Football

Chester wins annual Class D share wars and wrests title from Eldred

By RICHARD A. ROSS

MIDDLETOWN, NY—The best rivalries in sports live on and on. Unbounded by the demarcation of years and unaltered by changing faces, they endure with a life of their own.

In the annals of recent Section Nine football history, no rivalry has been stronger than that shared by Eldred and Chester in the anything but small world of Class D football.

Sharing is the operative word, as the teams have traded the trophy back and forth over the past four years. Eldred won in the odd years of 2005 and 2007, while Chester evened it up with victories in 2006 and now in 2008. This year’s November 7 24-15 title win was Chester’s fourth in the past six years. Chester won in 2003 and 2004 before Eldred broke through in ’05.

Diminutive only in population, the schools have staged epic battles and this game was no exception.

From the opening whistle, Chester showed its dominance at the line of scrimmage, as it did in the 8-6 division-clinching victory weeks prior.

Early on, they held Eldred twice on fourth and short yardage. Though they surrendered the first score by allowing Eldred to capitalize on a timely interception by Cody Conklin that preceded a 14-yard score by Ian Halloran, they countered with an effective passing game out of a spread offense that Eldred had never seen them use.

Watching Sullivan West torch his team with the spread and filming the Bulldogs’ similar exposure of Eldred, Chester coach Ron Stover opted to deploy the formation and the element of surprise against his nemesis.

Chester’s junior quarterback Matt Balzano playing in his first post-season fray, completed 12/23 passes for 115 yards and a pair of touchdowns, two of which came in the first half.

Effective passing, great blocking and a pass-interference call helped Chester enact a devastating 12 play, 87-yard fourth-quarter TD drive, just when Eldred had Chester pinned at its own 13-yard line with the Jackets trailing by only two points following an uplifting 30-yard TD pass to Charles Wolff from Eldred QB Bryan Henry.

Turning points lead to the crowning of champions.

A year ago, Eldred won with a go-ahead option pass to Kojo Williams, whose huge interception preserved the comeback 20-16 win.

But this year, Tyler Dieudonne’s five-yard TD on that late drive and Pat Perry’s two-point conversion run dashed Eldred’s hopes of back-to-back titles.

Eldred seemed unprepared for Balzano’s quick release and the effective reception of receivers like Victor Cruz whose bevy of catches included a 34-yard TD and a two-point conversion that gave the Hambletonians the lead they would never relinquish.

When it comes to class, few can rival Eldred Coach Frank Kean, now in his 35th year and only one year away from retiring from the profession and coaching he so dearly loves. Graceful in defeat Kean acknowledged, “It’s always won in the trenches and they won it in the trenches today.”

Looking back at key moments when his team might have wrested the momentum, including just before halftime when Eldred squandered a first-and-goal chance to make it a one-score game instead of a 16-7 margin, Kean was mindful of lost opportunities.

Disappointment aside, Kean praised his team’s efforts. “They gave everything they possibly could. I’m proud of them, the school and the community. This is a one-time shot every year and this was Chester’s turn.”

Reminiscent of President-elect Barack Obama’s call for the need for renewable green energy, Kean vowed that his green clad team would “learn from this lesson for next season,” and work even harder to win the title back. Given Eldred’s resolve, such a reclamation in Kean’s final year is more than likely and is apt to echo the bywords of Obama’s historic election campaign, “Yes We Can,” and “Change We Need.”

Chester won the toss but elected to defer. Eldred was stymied, but a fake punt led to a first-down run by kicker Bobby Warden. The Hambos showed their defensive mettle and got the ball back on downs.

Defensive Player of the Game, senior Cody Conklin, tipped a Balzano pass to himself for an interception at the Chester 27. Chester’s defense held sway but a fumble was recovered by Matt Balcom. After a pass interference call against Chester, Ian Halloran scooted for a 14-yard TD at 4:07. Warden kicked the PAT and Eldred led 7-0.

Chester went to the air, as three consecutive passes ate up huge tracts of Faller Field turf.

After converting a fourth and one, Balzano uncorked a 34-yard TD to Cruz and then hit him again on the two-point conversion to make it 8-7 at 1:13.

J.P. Hackett’s short kickoff was recovered by Chester, who advanced quickly with a slant to Cruz and a screen pass to Perry.

Two plays into the second quarter, Offensive Player of the Game, Balzano, hit Danny Conklin with an eight-yard TD pass. Perry’s conversion run made it 14-7 at 11:25. Chester’s line blew up Eldred’s blocking attempts and forced a punt. Another slant pass had Chester on the march, but Cody Conklin recovered a fumble at 8:25. Unable to capitalize, Eldred punted it again.

Chester’s blocking propelled a big gain by Dieudonne. “That’s how we should be blocking,” exhorted Kean to his team.

The Yellow Jackets got the ball back at 2:39 on their own 36 with all three timeouts remaining.

Helped by Chester penalties and a nice run by Henry, Eldred had a first down on the 12 with 1:47 to go. Running plays spent valuable seconds. With 59 seconds to go, Eldred had a third and five on the five. Henry was thrown back and Eldred faced a fourth and six at the nine. Eldred coaches failed to consider a field goal that could have made it a one-score game. Chester defensive back Joe Gleeson then intercepted a harried Henry pass and Chester took a 16-7 lead into halftime.

Had Eldred garnered points there, strategy for the kickoff to Chester in the second half might have been different.

Both teams used strong defense to neutralize each other in the third quarter. As the quarter wound down, Eldred deployed a shotgun formation, which morphed into a spread with no blockers other than the center in front of Henry.

Henry completed a 40-yard sideline pass to Halloran at the Chester 35. A pass to Christian Martinez put Eldred within range as the fourth quarter began.

Henry unleashed a 30-yard TD pass to a wide-open Wolff with 10:28 to go. Warden’s PAT made it 16-14 and Eldred was within that squandered field goal of being in the lead.

Warden’s kick and Wolff’s coverage had Chester pinned at the 13, but Eldred could not contain Chester’s running attack. The main blow came on a pass-interference call as Chester’s intended receiver pushed his way through Eldred’s defensive backs.

Danny Conklin broke loose for 35 yards to the five. Dieudonne took it in at 5:18 and Perry’s PAT run made it 24-14.

Time was wasted given the urgency. An incomplete pass to Balcom at the three-yard line was ruled out of bounds.

Eldred failed to score as Henry’s final pass for Balcom on a fourth and five proved to be its last gasp.

With the bulk of his team being juniors, Kean hopes to use renewable green energy for next year’s quest.

“Frank and I are getting too old for this,” said Stover. “I thought we overcame a lot of mistakes. I don’t know how many fourth downs we let them off the hook, but we persevered. We talked all week about how you’ve got to play 48 minutes of football. We’ve never used that spread offense until tonight and they weren’t ready for it. We’ve practiced it as Plan B.”

Chester 7-3 will play Tuckahoe on November 15 at Dietz Stadium. Eldred 5-4 will turn its agenda to basketball, wrestling and indoor track with a mind toward weight training for the next chapter in the Class D epic saga, a fray now made more interesting by LM/R’s rapid improvement.

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