Football

Eldred breaks the hex and beats Bears in their den

Eight-year drought ends versus Tri-Valley, as Yellowjackets stay perfect at 5-0

By RICHARD A. ROSS

GRAHAMSVILLE, NY — To be successful in its October 1 game against Eldred, all Tri-Valley had to do was follow the script for the past two years. Get behind early and win the game late. But this year Eldred (5-0) had other ideas.

All week long, the Yellowjackets had rigorously prepped for this non-league battle against the Bears, which they viewed as payback for past losses and an important acid test for their upcoming October 6 showdown with Chester. Eldred, which is a large, physical team, loaded with hungry upper classmen, had a new script to write and it didn’t take them long to pen the first scene.

After winning the toss and electing to receive, Eldred waited for the kickoff as Bears’ coach Dave Viglione told his players, “Now hit somebody and set the tone here.” Thirty seconds later, Eldred’s Jonathan Counts was in the end zone after returning the opening kickoff 86 yards. With Mike Prunka’s PAT, Eldred led 7-0 and had set the tone to its own frequency.

On its second series, Tri-Valley started with excellent field position and got closer to pay dirt when Eldred was hit with a pair of penalties that gave the Bears 20 extra yards and a new first down at the 13. But Eldred’s defense stiffened. Tri-Valley was pushed back and had to settle for a 30-yard field goal by James Connolly. Eldred clung to its 7-3 lead for the duration of the first quarter.

Once again, Tri-Valley forced Eldred into a three and out, but could not sustain its own drive and soon punted the ball back. Eldred came close but its drive stalled when Prunka couldn’t reach a fourth-down pass thrown to him in the end zone from quarterback Nick McCormick. Tri-Valley took over on downs but Eldred’s blitz caught quarterback Joe Garigliano and hammered him into the turf. Over the course of the afternoon, they did that three times. Tri-Valley soon punted it back as the defensive war raged on.

Eldred’s next drive began on its own 30. A pass interference call on the Bears moved the ball ahead to Tri-Valley’s 41. Counts tore off a 31-yard run and Eldred was knocking at the door again with a first down at the 10. Tri-Valley’s defense forced Eldred into a fourth and goal possession at the nine. McCormick threw a perfect strike to J.T. Vogt, who had beaten his man in the corner of the end zone and somehow he dropped it.

That missed opportunity seemed to be a potential turning point in the game and was strongly reminiscent of the kind of things that have turned the tide for Eldred in previous years against Tri-Valley. Time ran out as the first half expired and the score still read 7-3.

Tri-Valley received in the second half. Using swing passes to Connolly and a nice run by Danny Knox, Garigliano had his team moving. Knox got about 10 steps on McCormick and exploded into the secondary as Garigliano’s pass led him but it was overthrown. Had it been on target, Tri-Valley would have grabbed the lead.

But fortune did not seem to be wearing blue this day, she seemed to prefer the hue of green.

A completion to Connolly turned into a fumble recovered by Eldred’s Jeremy DeForge. One second the ball was at midfield and the next second Counts had it at the 31. Two plays later, he took it to the 20. An option pitch from McCormick had it to the eight when, to Eldred’s shock, it was fumbled and recovered by Tri-Valley’s Max Fiedler.

On that series, Tri-Valley gave Eldred one extra chance too many. After failing to make a first down, Garigliano got set to punt. The snap sailed over his head and was downed at the seven. This time Eldred wasn’t going to squander another chance. Counts took it in from the one and Eldred had a 14-3 lead with 2:36 left in the third quarter. Despite a great juking run back by Knox that took the ball out to the 38, Tri-Valley’s offense could not get on track. Credit Eldred for that. Eldred managed to fumble the ball again at the Tri-Valley 14 yard, leaving coach Frank Kean to wonder just how many points his team might have scored.

In the afterglow of the win, somehow that didn’t seem to matter. He told his players, “You young guys really helped out the seniors today. I think we’ll be ready for Chester on Friday night. The defense played really great today.”

In a post-game interview, Kean added, “we made some mistakes in getting some penalties but we had about four more chances to score. I’m really proud of these guys. They worked hard all week for this.”

Viglione was more subdued. Asked about the difference in the game, he pointed to size and strength. “We thought we could use our speed to make up for their size advantage but it didn’t work out that way,” he noted. “They had a very good defensive scheme against us. I thought our defense played great but since the offense never got on track, the defense was out on the field all day.”

Eldred travels to Chester on October 6 to play their co-division leaders in a non-league game. The two teams will play their league game at Eldred on October 29. Tri-Valley heads up to Roscoe on October 6 to take on LMR, a team that got its first win this weekend over Webutuck.

Eldred’s stat line: Counts carried the ball 21 times for 133 yards and two touchdowns, including an 86-yard kickoff return. McCormick completed four of eight passes for 26 yards with no interceptions. On defense, George Fountain had five tackles and two assists; Hilton Johnson had five tackles and two assists; DeForge had 11 tackles, two assists, forced a fumble and had a fumble recovery.

Tri-Valley stat line: Danny Knox carried the ball 11 times for 14 yards; Ryan Van Lieu had five carries for 13 yards; Joe Garigliano had 5 carries for (-14) yards. James Connolly had seven catches for 62 yards; Nick Cassidy had three catches for 39 yards; Gary North had one catch for 10 yards; Danny Knox had three catches for 35 yards and Ryan Van Lieu had one catch for six yards. Garigliano completed 15 of 28 passes for 152 yards. James Connolly scored three points on a 30-yard field goal.

With the loss, Tri-Valley’s record fell to 2-3.