Tioga County Sports ReportMORRISVILLE — Newark Valley opened the season on the artificial surface at SUNY Morrisville Friday evening and came away a 42-8 victim of Mount Markham in the Week 0 contest.
The Mustangs, Section III Class D runners-up last season, built a 28-0 halftime cushion and never looked back. Arjay Piersma opened the scoring with a 4-yard run at 8:43 of the first quarter.
Christian Jones scooped up a fumble and scooted 15 yards to paydirt just 20 seconds later. A successful PAT attempt made it 14-0, then Trevor Lockwood scored on a 15-yard run at 4:29 to push the advantage to 20-0.
Elijah Pasquale and Jamison Young hooked up on a pair of touchdown passes to increase the Mount Markham lead to 35-0. The first was a 58-yard hook-up with 1:40 remaining in the first half. The PAT made it 28-0. The second, a 13-yard toss, came at 7:32 of the third period.
The veteran Mustangs (22 of their 31 players are upperclassmen; NV has 25 players total) pushed one more TD across on Morgon Ferguson’s 12-yard run at 4:19 of the third.
The Cardinals would get on the scoreboard with 8:40 to go in the game on Zion King’s 8-yard run. They converted the PAT attempt to make it 42-8.
Mount Markham ran for 156 yards and threw for 115 more. One of nine backs to carry the ball, Jones rushed for 60 yards on four carries. Pasquale went 5-for-6 through the air.
NV rushed for 191 and threw for 11. King (9-80), Jackson Hoover (9-62) and Logan Rhodes (8-42) were the Cardinals’ top ground gainers.
Newark Valley travels to Odessa-Montour next Saturday evening to face Schuyler.
