Eldred is league champs with rout of Webutuck

Air and ground assault sends Eldred back to Dietz to defend sectional title

By RICHARD A. ROSS

ELDRED, NY - Eldred’s continued its meteoric return to the top of Class D with a dramatic 59-14 win over Webutuck and garnered the league title for the second year in a row.

The Yellowjackets’ sweep of league opponents Livingston Manor/Roscoe, Chester and Webutuck punched a ticket back to Dietz Stadium on November 3 to defend their Class D Section Nine title, which they won a year ago by downing Chester 27-14. Eldred will face Chester in a rematch of last year’s title tilt.

After a 36-year drought of never winning a football title, Eldred has captured three straight crowns, including last year’s league and section titles and this year’s league crown. Next week at Dietz Stadium, they hope to make it four in a row.

Eldred capped off its regular season with a stunning 26-18 victory over Chester a week ago in The Enchanted Forest followed by a convincing win over the up-and-coming Warriors. Earlier this season, Eldred had to comeback from an early deficit to defeat Webutuck 16-12 in their non-league tussle.

Eldred coach Frank Kean and company had no intention of playing Tiddlywinks with Webutuck this time out, despite missing three players who were suspended from action for missing the BOCES bus.

Eldred mounted a furious assault on the ground, riding the running of durable back Kevin Prunka, who carried the ball 22 times for 198 yards, scored a pair of one-yard touchdowns and caught a 13-yard screen pass from quarterback Nick McCormick for a third score.

McCormick tossed a trio of touchdown passes, as Eldred’s air show meshed with a devastating ground attack, to put the game out of reach after a back-and-forth battle in the first four minutes. Prunka started the scoring with a one-yard TD run after a 60-yard drive on seven plays. The PAT failed.

Webutuck answered back with a 49-yard touchdown jaunt by fullback Marquis Williams. Their PAT failed as well. Eldred returned the ensuing kickoff to the 50-yard line and covered the other half of the field with a 50-yard pass from McCormick to Tom Compasso. A two-point conversion failed and Eldred led 12-6.

The Warriors replied with their final statement of the night, a 65-yard kickoff return by Steve Lounsbury. Webutuck added a two-point conversion for the 14-12 lead. That would be it as the hive erupted for 47 unanswered points.

Following Lounsbury’s kickoff return, the Warriors never crossed the 50-yard line again.

Eldred’s next score came on another Prunka one-yard run, which followed a 50-yard-pass play that gave Eldred a first down at the Warriors’ five. Sean Colley caught the two-point conversion pass and Eldred led 20-14 at the end of the first quarter.

Eldred running back Chris Leader, who has been hobbled with an ankle injury that he suffered against Hancock in the season’s first game, returned at full strength. The Yellowjackets played “Follow the Leader,” as he carried the ball five times for 80 yards, which included a pair of touchdowns of one and four yards. Leader added a two-point conversion for good measure.

Leader played a key role in Eldred’s Class D win at Dietz last year.

Leader’s first score gave the Yellowjackets a 26-12 lead. A 36-yard touchdown pass to Compasso made it 32-14 after the two-point conversion attempt failed. McCormick’s 13-yard TD pass to Prunka made it 38-14 and Leader’s two point conversion made it 40-14 at the half.

Eldred also ran over Webutuck with “The Bus,” a.k.a Hilton Johnson, who carried the ball eight times for 27 yards and had a touchdown run of eight yards, which made it 46-14. The PAT failed.

Leader tallied his third score from three yards out. Andrew Cole had a TD run of 11-yards. Rob Warden kicked a PAT to bring the final tally to a daunting 59-14 for Eldred (8-1, 3-0 Class D). Webutuck finished its campaign at 1-8, 1-2 Class D.

Eldred seemed unfazed by the dreary mix of rain and snow. Bees don’t normally like cold weather, but Kean’s hive has mutated to adapt to any circumstances and look to swarm next week against Chester.

McCormick finished the night with seven-of-nine completions for 200 yards. Compasso had four catches for 121 yards, including touchdowns of 50 and 36 yards.

Kean was impressed by the character of his team that learned a dear lesson by overcoming the loss of three of its players to the one-game suspension. Kean was ecstatic about the return of Leader, who is another weapon in the Yellowjackets’ arsenal against Chester.

Chester’s final game slated for October 28 against LMR was cancelled due to the death of Livingston Manor senior Adam Lasky in a car accident on October 27. LMR fullback Kelly Lackey was seriously hurt in the crash and transported to Albany Medical Center. State troopers said that Lackey’s injuries were not believed to be life threatening.