9/27 Most Valuable Thoughts: Oriskany/South Lewis Football

South Lewis 44, Oriskany 42

This one might be the craziest game I hit all year. Knew it would be that way though - between the craziness of the day already & stories leading up to the game, it was only right. Hell, Oriskany's cheerleaders almost didn't make it. Their bus had an unfortunate accident en route to Turin... as in a turkey hit their windshield. I can't make that up. Alright, to the game.

Each team was out there looking for their 1st W. Youth plays a big part in that. Oriskany QBs Ethan Juarez & Ryan Enos, RB Shamis Lasher, and WR Devin Bryant are all sophomores. South Lewis QB Justin Smith, and I also believe RBs Randall Cobb & maybe Lucas Kelly are all freshies. The first TD of the game was a combo of a flash of what these kids will be able to do in a couple years and the pains of inexperience. Smith tried the option toss for South Lewis, but Enos jumped the lane. Smith probably should've cut it back, but tossed it right into the hands of Enos, who bolted 55 yards untouched for Oriskany's 1st TD of the night - 8-0 at 7:57 mark of the 1st. South Lewis responded quickly and easily, all by running pounding the ball down the field. This will be a common theme for the Falcons. Started off with a big return to Oriskany's 47, and it took only 3 plays from there: 1, 43, and 3 yard runs from Randall Cobb, which made it 8-6 with 6:57 left in the 1st. Oriskany had good field position over their next few drives, but weren't able to cash in because of the pressure South Lewis' defensive front was able to put on Juarez (and Enos when he was under center). This was also a common theme. South Lewis was able to snag the lead with 8:40 left in the 1st half - a 37 yard run by Lucas Kelly set up a 1 yard QB plunge by Justin Smith to make the score 12-8. It didn't take too long for the Redskins to grab the lead back - South Lewis did things well such as run the ball & put pressure in the backfield, but they were very mistake-prone. They committed 2 mistakes on back-to-back drives, and Oriskany capitalized on both. First, a Smith pass was picked by Tyler Murfit and returned to the Falcon 35 - tack on a personal foul and Oriskany started their drive from the 20. On the 4th play of the drive, which was 3rd & goal from the 6 (got to the 1 on 1st play, false start to the 6, 2 plays that went nowhere), Juarez hit Devin Bryant for a 6 yard score, and Oriskany took a 14-12 lead with over 4 left in the 1st half. South Lewis' Randall Cobb fumbled it away on the next play, recovered by Oriskany's TJ Schweizer at the Falcon 26, and nearly the same thing happened - Juarez to Bryant to the 2, false start, nothing doing, Juarez to Bryant 8 yard TD on 4th & goal 2 minutes after the last one. South Lewis drove back to the 1 before the half was over, but turned it over on downs a foot outside the goal line in the last 5 seconds, making the score 20-12 Oriskany at half.

And then it picked up. South Lewis tied it up at the 7:47 mark of the 3rd quarter with a 14 yard TD run by Nick Kraeger - Cobb had 34 yards on 3 carries that drive. Oriskany came right back with a 70 yard TD run by Dom Silvestri on his only touch of the game to make the score 26-20. A quick, 6 play South Lewis drive centered around Lucas Kelly tied it back up. Kelly ran 3 times for 42 yards, including the 8 yard TD run. The next time South Lewis got the ball, the drive was much longer, but their ground & pound game took form and tired out the Redskins defense into the end zone. It was a 15 play, 80 yard drive that took over 7 minutes off the clock. They shot themselves in the foot a couple times - made it to the 19, then called for holding to the 30, and then a personal foul a couple plays later back to midfield, which looked like it would be the end of the drive - but a 50 yard TD run up the middle on 2nd & 39 by Lucas Kelly was apparently just what the doctor ordered to give SL the lead back. On the 2nd play of the ensuing drive for Oriskany, Juarez hit Craig Whittaker for a 66 yard TD connection, giving the Redskins a 34-32 lead with 6:33 to play. Oriskany couldn't stop the run; South Lewis couldn't stop the pass. Just over 2 minutes later, Lucas Kelly struck again, this time a 31 yard TD run to give South Lewis a 38-34 lead. Oriskany turned the ball over on downs at their own 9, giving South Lewis the ball with 3:13 left, 1st & goal. Looked like the end, right? Wrong. South Lewis proceeded to fumble it away, giving Oriskany another shot. However, they again turned it over on downs, and Randall Cobb ran one in from 37 yards out to give the Falcons a 44-34 lead with 1:15 remaining. Oriskany did answer to make it interesting - a big Devin Bryant return to the Falcon 48, a 26 yard Ethan Juarez run, and a 22 yard Juarez to Shamis Lasher connection cut the deficit to 44-42 with just over 30 seconds remaining - but South Lewis recovered the onside kick and was able to take a pair of knees to secure their 1st W.

#NumbersDontLie - For Oriskany, Ethan Juarez had a bad completion percentage, but made completions count. He was just 10/33 throwing the ball, but finished with 200 passing yards and 4 TDs. He also ran the ball 45 yards on 10 carries. Shamis Lasher, their running back with Tyler Tarkowski out with an ankle injury, only had 3 carries in a pass-heavy game for 2 yards; however, he did catch the one pass for a 22 yard TD late. Devin Bryant caught 5 passes for 81 yards and 2 TDs, and it seemed like more. He also caught a pair of conversion passes. For South Lewis, Randall Cobb lost a pair of fumbles, but had a great game overall. He rushed the ball 25 times for 234 yards, scoring twice, including what proved to be the game-winner. Lucas Kelly had a dominant 2nd half, rushing the ball 16 times for 214 yards and 3 scores. FB Nick Kraeger had 6 carries for 50 yards and a TD, and Corey Marolf only rushed 3 times, but had 73 yards, including a 59 yard run early. South Lewis had 568 rushing yards on the night. They ran 74 plays for 580 total yards, whereas Oriskany ran 58 plays for 238 yards.

Neat-o Stat of the Night - It's a tie. 2 big things that ran true for the night - Oriskany couldn't protect their QBs, and South Lewis shot themselves in the foot repeatedly. For the game, Oriskany QBs were sacked 8 times for a total loss of 76 yards. With the combo of sacking the QB so many times and outgaining their opponent by nearly 350 yards, you'd think South Lewis should have won by more than 2. However, they turned the ball over 5 times by way of INT or fumble, 3 of those times in their own territory, and one of the two that was in Oriskany territory was returned for a TD. They also were penalized for a total of 96 yards, compared to just 25 Oriskany penalty yards.