SECTION IV FOOTBALL: SVEC THUMPS HARPURSVILLE/AFTON, GRABS SHARE OF DIVISION LEAD (2024-10-05)
Tioga County Sports Report
HARPURSVILLE — Spencer-Van Etten/Candor defeated Harpursville/Afton, 34-14, Saturday to grab a share of first place in Section IV Football Conference Division VI.
Jakobe Foster rushed for one touchdown and returned a kickoff for another, and was one of two SVEC backs to rush for more than 100 yards.
Theo Mueller, the Eagles’ other 100-yard groundhog, carried the ball three times for 48 yards on the team’s first possession, setting up Foster’s 17-yard TD run and a 6-0 lead.
Following a Hornets three-and-out, SVEC put together a 10-play, 78-yard scoring drive with Nick Oakes scoring from three yards out. Chris Merrick’s PAT run gave the visitors a 14-0 advantage.
Harpursville would turn the ball over on downs and Merrick would score on a 3-yard keeper to push the difference to 20-0.
Merrick would recover a fumble on the Hornets’ next possession, but the Eagles sputtered and were forced to punt. A bad punt gave the home team an opportunity to get back in the game and Jayden DeLeon hit Davin Warren with a 21-yard TD pass, making it a 20-6 contest at halftime.
SVEC wasn’t about to let this one slip away and Foster returned the second half kickoff 68 yards for a TD. Landon Lawrence ran for the PAT to make it 28-6.
Harpursville coughed the ball up on its next possession and the Eagles recovered the loose rock at the Hornet 44. A penalty sent SVEC backwards, but a 27-yard gain by Mueller put the ball at the Hornet 22. Three plays later, Lawrence took it in from the three to make it 34-6.
The hosts would come back with an 11-yard DeLeon TD run on their next possession and his PAT run made it 34-14.
The Hornets would then recover a SVEC fumble and would try to get on the scoreboard again with a 28-yard field goal attempt, but failed.
Foster finished the game with 137 yards on seven carries and Mueller added another 115 on nine runs. Rodney Vaow had four carries for 33 yards and Lawrence added four rushes for another 20 yards. Matt Smith, Merrick, Oakes, Cooper Zufall and Deion Parks combined for another 36 yards. The Eagles were without Logan Aman, who is averaging almost 140 yards per game, for the second straight week.
The Eagles ran for 341 yards on 36 carries while Harpursville was held to 160 yards total offense.
SVEC (2-3 overall), tied with Walton for the Division VI lead at 1-0, travels to Delhi (3-2, 0-0 Division VI) next Saturday to face the Bulldogs, a 41-34 upset winner over Tioga.
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