Football

Valor beyond reckoning

Tri-Valley transforms last week’s misery into a stunning win over Chester

By RICHARD A. ROSS

GRAHAMSVILLE, NY - Former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms has commented that football games aren’t won on Sundays, they are won by the preparation that goes into the six days preceding game day. Teams that execute what they have practiced put themselves in a position to win.

Each game is a new chapter with no time to mourn past losses, nor is there any value gained in banking on past laurels. Despite prognostications about who is favored, teams still have to go out and play. You know the phrase, “On any given Sunday,” (or in this case, Saturday), any team can win.”

Tri-Valley recovered from its stultifying loss to Eldred and the added burden of running back Kevin Smith (sidelined with a knee injury from last week’s debacle) to fire off its best game of the season.

The victory sent a shock wave through Section Nine. Eldred, who will wrangle for the Division V title next week in Chester, watched with fascination as Tri-Valley’s defense dismantled the Hambletonians. Sullivan West plays Tri-Valley next weekend for what may well be the Division IV title.

A year ago, Chester upended the Bears by rebounding from a 21-0 halftime deficit to defeat Tri-Valley 34-21. The 2005 Bears simply ran out of gas. Then, Chester and its standout runner, Mike Schmidlein, simply ran over the Bears.

When John Rusin took over as Tri-Valley head coach this year, he preached conditioning. “This team will never run out of gas again in the fourth quarter,” he predicted in the preseason.

The Bears went to work, scheming ways to stop Schmidlein, Section Nine’s leading runner, and to ground Chester’s air attack, featuring quarterback Joe Salthouse and his favorite receiver Darren Mann. Quarterback Dustin Van Lieu and the Bears prepared for the challenges ahead.

In stark contrast, Chester’s practice week was lackluster and uninspired, according to coach Ron Stover. Frustrated by his team’s lack of work and overconfidence wrought by six consecutive victories, Stover anticipated a strong Tri-Valley rebound. His worst fears were realized.

The Bears received to start the game and a hard hit caused Brendan Musa to fumble on his first carry. He recovered the ball for a two-yard loss. The series faltered and the Bears punted. Chester got the ball at its own 35 and went right to Schmidlein, but a subsequent pass intended for Mann was picked off by Van Lieu. Chester’s defense held fast but when Chester tried to spring Schmidlein to the outside, Tri-Valley’s well-practiced lateral pursuit shut off his running lanes.

Inside, Chester found things equally daunting as Tri-Valley’s Garrett Gray and Nick Cassidy were in on nearly every tackle. Chester punted it back and Tri-Valley uncorked Kyle Byrne, who took the ball down after down, and dragged Chester defenders yards after he was hit.

Tri-Valley rolled the dice and went for it on fourth down. Chester helped them out with an encroachment penalty and the drive continued as the first quarter ended in a scoreless tie.

Undaunted by a holding penalty, the Bears unleashed a 47-yard option pass from Musa to Max Fiedler to the Chester one-yard line. Two plays later, Van Lieu snuck it in. Alex Calabrese added a perfect PAT and the Bears led 7-0 with 10:45 to go in the half.

Schmidlein ripped off 15 yards and got another first down.

It seemed as if Chester was getting into its groove, but an offsides penalty cost Chester five yards. On a fourth-and-two at the Tri-Valley 37, the Bears stopped Schmidlein cold and took over on downs. It was a resounding statement that the Bears would later reiterate.

Tri-Valley went three-and-out, but got a great punt from Sean Drown. The combination of brutal hits by Gray and Fiedler had Schmidlein slowed and Chester’s rustiness led to consecutive offsides penalties. On fourth-and-long, Chester opted for a fake punt as Mann tried to run for the needed yardage and was stopped. It was an ill-advised move.

The Bears took over at the Chester 23.

Two plays later, Van Lieu hooked up with Fiedler for a nine-yard touchdown pass and the Bears led 14-0 after another Calabrese PAT.

