Week 6 - Eastern Teams with Nate Lull & "Games of the Week" with Roger Neel

This episode provides in-depth insight and analysis of the Section IV Eastern Teams, by Nate Lull, the Sports Director of WCDO, in Sidney, NY.

Teams: Windsor, Norwich, Oneonta, Bainbridge/Guilford, Delaware Academy, Deposit/Hancock, Harpursville/Afton, Sidney, Walton, Greene, Oxford,
Unadilla Valley, Unatego/Franklin, Whitney Point

To follow teams in the eastern portion of Section IV, use these resources:
Within the Sidney area, you can listen on radio stations 100.9 FM or 1490 AM
If you are outside the Sidney area, you can listen using the audio steam on www.wcdosports.com

The Nate Lull Podcast is also a good source of information

In this episode, Roger Neel, provides his weekly insight into the Section IV "Games of the Week". Coach Smith reviews the New York State Sportswriters Association Weekly Rankings.

This podcast will run weekly during the season and continue as long as a Section IV Football team is playing.

The Cover IV Podcast is brought to you by TDS Performance Improvement
60% of first-time leaders fail. TDS Performance Improvement prevents these failures by verifying often-overlooked prerequisites. To see if you have the leadership prerequisites, visit tdspi.com, click the Let’s have a conversationbutton and schedule your free, informative conversation.

Visit the Cover IV Podcast Website to stay informed and get involved.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:09

Welcome to Cover 4. If you're a Section 4 football fan, this is your podcast. I'm Coach Smith, and I'll be your host. The Cover 4 podcast is brought to you by TDS Performance Improvement. 60% of first-time leaders fail. TDS Performance Improvement prevents these failures by verifying often overlooked prerequisites. To see if you have the leadership prerequisites, visit TDSPI.com. That's TDSPI.com. Click the Let's Have a Conversation button and schedule your free informative conversation. Kicking off week six, our guest is Nate Lall, the sports director of WCDO Sydney, New York. Nate will be sharing his knowledge and insight on the Eastern teams in Section 4. Welcome, Nate.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Hey, it's good to be back again. And uh, you know, just starting off, I want to say thanks. You're doing a great service to the to the Section Four football uh community. It's great to listen into these episodes. And it's not just about the games, you're you're doing the history and everything uh with your recent episodes on the coaches. So I love to see all that. That's been really great.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

