By TIM BIRNEYTioga County Sports Report
CONKLIN, N.Y. — It's not often you can say you were the first to do anything, but the 2025 Owego River Hawks can always lay claim to being the first team in program history to win a Section IV football title after beating Waverly, 27-7, here Friday night in the Class B championship game.
"This playoff journey was awesome. To beat M-E and Waverly, two of the top teams in class B in the state. I couldn't be happier for these boys," said third-year Owego coach Patton Taylor, whose teams lost this game each of his first two seasons.
The River Hawks graduated 19 seniors from last year's teams, and few pundits gave them any chance to return to the Class B finals, much less win it.
"We knew heading into this year, we were going to be solid," said Taylor. "It was all about figuring out the puzzle pieces, who fits where ... I think you probably saw that throughout the season as well. Each week, we kind of did different things, we had to.
"Based off the last two years, I think everyone knew that we kind of like our Jim Haggery style of power-I football, and you saw that a little bit tonight, but we had to open up a pass game a little bit, too, for a little more of a balanced approach," Taylor added.
Taylor was especially happy for his veterans.
"It feels especially good for kids like senior Dylan Davis. You know, he's been up on varsity for so long. In the last two years, he's been on those teams that came up short.
"We ran into a buzzsaw against M-E two years ago. Last year, we played them tough, and then they kind of just pulled away in the second half," said Taylor.
"So, I'm incredibly happy for kids like (Davis) and (Garrett) Phelps and so many other kids that they finally got to see this actually happen," he added.
The River Hawks improve to 8-3, and avenged regular-season losses to M-E and Waverly in the Class B playoffs.
"Class B is incredibly tough," said Taylor. "There are no off weeks.
"Looking back on the season, we kind of had our ups and downs," he noted. "Our offense wasn't clicking at times, but our defense, our defense has always kept us in the games.
"Offensively, we just kept working on the little things, and eventually it would start clicking.
"The team that you saw tonight was a very different team, than what you saw four or five weeks ago," added Taylor.
On the third play of the game, Owego sophomore Nolan Card stepped in front of a throw, which was tipped at the line, from Waverly QB Ben Shaw, and raced 45 yards to paydirt. Junior Dylan Brace added the PAT kick to give the River Hawks a 7-0 lead just 84 seconds into the game.
"(The pick-6) really set the tone for the game," said Taylor. "That was (Nolan) Card being a student of the game.
"All week, we were talking about how (Waverly) runs those hitches, so jump it and pick it," noted Taylor. "Again, that's just Card watching film and just reading it correctly.
"It's also Coach T.J. (Wegman), our defensive coordinator, doing a fantastic job of always being on the guys. especially with their tendencies," added Taylor.
After a Waverly three-and-out, Owego put together a nine-play, 69-yard drive that featured runs of 23 and 7 yards by big fullback Dom Scherrer, and runs of 11 and 17 yards by Brace, who capped the drive with a 1-yard TD run, to make it 13-0 with 4:49 remaining in the first quarter.
On the ensuing possession, Waverly senior Cooper Robinson ripped off a 34-yard run, which turned out to be nearly 25 percent of the team's offense for the game.
The Wolverines kept pounding the ball on the ground, and Ben Shaw capped the eight-play, 64-yard drive with a 3-yard TD run. Senior Hogan Shaw's PAT kick closed the gap to 13-7 with 55 seconds remaining in the first half.
Waverly's defense forced an Owego three-and-out, and took over at its 38 following a River Hawk punt.
Two plays later, a quick hitch from Ben Shaw to senior Daltton Davis turned into a 25-yard gain to the Owego 30.
The Wolverines picked up another first down, and reached the Owego 18 before a holding call slowed the drive, and two big defensive plays by Dom Scherrer forced a turnover on downs.
After an exchange of punts, Owego took over near midfield, and quickly moved into the Waverly red zone on runs of 15 yards by Dom Scherrer, and 29 yards by QB Garrett Phelps, but the River Hawks ran out of time and went to the halftime intermission leading, 13-7.
Owego took the second-half kick, and marched 80 yards on six plays to extend its lead.
Brace did the majority of the damage with 78 yards on five carries, including a pair of 11-yard runs. He capped the scoring drive with a 48-yard scamper to paydirt around right end.
Brace added the PAT kick to make it 20-7 with 9:12 remaining in the third quarter.
"The TD to start the second half was big," said Waverly coach Jason Miller.
"Our first game with (Owego), they came out in the second half and had a sustained drive and got a score," he added. "They do a really good job of halftime adjustments."
Taylor said there were some minor adjustments made at the half.
"We saw some things they were doing against our trips that kind of opened stuff up on the back side," he said. "We had a quick conversation in the locker room about that.
"Other than that, we just got better up front ... and there were no stupid penalties, or shooting ourselves in the foot — that kind of stuff.
"It wasn't any crazy adjustments," added Taylor. "Really, it all starts up front. We really started getting some running lanes. I thought our line did a good job staying on blocks."
Two plays after the ensuing kickoff, Owego's Sam Sherwood batted a pass intended for Davis into the air, and then came down with the interception at the Waverly 48.
After a holding call pushed Owego back into its own territory, Phelps completed his only pass attempt of the game for 14 yards to junior John Farrell.
The River Hawks went back to the ground and moved the ball to the Waverly 3 on eight straight carries.
Ben Shaw blitzed into the Owego backfield on first-and-goal for a 4-yard loss, and a holding call moved the ball back to the 16.
Another big defensive play appeared to move Owego back another six yards, but a roughing-the-quarterback call on the option pitch, and two unsportsmanlike conduct flags against the Wolverines moved the ball to the 2, where Dom Scherrer finished off the drive on the first play of the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 27-7.
Waverly had two possessions in the fourth quarter, and picked up two first downs, but both possessions ended on downs.
Owego racked up 299 yards on the ground, led by Brace, who had 148 yards and two TDs on 19 carries. QB Garrett Phelps had 48 yards on 10 carries, while Dom Scherrer added 38 yards and one TD on five carries, and Stefano Scherrer chipped in with 25 yards on six carries.
Phelps completed his only pass of the game for 14 yards to John Farrell, who also rushed for 20 yards on three carries.
The River Hawks held Waverly to 148 yards in total offense.
Robinson led the Waverly ground game, which accounted for 105 yards, with 87 yards on 18 carries.
Ben Shaw completed 5 of 14 passes for 43 yards and two interceptions, with Davis leading the receivers with three grabs for 31 yards.
"(Owego) was dropping a lot of guys into coverage and it made it very difficult to run and difficult to throw because you never knew where they're going to end up," said Miller. "What you get pre-snap and what you get post-snap is always different, and that's kind of always been the deal here — they do an excellent job of coaching.
"I'm glad they got this," added Miller. "I think they'll represent Section IV, Class B well next week in the state quarterfinals."
Waverly wraps up the season with a 9-2 record.
Owego will play the winner of Saturday's Section III championship game between New Hartford (10-0) and the Syracuse Institute of Technology (9-1).
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IN PHOTO 1: Owego coach Patton Taylor. IN TOP PHOTO: Owego's Dom Scherrer. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
