Football

Eldred overpowers Hancock in mistake fest

Gritty running and Eldred’s toughness outweigh miscues and mental lapses

By RICHARD A. ROSS

ELDRED, NY - Eldred proved something in its first win of the season, a 39-18 victory over a tough young team from Hancock. Despite committing a spate of miscues, Eldred dusted itself off and showed its resiliency and moxie. Hancock had its chances to pull off an upset and got close on several occasions, but Eldred’s running game proved dominant and its defense stopped Hancock when it had to.

The defending Section 9 Class D champions demonstrated that the 2006 version of last year’s juggernaut has the capacity to push teams around on the line of scrimmage and to pound out hard-nosed football. In coach Frank Kean’s words, “We bent but we didn’t break.”

And bend they did.

After winning the toss, Eldred committed the first of four turnovers as they failed to recover Hancock’s onside kick. Though Eldred’s defenders were tackling high early on, instead of wrapping low, they held Hancock and forced a punt.

On Eldred’s first offensive series, quarterback Nick McCormick threw a leading pass to tight end Sean Colley on a fly pattern for a 55-yard touchdown. Phillip Talley kicked the PAT and Eldred led 7-0.

But Eldred’s initial jubilation was short-lived. Hancock’s tailback Aaron Gorshack tore off a 55-yard run to make it 7-6 on the next series. Eldred stopped the two-point conversion attempt to retain the narrow lead.

The Yellowjackets rode the bruising running of Kevin Prunka and fullback Hilton Johnson to move the chains. McCormick mixed in a pass to flanker Tom Compasso and used a quarterback keeper to get the ball to the Hancock five where Johnson, whom former running standout Jonathan Counts refers to as “the bus with no brakes,” plowed in for the score. Eldred led 13-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Hancock’s young team committed a number of encroachment penalties to advance Eldred’s cause. As the game progressed, Eldred tallied an unspeakable nine penalties of its own.

Still, Eldred’s defense stifled Hancock’s running game. With 6:07 to go in the half, Compasso burst through for a 16-yard touchdown and Eldred led 19-6 as the two-point conversion came up short.

That should have been the score heading into halftime, but with a first and 10 on his own 30, Hancock quarterback Chris Hallstead got McCormick to bite on a pump fake and threw the ball downfield to a racing John Marino, who had blown by the safety. The strike occurred with only six seconds remaining in the half. Eldred stopped the two-point conversion attempt and limped into halftime with a narrow 19-12 lead and the prospect of Hancock getting the ball to start the second half.

Once again, Eldred foiled Hancock’s ground game and got the ball back in the early going of the third quarter. But despite a good running game, Eldred turned the ball over on a faulty exchange from center. It was the second of a glaring four turnovers that Eldred would commit, three of which came on fumbles.

Hancock had the ball on the Eldred 34 but McCormick made amends for the aforementioned fumble by picking off a pass from Hallstead. Unbelievably, on the next play, Eldred fumbled again and Hancock recovered. With the ball on the Eldred seven, Hancock fumbled and Eldred’s Chris Leader recovered.

In a football version of “The Bad News Bears,” Eldred fumbled again, this time with Prunka coughing it up and Hancock finally scored on a 13-yard gallop by Gorshack to make it 19-18 with 5:27 to go in the third quarter. Eldred foiled the two-point conversion attempt.

Despite an Eldred holding penalty, the Yellowjackets sustained a drive that began on their own 49-yard line by riding Prunka and Hilton’s steady running.

Johnson scored his second TD, a five-yard jaunt to put Eldred up 26-18 after Talley’s PAT with 1:10 to go in the third quarter.

Once again, Hallstead connected with Marino on a long pass play that took Hancock from its own 25 to the Eldred 30, but Eldred got a big turnover as Marcus Chandler picked off a batted pass from Hallstead to end the threat. It was Hancock’s third turnover of the night.

Eldred added to its lead by scoring 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter with a three-yard dive play and a 50-yard interception return by Prunka to ice the game at 39-18.

Kean was pleased with the win, but not with the team’s execution. “We’ll have to play better than this against LMR next week. They played us really tough last year,” he said.

Hancock coach Walt Smith, whose team went 1-8 last season, is still in the process of rebuilding. Hancock got its only win in 2005 against Unadilla. “We don’t have the numbers or the tackles,” said Smith, but added, “We’re better now than we were a week ago.”

Look for Eldred to work out the kinks and tighten up their act as the season progresses. Next up for the Yellowjackets is a non-league fray at home under the lights against LMR.

Stat line: Prunka, 140 yards on 24 carries; Johnson, 74 yards on 14 carries; Compasso, 45 yards on seven carries; McCormick, 41 yards on five carries. McCormick completed two-of-six passes for 85 yards and one touchdown.

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