You're welcome. Thank you. And uh that's exactly why why it was started to to give Section Four football uh more of a voice and to compliment people like your the professionals like yourself and all the other media professionals that uh do a great job covering. So just it's meant to be complimentary and and thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Sure. Well, it's you know it's getting to be an exciting time of the year, and I'm sitting here really looking forward to an eight-man game that we're gonna cover on Thursday night on the radio station that I work for, WCDO. And it's Green at Unitego Franklin. Of course, Green is state ranked this week. I think they came in number four in the eight-man poll. And boy, our eight-man teams are just so deep right now in those state rankings. You love to see it. I'm excited for this matchup. Green comes in undefeated. So does Unitego Franklin. And I think Unitigo Franklin is kind of flying under the radar a little bit, in my opinion, because they've just had some bad luck with the schedule. They've only played two games, but they have some real talent. They have some guys that are back that are playing that haven't played in the past. And coming into the year, I thought, are they gonna be able to replace some of the pieces that they graduated? But they have so far. And I think this is gonna be one of my top matchups of the week. I can't wait to do it on the radio. It's a six o'clock kickoff on Thursday, so it's a little bit different. Uh, but just teams that are very balanced, teams that can score in a variety of different ways. It's not just one guy that's gonna run for a couple hundred yards. It could be anybody. They throw, they run, uh, they spread it out. It's gonna be a really fun game. So if you're an eight-man fan, I think Green, Unitigo, Franklin is uh one to watch on Thursday. I think for me, the Friday night game to watch out of this division is Harpersville Afton and Tyoga, both state ranked. Of course, Tyoga won. Harpersville Afton's coming in at 11. It's a Friday night game. It's in Tyoga, it's at seven. I won't be there. We're doing a different game. We're doing Sydney and BG, which I'll get to in a minute. But I think this is the big question. Can Harpersville Afton, who is undefeated, can they hang with the big boys? Can they hang with this rich tradition, this rich program like Tyoga that I think has won nine or 10 of the last 11 Section 4 Class D titles? The only time I think they've lost is when Sydney got through in in 2016. So I'm excited to see this. I think Harpersville Afton is surprising people for the second year in a row. They have some great talent at the running back position with Luke Merrill. He scored five touchdowns last week, which is incredible. Uh, but you know, Tyoga is just Tyoga. And I it's almost like betting against the Patriots, you know, when they had Tom Brady, you just don't do it, right? So exactly. Uh I think that's gonna be a wonderful game, one of the ones to watch this week. I'm just going down my list here. I have UV and Omira Notre Dame. I think that'll be a fun eight-man game, two teams that are kind of finding their identity. UV's got to go on the road. Uh, they have some good athletes, and I just think they're figuring it out as well. They've had some schedule changes due to COVID and such. And uh, so that should be a good game as well. They have two really good receivers and a good quarterback in uh in Caden Butts. So I think UV will be all right this week. Uh, I do dip into Whitney Point a little bit. They moved down to eight-man, and I've been trying to give them some love. They play Lansing on Friday uh on the road. That's tough. Whitney Point's, you know, they're new to the eight-man game. They made the switch at the last minute. Lansing's tough. Everybody in Section 4 and 8-man just seems to be so, so good across the board. So that's Whitney Point's game this week. They're still looking for their first win of the season. Uh, Windsor and a Uigo. I also try to go over and cover Windsor. They're kind of in a strange area in the section where I feel like they're a Binghamton school, but they're outside of the city. So I try to dip my toe in over there. They started off real strong, and their schedule has been tough as well. Going to a Uigo this week. I like Windsor to maybe go and get a win and get back on track. They're another team that has a lot of really good athletes. Norwich and Shenango Valley should be a great game. I've gotten to see Norwich in person. Uh, when they took on Sydney two weeks ago, they have such a, you know, we we were calling them Thunder and Lightning on the radio with uh Evan Sostra, the running back, and Malachi Gators. They just can pound you to death. They can get to the outside, they have speed. Torin Lawrence, their quarterback, can throw it all over the place, athletes all over the