to, so a little more throwing this week out of necessity. That's something we're good at. It's something we'll definitely improve on, but we came down with the catches when we needed to.
“Toward the end there, we had to run the clock out, and our line started leaning on them.”
Lewis sealed the win with a 20-yard TD pass to English with 4:40 to play and holder Jack Buchsbaum tucked the ball away for the PAT run and a 35-7 cushion with 4:40 to go.
“I think it's more of a mental thing where we’ve just got to listen,” Hillman said. “There's going to be times where not every game you're going to get ahead. There's going to be times you're facing adversity and you get behind, stuff like that. We’ve just got to be able to respond and keep our composure. I think at times we kind of lose focus and then that hurts us a little bit. I thought we did a much better job the second half, kind of refocusing, especially defensively.
“Even offensively, we moved the ball well that first drive. We just had that fourth down and then we got the ball back, and we just had that turnover on the first play. So I thought we were doing that the second half, but I gotta give credit to them because I think they see that drive. That was an outstanding drive by them.
“You’ve got to give credit to them. They did an awesome job.”
The Raiders would touch the ball just once in the quarter, that coming when Laney weaved his way through a sea of white jerseys on the ensuing kickoff and darted 81 yards to the end zone. Reidy’s kick made it 35-14 at 4:28.
Palladino highlighted Owego’s offensive effort, rushing for 168 yards and two TDs on 22 carries
“On film, we saw some things that they were doing defensively where we felt if we attacked their edges that Joe could have a big game,” coach Taylor said. “Again, our line did a good job of creating those lanes for him. All week we were stressing with Joe that he’s got to hit the hole a little harder than we did the past two weeks and he did a good job with that.”
Lewis added 24 yards on five runs and the River Hawks (3-0) racked up 222 yards on the ground. Lewis went 8-for-11 for 112 yards and two TDs through the air. English caught both TD tosses and finished with four receptions for 97 yards.
Horseheads (2-2) finished with 190 yards with Cardinale rushing for 55 on nine carries and throwing for 80 more, completing half of his 18 attempts. Zeller caught four passes for 35 yards.
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES
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