SECTION IV FOOTBALL: OWEGO SPECIAL TEAMS HIGHLIGHT 55-20 ROMP (24 PHOTOS) (2024-10-11)
By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports ReportSYRACUSE — The line has played a key role in Owego’s first four wins this season, but special teams stole the spotlight as the River Hawks rolled to a 55-20 victory over Westhill in non-conference football action Friday evening.
Jack Buchsbaum put a pair of highlight reel kickoff returns on the scoreboard, scoring on consecutive runbacks.
The first was an 80-yarder at 7:57 of the second quarter as Owego grabbed a 28-14 lead. The next went for 71 yards after Joseph Palladino took the kick at the 21 and handed it to Buchsbaum at the 29.
The River Hawks also took advantage of two special teams gaffes by the Warriors to put another 14 points in the book.
Following a 10-play, 72-yard drive to start the game, which was capped by the first of three Palladino touchdown runs (from 7 yards out), Westhill was unable to handle Adam Arhbal’s kickoff. The ball ricocheted off a player’s facemask and was recovered by Aiden Rhodes at the home team’s 34.
Elijah Lewis plunged in from the one on third-and-goal and the second of seven Arhbal PAT kicks made it 14-0 at 4:50 of the period.
Owego’s final TD of the night came following a bad snap on a Warrior punt attempt. Billy Huddleston got to the punter before he could do anything with the errant pigskin.
Stefano Scherrer scored on an 8-yard run on the next play. The PAT kick was blocked after the visitors failed to put 11 players on the field, but with 9:51 remaining in the fourth quarter, the game was well in hand.
Head coach Patton Taylor credited members of his staff.
“Coach Virkler is obviously a very good flag football coach. He’s also a very good special teams coach,” Taylor said. “He and coach Cole get these guys ready. Each and every week they go over every single detail. Our special teams really shined tonight because of them.”
Palladino led another offensive outburst, scoring on a 21-yard run as Owego took a 21-8 lead just seven seconds into Q2. His 43-yard dash to paydirt with 2:06 to go in the third period gave Owego a 49-20 cushion.
The River Hawks’ first and third TDs came on their only sustained drives of the game, 10 and nine plays, respectively. The other five possessions were four or fewer plays.
“I would have liked to have seen some longer drives just to keep their offense off the field,” coach Taylor said. “We saw just how incredibly athletic their quarterback was in the first half … and he was giving us issues.”
With highly-touted quarterback Eli Welch giving the River Hawks’ defense fits, Westhill kept the contest close for the majority of the first half. Down, 14-0, Welch took a pitch from Keller O’Hern and found a wide open Collin White for a 49-yard TD strike at 3:10 of the first quarter. Welch’s PAT pass to Brayden Golembeski trimmed the margin to 14-8.
After the River Hawks responded with a TD on the ensuing kickoff, Welch moved the Warriors 66 yards in eight plays, scoring on a 1-yard keeper to make it 21-14 at 8:10 of the second period.
A controversial personal foul against Owego negated an Evan Wasielewski interception during the drive.
The Warriors would score again on an 11-play 61-yard march following Buchsbaum’s first kick return TD. Welch would avoid a sack on third-and-goal and score on a 2-yard keeper.
O’Hern’s pitch-and-pass PAT attempt was knocked down by Evan English, leaving the score at 28-20 with just over two minutes to go in the half.
The River Hawks would turn the ensuing kickoff into another Buchsbaum TD and a 35-20 advantage at intermission.
As the coach put it, there was an “exchange of punches” in the first half, but Owego made the correct adjustments at halftime.
With time running out in the half, the Warriors moved the rock into Owego territory, but a holding penalty, two incomplete passes and a completion for negative yardage forced a punt and Owego took a knee to run out the half.
Westhill would try to move the ball following the second-half kickoff, but Bobby Struble and Carson Morris sacked Welch and the Warriors would end up punting. Meanwhile, Welch limped off the field and didn’t return.
Following a 64-yard dash by Palladino to the Westhill 21, Buchsbaum would collect his third TD of the night on a 15-yard run to push the lead to 42-20 at 5:21.
The Warriors’ next possession netted just two yards and they turned the ball over on downs at their own 45. Two plays later, Palladino broke loose for his third TD en route to a 29-point lead.
The River Hawks racked up 291 yards on 28 runs and another 48 on a pair of passes.
Palladino would finish with 208 yards on 14 carries, and only carried the ball four times after the first quarter.
The rest of the team added a combined 83 yards on 14 rushes. Buchsbaum had three carries for 27 yards and caught one pass for 28 yards. Conlan Taylor added 22 yards on three rushes and English had one reception for 20 yards.
Lewis was 2-for-3 through the air for 48 yards.
The Owego defense bent a little early on, but didn’t break, holding Westhill to 28 second-half yards (15 coming on a penalty).
The River Hawks lost a couple of players to injuries, but their teammates filled the voids.
“We had some good guys step up,” coach Taylor said. “Dylan Brace and Dylan Davis, who are keeping corners for our defense, they went down, so we had some kids really step up.”
Owego has outscored its opponents 213-46. The River Hawks (5-0, 2-0 Div. III) are on the road again next Friday with a trip to Chenango Valley (3-3, 1-1 Div. III).
Welch, one of the top-rated dual-threat QBs in the state, was 14-for-21 for 182 yards passing. He was averaging nearly 4.4 yards per carry on his first five runs before the Owego defense finally reeled him in. He finished with 11 rushing yards on eight carries. Welch did have a hand in all 20 of his team’s points.
“On film, we knew that kid could be athletic, very athletic, but you don’t truly appreciate it until you see it in person,” coach Taylor said of Welch.
Dominic Vitale accounted for 68 of the Warriors’ 72 rushing yards.
The loss dropped Westhill to 2-4, although this is the Warriors’ first loss by more than 15 points.
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