place. And when you have a head coach like Mike Christie, you know Coach, he's a great guy, uh, and he really knows his stuff. So that's that's gonna be another good test for Norwich. I know they're probably thinking about forks in a couple of weeks, but uh this one with Valley should be pretty good. I'm excited for Sydney and BG. It's a game we're gonna do on WCDO on Friday night, 7 o'clock. It's senior night at BG, it's their homecoming. Both these teams, young, trying to find their identity, two great coaches, and Israel Lormer for BG, and of course Jeff Matthews for Sydney, their longtime coach. Uh, that's gonna be a fun game. I'm also interested to see what Sydney does here. They have a very, very good modified in JV program. They have excellent numbers. They're up over 40. Uh, I think it is for their JV team. I'm wondering if maybe we're at a point in the season where they give a couple of those guys a look to come up and try out a game against BG. I think the future is really bright for Sydney two years from now, uh, from what I'm seeing. So Sydney and BG should be a great game on Friday night. I think Walton and Deposit Hancock also on Friday night should be a lot of fun. Uh Walton got their first win last week against Sydney. Deposit Hancock is searching for their identity as well. These are a lot of the teams that have really had to go through the gauntlet of this division. When you look at that class D division here in section four, you got the cream of the crop state-ranked teams at the top, and then everybody else is trying to hang out at the bottom. So now they're getting to some games that I think uh are more their speed. I don't mean that in a in a bad way, but uh I think that'll be a really fun game as well, Walton and DH. A Saturday game, Newark Valley at Del High. I I'm really interested to see how this game goes. I saw Newark Valley early in the year, thought they were great. Um, I've seen Delhi twice. They look great. Both of these teams had a real tough time with Tyoga, um, especially Delhi. And when I saw Newark Valley, I thought, wow, that's a really, really tough football team, as always. But they are just uh, you know, one of those teams. They're just one of those teams that doesn't have a lot of guys right now. I think Newark Valley's probably, I don't know if I'm remembering right from when they played BG. I looked over, they had five or six guys on the sideline. Just not a lot of subs. So I wonder if that wore them down against Tyoga. But flip a coin, Newark Valley, Delhi. It's a long trip from NV to Delhi. So interested to see how that goes on uh Saturday. Oneata at Sus Valley on Saturday as well. Oneana started so strong. The injury bug has kind of uh been tough on them. Uh Sus Valley's always a very good team. See if Oneana can write the ship there. Uh the attitude at Oneana this year seems really good to me, really high. I think Will Neal is doing a great job with that program. I think in the future they are going to be a team to continue to look out for. The just the division is so tough, as always. Uh, and then my last game I'm looking at is Oxford at Moravia. I know Oxford's a young team. I was actually talking about this with a coach today. He said, when you think about it, a couple of years ago, Oxford had a real big senior class. Those guys graduated. Uh, then there's COVID, and this year they've had some schedule troubles as well. Some of these Oxford guys really have never played a varsity football game until this year, and that's a majority of their roster. So they're trying to figure it out. Uh, I think it'll be a good matchup with Moravia about their speed, one o'clock Saturday. So it's kind of a look at my teams. It's an exciting week, coach. There's a lot of good games out there.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Absolutely. Uh and Nate, you uh do a great job of uh bringing that to the forefront, and I think that really gets our section not only the student athletes that are participating in the coaching staffs, but also the uh the fan base for all those particular schools that you talked about. And that's what makes this really exciting is to get this information out there and and so people can really get a uh good perspective on what to expect with the the section four games. So listen, as usual, Nate, you did a great job. We appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your your knowledge and your insight on the eastern teams there in section four and keep doing what you're doing, buddy. Take care.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Thank you, coach. And before I go, uh you know, you sent me a really nice shirt last time I was on it, and I've I've been wearing it around the office and to uh to a game or two, and I've had some people comment on it. So I really appreciate that. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

