Football

Ground war

Ellenville rides Exner’s rushing and cashes in on Eldred miscues for a non-league win

By RICHARD A. ROSS

ELDRED, NY — Why Class D Eldred drew powerful Class C Ellenville on its schedule this year is a mystery. So, too, is an October fray with Sullivan West.

Ellenville had never played Eldred before and coach Tony Boriello admitted he knew little about the Yellow Jackets. “You come into a game like this and everything is new. The view, the surroundings, the field and the team,” said Boriello. “With other teams at least you know your history with them.”

By day’s end, Boriello knew a lot more about Eldred and he minced no amount of praise about how well the Yellow Jackets had played. “I am super impressed with the game they put out against us and the things they did to us. It’s hard to tell a 16-year-old that they’re going to be playing a tough team, even though they’re a small school. I give Eldred all the credit in the world.”

Eldred coach Frank Kean had scouted Ellenville last week against Spackenkill. He knew his kids would be outsized and would have to reckon with the Blue Devils’ Power I offense and its rambling backs senior Donald Exner and explosive junior Joe Logan.

Familiar with both teams, this writer expected a war in the trenches, as the teams are mirror images of each other: big, tough and featuring a similar brand of smash-mouth football. The difference would be the experience factor. Ellenville had 15 seniors; Eldred is loaded with 14 juniors.

Since losing its opener to Sullivan West 41-19, Ellenville has been gaining force and momentum. The Blue Devils steamrolled Tri-Valley and found their groove against Spackenkill for two straight league wins. On this day, they turned their ground attack loose on Eldred for 202 yards on 55 carries for a 14-0 win on September 27. Along the way, they’d sustain lengthy drives that eventually wore Eldred out.

Eldred players failed to get key stops as they picked the wrong times to tackle poorly. They also jumped offsides three times, handing Ellenville fresh sets of downs to start its grind anew.

Eldred came in at 2-0, having outlasted a surprisingly tough Hancock team and then shutting out LMR in a non-league preview of the real deal to be played in October. In both frays, Eldred showed its ability to tackle well, but bringing down Ellenville runners would call for top-notch tackling skills. Eldred had some great stops but, in the end, Ellenville’s unrelenting march took its toll.

Kean didn’t veil his disappointment. “In the first two games, we hit hard, but today we played with doubt. We’ve got to come to play. This is the first shutout we’ve experienced in about six years. Now, we’ve got to work hard to end this losing streak at one. I’m not mad at you,” said Kean, who told his team that playing tough Ellenville would be good preparation for the Class D games to come.

Next week, Eldred (2-1) travels to Spackenkill, while Ellenville (3-1) hosts winless Liberty.

Stat Line

Ellenville rushing: Exner 39/157; Andrew Platt 3/9; Logan 8/22; Constable 4/13; Jacob Coutant 1/1. Total rushing 55/202. Constable was 4/4/41.

Eldred rushing: Counts 7/39; Henry 4/20; Martinez 2/25. Total rushing 13/84. Henry was 1/8/29.

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Game highlights

On fourth and one at the outset of the game, Eldred pulled off a fake punt as Bobby Warden took off for the first down before Eldred went three and out.

Ellenville’s Don Exner ran and ran as the Blue Devils ate up the clock but failed to score. It was 0-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Eldred’s Gino Jones stopped Exner on third down and Logan went back to punt. On a high snap, Joe Counts had him behind the line but Logan broke loose at the Jackets’ 49 for a first down.

Exner’s run, a slant pass to tight end Matthew Rogers and runs by Constable, fueled by poor tackling, led to the first score. With 3:42 remaining, Exner ran it in from two yards out. He followed that with a successful conversion run and Ellenville led 8-0.

Eldred got the ball on its own 45 with 11 seconds. Ellenville was flagged for pass interference on a ball thrown to McKerrell. On the last play of the half, a Bryan Henry pass completion to Charles Wolff came up nine yards short of a TD.

Ellenville received to start the second half and offered up a steady dose of its ground game. An offsides penalty on fourth down set up Exner’s 22-yard TD run and made it 14-0. The conversion run failed but the clock read 3:31. Ellenville had used eight and half minutes on the drive.

The Yellow Jackets got on track with their running game late in the third but the drive stalled.

The Yellow Jackets got one more good chance when Logan fumbled and Cody Conklin recovered with 5:18 to go in the game. Three and out, Eldred punted, though it looked like Warden wouldn’t get it off. A high snap sailed over his head. The alert kicker ran after it, retrieved it, spun and got off a beauty.

Constable got his third completion to Rogers but Eldred would take over the late series on downs. Henry went to the air with little success and Eldred opted to punt it away, late as it was.

Time ran out and Ellenville retired to its end zone for its game-winning confab with Boriello.