Football

Bears claw back as ’Jackets lose their sting

Tri-Valley roars back with 30-point second half to defeat Eldred

By RICHARD A. ROSS

ELDRED, NY — In boxing, if you have someone on the ropes, you’d better put him away.

If you don’t, it could turn out to be a replay of Rocky V. Remember how the battered champ picked himself up off of the mat and fought back against his formidable Russian foe? Rocky Balboa refused to lose and with the heart of a lion and an unshakeable will, he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

What a finish.

In a bizarre parallel to that pugilistic melodrama, the Tri-Valley Bears found their collective heart on September 19 and won a game which they appeared to have had no chance of winning.

Shades of last year.

Eldred led the 2003 contest by 20-6 early on and ended up losing 34-26.

This year Eldred was one yard away from delivering a potential knockout punch. After scoring two touchdowns and holding Tri-Valley scoreless for the entire first half, the Yellowjackets led 15-0, courtesy of a worthy offense that looked capable of overrunning Tri-Valley. The Bears’ fragile psyche had been shaken by an opening-week, 62-0 defeat at the hands of Walton. Their bye-week had been used to repair it, but the Bears were back on their heels again.

Patrick Kean’s 35-yard touchdown and an eight-yard score by Kyle Schneider seemed to be setting the scene for an Eldred home win. Lady Fortune was wearing a green jersey, or so it appeared as Jeremy DeForge recovered an Eldred onside kick. Here were the Yellowjackets knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door for the third time.

Except the door didn’t open.

With the ball on the Bears’ one-yard line and the first half running down, the option play run by Eldred quarterback Nick McCormick went terribly awry. Holding the ball outstretched instead of pitching it to his outside back or tucking it in, McCormick had the ball knocked out of his hands and Tri-Valley’s Owen Williams recovered it. While the Bears didn’t capitalize on the turnover just then, according to Bears’ coach Dave Viglione’s post game analysis, “That was huge. Otherwise we could be going into halftime down by three touchdowns.”

Turning point? That remained to be seen. It was still Eldred’s game to win. Just receive the second half kickoff and mount another scoring surge.

But Tri-Valley’s assistant coach Jason Semo had something else in mind.

He switched sophomore Kevin Smith to outside linebacker, made several other defensive adjustments and suddenly Eldred’s running game began to falter. After moving to midfield, Eldred seemed to run into a brick wall and couldn’t convert a first down. Instead of having his team punt and making the Bears go the length of the field, Kean elected to run on fourth down. The Bears shot the gaps and knocked Counts for a loss, giving them the ball on the Eldred 49.

It was then that Lady Fortune ducked into the woods and switched jerseys.

Danny Knox got the Bears to the 20, and on the next play he ran 20 more for pay dirt. Tri-Valley missed the two-point conversion and the score stood at 15-6.

Tri-Valley’s fired up defense forced Eldred to go three and out, and on the Bears’ next possession, Tri-Valley turned to Danny Walter who put together two big plays including a 44-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion made it 15-14.

Another stop of Eldred and Tri-Valley took over on downs this time, relying on fullback Alan Coombe and quarterback Joe Garigliano. A pass to Knox on fourth and seven kept the drive alive and a short time later Coombe rumbled in for the go-ahead score. Garigliano took the ball in for the two-point conversion and Tri-Valley led 22-15.

Fickle Lady Fortune considered a late game costume change. “I do look nice in green,” she was heard to say.

Just then DeForge recovered his second onside kick and Eldred got to work. Hallock ran for six yards and Schneider got the Yellowjackets a big first down. On a third and long play, McCormick threw a Hail Mary pass that was momentarily intercepted by Matt Belkin, but Counts snatched the ball out of his hands and Eldred had a first and goal on the six. Schneider scored and Kean opted to try for the two-point conversion to take the late lead instead of playing for the tie. Just then Lady Fortune decided she looked better in white, Tim Hallock was brought down short of the mark and Eldred’s hopes went down with him. Tri-Valley added a late touchdown on a long play to Knox and a two-point conversion by Garigliano.

“We came out flat in the third quarter,” noted Kean. “We were moving the ball and we let them stop us.” He referred to the fumble as a “momentum shifter.” Kean was disappointed with his defense that gave up three unanswered scores.

Tri-Valley coach Dave Viglione gave credit to Eldred. “They’re a big, strong physical team,” he said, adding that his team “had to reach down deep and decide to play.

“There comes a point where you have to stand up and say ‘I’m going to play my kind of football.’”

After surrendering 62 straight points to Walton and 15 to Eldred, one could say the Bears proved they had had enough. Tri-Valley will play James I. O’Neill on September 23. Eldred will play at Roscoe on September 24.

Stat line: Eldred: Kyle Schneider, 20 carries for 84 yards and two touchdowns; Counts: 12-for-50; Hallock: six-for-34; Kean: two-for-41 and one touchdown. McCormick completed three of 11 passes, threw one touchdown pass and two interceptions.

Tri-Valley: Danny Knox, 22-for-152 with two touchdowns (19 and 45 yards); Alan Coombe: 11-for-56 yards, one-yard touchdown; Dan Walter: three-for-57 yards, 44-yard touchdown; Joe Garigliano: eight-for-35 with a pair of two-point conversions.