You're welcome, Nate. Zapi Athletic Products is the official supplier of Cover Four Podcast Apparel, and they do a great job. So, regardless of your athletic endeavor, Zapius keeps you looking good.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

You know, I I got thinking about it. I don't really give anything to my guests, so I I got this nice shirt in the mail. I said, Oh, I gotta step my game up, I guess. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Well, you keep look at this way, Nate. You give what is really important is your time and your knowledge. That's that's really what's important. And uh so thank you again. I appreciate the accolades there, but we're trying to do the best we can here on this cover four, and hopefully it really takes off and like I said, compliments what you and the other uh sports professionals do. So take care, bud.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

All right, thanks, you too.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Highlighting the week six, section four, games of the week, our guest, Roger Neal, the sports voice of the Southern Tier. Welcome, Roger.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Hey Tim, thank you. Thanks for letting me a part of the broadcast again. And let's take a real quick look back at some of the action from last weekend and then some very, very interesting games shaping up for this weekend around section four. Waverly kept on rolling, clubbing Dryden 46-7. Vestel quite a game with the Bingham Patriots. Bingaman almost pulled off their first victory. The Pats were up 3-0, but Vestel used an option pass to score and pull it out right at the very end of the game. And Tyoga keeps on rolling 46-15 over Newark Valley. Now, what about showdowns this weekend? Well, a lot of the action will take place in the smaller schools, but how about some big school action, first of all? Elmira plays at Ty Cobb Stadium against the UV Tigers. Elmira comes in in double-A competition, their record three and one, UE 5-0. The Tigers' offense has really caught fire this year. They've scored 204 points, given up 48. Elmira, again, that three-and-one record, 142-4, and they've given up 52 points. Ithaca plays at the forks. Ithaca still tried to come up with a solid year. They're one and three, but they play another powerhouse in the forks. A tough game, no doubt, for Ithaca. Bigger school, but we know the forks takes on anybody. All comers, the forks comes in. Class C competition four and one. Class C, how about this one shaping up in Division V? Waverly and Watkins Glenn Odessa Montour. Waverly has been on fire. They've given up just an average of 5.8 points per game. 35 points so far in six contests. They've rolled up 202 offensively. Watkins Glen Odessa Montour, 4-1, 149-4. They've given up 66. Another big one, Class D Division 6. Hartmersville Afton matches up against Tyoga. Both are 5-0. And how about the Hartmersville Afton? 212 points scored, 84 against. They're averaging 42 points a game. Meanwhile, Tyoga tops even that. Tyoga, 225 offensively on the board, 43 points against, 45 points a game average, defensively, giving up less than nine points a game. So outstanding work with those teams. Eight-man football, some highlights, including Trumansburg. Trumansburg is four and one, just under 50 points a game average. They have an open date. Spencer Van Etten is 3-0, averaging almost 63 points a game. And they've only given up an average of four points a game. So some highlighted teams, some big showdowns all coming up around section four this weekend. Tim.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Great, Roger. And uh week six is playing out, Roger, to be a real exciting weekend for Section Four football fans. So thank you for doing such a great job of covering that. Now to our New York State Sports Writers Association rankings through uh Sunday, October 10th. In class double A, we got Elmira coming in at number 19 with a three and one record. And in the honorable mention category is Corning with the same three and one record. Class A, you've got two representatives in there from section four. They're right next to each other. Union Endicott comes in 16th at five and zero, followed by horseheads four and one. Now on to the B division. You've got Maine Enwell is holding steady at number nine, coming in with a four and one record. And they could they actually travel Saturday out of the section to section two. They play Queensbury, which is a uh a pretty good team down. Although they only have a one and four record, uh, I think that uh Maine Nwell is gonna have a good good uh test on their hands down there. Something a little interesting about this game. Both uh mascots are called the Spartans, and both are blue and yellow. So that would be a tough game for us to call, Roger. And also, I'm not a betting guy, but I got a strong feeling that the Spartans are gonna come away with a victory in that game.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

I think you're right. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

And in class C, we've got Shenango Forks holding pretty steady at number five with a four-one record, and nine and ten, respectively. You've got Norwich at five and one and Waverley at six and zero. As you mentioned, their defense is very stingy. And the honorable mention in that category is their their opponent this weekend, is Watkins, Glenn, Odessa Montour. They're at four and one. On to the D division, where Tyoga is uh kind of running the show there, staying steady at number one at five and zero. And as you alluded to, uh they got a really good game with Harpersville Afton, which is number 11 in class D. They are also five and zero. So that's going to be what I call the old classic collision in the D division. And honorable mention in class D, you've got Delhi with a four and one and Newark Valley three and two. On to the eight-player classification. Spencer Vinetton is uh number two with a three and zero record. And as you alluded to, Roger, their defense is also very stingy, uh, points allowed. And there's no surprise why they're number rank number two. Rank number four is green, four and zero. And their game with uh Unitigo Franklin was supposed to be on Thursday, got moved to next week. Uh, in that eight player classification in the honorable mention category, you've got Lansing two and one, and Trumansburg at four and two. So that really sums up week six, Roger. And like I said before, the Section Four football fans are gonna have a lot of great games to watch this weekend, and things are really starting to shake out.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

Yeah, absolutely. Should be another great weekend for football.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

All right, thank you. I want to take a few minutes to pay tribute to our weekly guest analyst and longtime voice of Section Four football, Roger Neal. Some of you may be aware, Roger is a college football national champion. Roger was a starting offensive tackle for the 1970 Westminster College Titans. This weekend, they finally get to celebrate their 50th anniversary of Westminster's first national championship. So if you see Roger in person or you see him on social media, be sure to congratulate him. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe. And remember, tell your friends, Coach Smith says, visit cover4.com and be the next fan up. In football and life, it's not where we line up, it's where we wind up. Thank you for listening to the Cover 4 podcast.