In one of their few errors of the day, the Bears pooched a short kick that was picked up by Mann on the sideline with 55 seconds to go in the half. He returned it 70 yards for a TD. The two-point conversion failed and the teams went into halftime with the Bears leading 14-6.

The Bears failed to stop Chester on its first series of the second half as the Orange and Blue marshaled a big Schmidlein run that followed a pass to Mann in the left flat. In his best series of the day, the stellar runner got into gear. Chester scored with 8:43 to go on a four-yard run by Schmidlein. A pass to Mann got the two-point conversion and Chester tied the game at 14-all.

Taking over on their own 27, the Bears gave the ball to Byrne. The drive looked promising, but Musa fumbled and Chester recovered. Tri-Valley coaches argued he was down by contact to no avail.

The Bears got their revenge by forcing Chester to go three-and-out. Instead of punting, Chester hiked the ball to Steve Pasichnyk, who was tackled, giving the Bears the ball back on their own 46.

Byrne got a great block from Musa and the Bears got to Chester’s 13. But a pair of fumbles ended the advance. Tri-Valley recovered the first one, but Chester’s Patrick Slicker came up with the second with 4:08 to go in the third quarter.

For the third time, Chester failed to convert on fourth down. Tri-Valley took over on its own 24.

Van Lieu ran for 15 yards, but a draw play to Byrne left the Bears looking at a fourth-and-four at the 14 as the third quarter ended.

Chester held on and took over on downs from its own 23. On the second play of the series, Salthouse sent an errant pitch to Schmidlein that was recovered by Bo Murphy with 11:14 to go at the Chester 24. The Bears parlayed runs by Byrne and Van Lieu into a first down at the 15, but those last few yards were tough to traverse. With a fourth-and-goal at the one, Gray carried and was stopped short. It was Chester’s most resonant moment but they couldn’t capitalize on it.

Schmidlein advanced up the field. On a fourth-and-one Stover called out, “We’ve got to have this one.” Schmidlein went outside but cut back for the first down at the Chester 28. Instead of keeping up with the running attack, Chester opted for a pass, which was picked off by Fiedler, giving the Bears a first down on their own 45 with 5:39 to go. Byrne burned Chester by going like the Energizer Bunny after he was hit. Musa picked up six and Chester encroached to add five more. On a third-and-eight, Van Lieu completed a pass to Drown for a first down. After Byrne ran for 15 more, the Chester lineman urged each other on. “This is the game right here,” they yelled.

Runs by Byrne and Musa got the Bears a first-and-goal at the three. With 1:36 to go in the game, Van Lieu hit Kevin Drown for the game-winning TD. Calabrese’s PAT failed and Rusin called in his troops. “We’ve shut them down for a quarter and a half, now go out and stop them here,” he cried.

The Bears did just that as North intercepted a pass by Salthouse to end Chester’s last hope.

“We got what we deserved,” said Stover. “We played with no sense of urgency. Tri-Valley played a great game and I’m not surprised that they bounced back from their loss last week.” Asked if he felt Chester had gambled on its fourth-down attempts, Stover was adamant. “If I can’t ask my offense to get one yard, what can I ask them?”

Rusin was overwhelmed with emotion at his team’s heart. He attested to each player’s role. North, who had a key interception, was momentarily out of the game after he and Schmidlein banged heads, but the feisty safety went right back into the fray. “Gary’s a tough young man,” Rusin said, who had unbridled praise for Musa and Byrne, as well as Van Lieu. The sophomore has shown extraordinary maturation since being called to arms following the injury to starter Charlie Edwards. Rusin summed up the game plan, “Our offense set out to grind it out, and we did just that.”

Asked about Schmidlein, Rusin said, “He’s a tremendous athlete. You can never stop him. We just wanted to slow him down. The kids did a great job in the trenches.”

Tri-Valley improved to 5-2, while Chester fell to 6-1.

Byrne carried the ball 12 times for 120 yards. Musa lugged it 19 times for 93. Schmidlein had 31 carries for 154 yards, bringing his total for the year to 1,682 yards with 21 touchdowns.