Week 5 - Western Teams Update with Andrew Legare

One of our Football Analysts, Andrew Legare, will give you an in-depth update on the Western Teams in Section IV.

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Cover Four. If you're a Section 4 football fan, this is your podcast. I'm Coach Smith, and I'll be your host. The Cover Four podcast is brought to you by TDS Performance Improvement. Leading people is the most important responsibility in the world, yet 60% of first-time leaders fail. TDS Performance Improvement prevents these failures. Beginning in January 2023, TDS Performance Improvement will deliver a monthly first-time leader development program at the Tioga Downs Casino, located in Nichols, New York. Are you prepared to lead people? Visit TDSPI.com. That's TDSPI.com and click on the Find Out link. Welcome to week five of the Section 4 football season. Today I'm joined by one of our football analysts, Andrew Laguerre. Andrew is a sports writer for the Elmira Star Gazette and USA Today. Andrew will give us an update on the Western teams in section four. But before I turn the microphone over to Andrew, I want to share some good news about Andrew. Andrew is a finalist for the Journalists Association of New York Award in the sports story category for his Star Gazette article titled How Ernie Davis' Best Friend Spread the Express Legend. Take it away, Andrew.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Not surprisingly, back in Elmira Corning this year, we're seeing a whole bunch of double wing offense. And uh I think we'll start with the Elmira Express. Uh off to a two-and-one start this season. And um, I'm sorry, off to a three three-and-one start coming off a big win last week down in Syracuse, where they scored 62 points and uh you know rolled over Rome Free Academy. So um, you know, some familiar faces, some new faces doing the some familiar faces and some new faces doing the job for the Express. One player I gotta mention is fullback Amir Williams. Last week picked up 165 yards uh at Rome, but the week before they had Elmira's first ever game at the brand new stadium, named for Coach Tom Hurtley, and the field name for Coach Dick Sanko. Uh, you know, Elmire lost that night to a really, really good UE team. It was fun to watch. But uh Amir took literally five or six guys on his back for 12 or 13 yards. One of the more impressive runs I've seen in a long time. Um the wing backs in Almire are very good. Brady Keefe coming off 173 yards, three touchdowns last week. And Johnny Garcia, another very good back, 61-yard touchdown last week. And then the quarterback running things, uh, familiar name in this area, Evan Garvin, whose father, John Garvin, probably known to more people as Johnny when he was in high school at EFA, was uh the career rushing leader for EFA and you know, beating records in the likes of Ernie Davis. And uh, but Evan's a kid who can throw the ball, he can run the ball, he can do a little bit of everything, and uh he's been very impressive as well. So, you know, right now out, you know, if I'm ranking teams, I'm probably putting out Myyer at the top because I like you know what they're doing offensively, and they got quite a bit of experience. Um Corning, another team that likes to run the double wing under head coach Mike Johnson Jr. Uh coming out off back-to-back losses. Hawks dealt you know a lot of injuries early in the preseason and and you know, even over the summer. And out of 22 starting positions, 18 of them had to be replaced this year for Corning. You know, they got off to a nice start beating Newburgh and Binghamton. Uh, but the last couple of weeks, the little bit of a struggle with Vestel and UE and losing those games. But you know, Corning still, you know, they got the big game this week with Elmyra that's probably gonna determine who wins the division title and gets home field for the sectional class A championship game and a bye in the semifinals. And you know, Corning is always gonna be competitive, so that's something uh you can count on with Johnson's teams. But they, you know, they have a lot of kids who can carry the ball and pick up yards for them in their double wing. Uh probably the top back is Logan Booker, who's been right around 100 yards or over 100 yards in every game this season. Um, James Freeman, who's big brother Max, people are going to remember just a stud at corning in some of those really good teams. And uh playing at Alfred U right now, I think a couple weeks ago, Bran for nearly 300 yards at Alfred Yu. So that kind of gives you an indication of the bloodlines there. But James Freeman doing some good things as well, and Brady Hughes playing quarterback, AJ Thomas, Clayton Smith doing good things in the backfield. So they they've got some talent, they're just probably not as explosive in the run game as they have been, where they're getting those 60-yard plays, and you know, they can't afford any mistakes or penalties or fumbles or anything like that. That's gonna rail drive. So they they got to be uh on top of their game at all times. But you know, Corning's always gonna be a threat to move the ball and score points. So I'm interested to see how that game with Elmira goes this weekend because uh always the I think top game of the year, you know, mixing horseheads depending on how they're doing. But uh, you know, one thing that's always interesting too with Elmira and Corning is they they see the double wing a lot in practice, and over the years they've seen it so much. So it's you know, I've we've had some low-scoring games in that series in recent years. So it's always an intriguing matchup for that reason among many. Um and you know, another team that's