Tioga County Sports ReportTIOGA CENTER — Tioga reeled off eight touchdowns on eight first-half possessions en route to a 62-6 win over Newark Valley here Friday night in the Section IV, Division V regular-season finale at Haggerty Field.
“(Tioga) is an outstanding team, and we’re just not at the level right now to be able to compete with them,” said Newark Valley Ted Hardenstine.
“This was a real gut check for us tonight,” he noted. “I feel like we’ve been progressing as the year has gone on.
“Like I said, we’re not at the level to be competing for a state championship yet, but that’s always our goal,” Hardenstine added. “We’re clearly not at that level, we weren’t very competitive tonight on the scoreboard.”
Hardenstine was pleased with the way his kids stuck together in the loss.
“I was proud of our kids, that they didn’t give up, or finger-point,” he said. “When you get put in these very high-adversity situations, you need to see if the kids are going to fall apart.
“That would be one positive tonight, for the kids to build on — they kept fighting to the end, and didn’t give up.
“I hope to a man they take this personally, and don’t forget it,” added Hardenstine. “Hopefully, it will motivate them in the future.”
Tioga won the toss, and deferred to the second half.
Newark Valley’s opening possession of the game ended with a three-and-out, and the Tigers took over at their own 37.
Runs of 11 and 16 yards by senior fullback Ousmane Duncanson, and an 11-yard run by Macumber quickly moved the ball to the Cardinal 25.
Newark Valley’s defense bowed its back, and dropped Macumber for losses of 2 and 3 yards, sandwiched around a no gain, to put the Tigers in a fourth-and-15 hole at the Cardinal 30.
However, Tioga converted with a middle screen from senior QB Caden Bellis to senior Gianni Silvestri for 19 yards, and Bellis then found senior tight end Karson Sindoni open in the end zone along the visiting sideline for an 11-yard TD to cap the eight-play drive.
Senior placekicker Gavin Fisher, who was 9-for-9 on the night, added the PAT kick to make it 7-0 with 5:57 remaining in the first quarter.
After another NV three-and-out, Tioga took possession at its 49, and needed just one play — a 51-yard run by senior Drew Macumber — to up its lead to 14-0 with 3:52 left in the first quarter.
Following NV’s next possession — another three-and-out — senior Evan Sickler returned the punt 49 yards to the Cardinal 11, but a block-in-the-back call near the end of the return moved the ball back to the NV 26.
Duncanson ripped off a 24-yard run on Tioga’s first play, and then scored on a 2-yard fullback dive to make it 21-0 with 1:12 remaining in the first quarter.
Fisher’s ensuing kickoff — his fourth of the game — sailed into the end zone (just like the previous three), setting up NV at its own 20.
Three plays later, an errant pitch was batted around, and Tioga senior Levi Bellis recovered it at the Cardinal 7.
On the next play, Caden Bellis pulled the ball out of Duncanson’s belly on an option keeper, and scampered untouched into the end zone to make it 28-0 just 15 seconds into the second quarter.
On Newark Valley’s first play of its ensuing possession, Sickler picked off a Nate Hinkley pass near midfield, but the Tigers were flagged for rough-the-quarterback, giving the Cardinals their initial first down of the game, and the ball at the Tioga 46.
Three plays later, Dan Truesdail dodged a pair of tacklers at the line-of-scrimmage, busted into the secondary, and raced 40 yards for a TD to put Newark Valley on the board, and close the gap to 28-6.
On the ensuing kickoff, Karson Sindoni pounced on an onside kick at the Tioga 49. Seconds later, Sindoni hauled in a Bellis pass on the left hash, and raced 51 yards for a TD to make it 35-6 with 9:45 remaining in the first half.
Newark Valley’s next possession ended on downs when Duncanson and Logan Bellis sniffed out a fake punt, and stopped it well short of the first-down marker at the Cardinal 30.
Caden Bellis broke loose on an option keeper for a score on the first play, but a block-in-the-back call brought the ball back to the NV 23.
After a 15-yard run by senior Valentino Rossi, Macumber scored on an 8-yard run to make it 42-6 with 7:26 left in the half.
After an NV three-and-out, Tioga took over at the NV 43. On the second play, Rossi fielded an option pitch from Bellis, and raced 36 yards down the visiting sidelines for a score to make it 49-6 with 4:13 remaining in the half.
The Cardinals reached into their bag of tricks again moments later on fourth down, but Tioga junior Shea Bailey picked off the pass on a fake punt, and returned it 45 yards to the NV 10.
Silvestri scored on a 10-yard run on Tioga’s first play to up the advantage to 56-6 with 1:15 left in the half.
The only score of the second half was a 27-yard TD run by junior Jonah Lamb with 6:27 remaining in the game.
Newark Valley had 146 yards in total offense, including 139 rushing yards on 52 carries.
Truesdail led the Cardinals with 78 yards and one TD on 14 carries.
Hinkley completed 1 of 4 passes for 7 yards, and one interception.
Tioga piled up 370 yards in total offense, including 276 yards on the ground.
Macumber led Tioga’s ground game with 65 yards and two TDs on six carries, while Rossi had 51 yards and one TD on two carries, Duncanson had 53 yards and one TD on four carries, Loga Bellis added 35 yards on three carries, and Lamb had 30 yards and one TD on two carries.
Bellis was 3-for-3 for 81 yards, and two TDs for the Tigers. Karson Sindoni had two catches for 62 yards and two TDs. Bailey was 1-for-1 for 13 yards.
TIoga, now 9-0 and winners of 36 straight games, will face Walton Saturday, while Newark Valley, now 4-4, will square off with Delhi Saturday in the other Class D semi-final game at Susquehanna Valley H.S. (Start times are to be announced.)