doing good things, uh maybe surprising some people with how well they're doing offensively is the Horseheads. Uh they're off to a three-and-two start. They lost two of the kids I consider two of the best players in section four last year, running back safety, Riley Loomis, two-way lineman, Gannon Johnston. You know, both were fantastic. But you know, the thing about Corning is they got some really good backs this year who were uh picking up big plays for him. But uh Garrett Alston, uh, whose brother Gavin ran for 350 plus yards a few years ago against Vestal, he's been fantastic. Ian Watson's been very good. Braddock Salisbury coming up with big play after big play. Uh last week, just five carries for 93 yards. And, you know, the thing that Coach Kevin Hillman has to love is the defense this morning. Two weeks ago, two touchdowns off of interceptions. And then last week, Robert Peckham picks the ball off, runs 31 yards for a touchdown in their win against Owego. And uh uh, you know, Horse is very impressive in that game as well. And we're gonna see them playing Almira and Corning late in the season. So those are gonna be some really good matchups to look for down the road. Uh one you know, one team I want to mention that's a little bit off the radar. There's a Watkins Blend, Odessa Montor. They're not in a division this year. Uh they're playing an independent schedule, but they played a week zero game and they have that 5-0 record. And they do a lot of what Elmira and Corning do. They run the ball and you know, they throw the ball when it's there. And you know, Bradley Gillis and quarterback Daniel Lewis, they got some very good players, and it's a whole new backfield, and they're doing great work. You know, they're 300 plus yards as a team week in and week out. Uh Trevor Holland, very good coach, and you know, very involved in what goes on in Skylar County in terms of football in general, just beyond Watkins and Odessa. So, and you know, I should say I went to Odessa a long, long time ago, two carries eight yards. I I don't know if there's there's no monument to me there or anything, but uh you know, I I I have some ties to Odessa, and you know, it's always fun to see the program doing well. And you know, as some of you may or may not know, they they had they were the uh Seneca Indians for a while, and you know, both schools decided they didn't want to have that Native American connection with their mascots, so now there's a Skylar Storm, and uh you know that's sort of their combined, that's the combined nickname for the school, and you know it's working out for them for sure. Skylar Storm is uh doing a lot of good things, and uh you know, I I think I'm gonna head down this weekend and uh get a chance to see them play. Uh they play Dryden Saturday. I think it's gonna be a good matchup, but uh you know, so again down here we we've got some good football. And you know, Thomas Edison um they picked up a win in week one in overtime, and that was a fun game to watch. And uh, you know, they've kind of struggled. I honestly probably the last decade, or you know, wins have been tough to come by, but uh that was a big win for them. And they've been competitive and they they're doing some really good things offensively uh in eight-man football. And you know, I I guess I should also mention what we're we're missing football at Elmira Notre Dame this year, you know. Uh in terms of programs with the longest history, especially with the mergers we've had in the last 12 years or so with the Elmira Schools and the Corning schools, Notre Dame has so much history, and it's uh a little bit sad to not have football over at Brewer Brewer Memorial Stadium this fall. And um, but you know, I was thinking about sort of taking a look back at some of that history and a story in a little bit, you know, in a few weeks, but uh definitely missing football there.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Yeah, I agree, and that program goes back a long way. My understanding is Coach Haggerty, who went on, he was the longtime coach at Tyoga, got that program started at Notre Dame, and my understanding is his first quarterback was Mike Johnston senior, was his quarterback for that team. But uh yeah, they're uh they've been around for a long time, and it's it's tough when you have a program like that, and you know, not only the program is not around, but think about the student athletes that were associated with that. That's gotta be you know a hard pill to swallow as well. So you're right, that is uh a program that's that's definitely being missed.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Yeah, and you know, obviously we're missing Coach Deluiso, who passed away uh in late May this year as well. And you know, so it's sort of goes hand in hand with that. But yeah, you're right. Uh Coach Hagerty did start the program at Notre Dame and went on to great success. And Mike Johnson Sr., for those who don't know, was uh really, really good high school football player and was a little all American in college. So uh he looked, I don't know. I've joked with his with Junior, his son a little bit, but uh Mike Sr. looks like he'd still play a little bit. You know, he's like I think he's 83 or something like that. If that's not his age, I apologize, Mike, but uh you know, uh a lot of history with that family.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Definitely. Well, that wraps it up, and there you have it. The update on the Western teams from section four. Thank you, Andrew.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Thanks, Tim. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

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