The Second Season - The Playoffs with Roger Neel & "Coach" Smith

In this episode Roger Neel and "Coach" Smith provide in-depth insight and analysis of the Section IV Semi-Final Playoff matchups, for each of the 23 teams, across the six classifications.

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SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to Cover 45. If you're a section for a football fan, this is your podcast. I'm Coach Smith. The Cover Four Podcast is brought to you by TDS Performance Improvement. Sixty percent 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. Welcome to the second season, the playoffs. Congratulations to the 23 teams who qualified. The semifinal brackets are set for all six classifications. Roger and I will cover the matchups for all 23 teams. Buckle up. Here we go. We're going to start out with the AA classification for the Section 4 football 2021 playoffs. In the semifinals, you've got four teams. In the first bracket, we've got the Corning Hawks ranked number 16 in the state, hosting the Binghamton Patriots. Roger, what do you know about the Binghamton Patriots?

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Well, Tim, the season has been a struggle for Binghamton. They they no doubt have gotten better in the second half of the season, but uh it's uh gonna be a very ominous opposition for them in that opening round to try to get past Corning. Corning has uh been outstanding throughout the season. The Patriots, meanwhile, have given up 264 points, and so that's the biggest thing. How do they stop Corning? And at the same time, they've only scored 107. So the offense has not been putting things together either. So they certainly are up against what obviously is the top seed in that bracket going in.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Yeah, and Corning comes in at six and one, coached by Mike Johnson Jr. And he's the uh individual that brought that uh double tight double wing to the section four area, specifically Corning, and he had a stop in Elmira as well. But these two teams played week three at Binghamton, and Corning won that game handily 61 to 19. And Corning's only loss was to Horseheads. That was in week four. So, you know, that's gonna be a tough game for Doug Stenno and the Binghamton Patriots, but it's the playoffs, and you you never know what happens. Now, the other side of that bracket is El Myra is gonna host Saturday afternoon, the little red from Ithaca. Elmira comes in at four, uh, I believe they're four and three, and they're an honorable mention in the section. Tell us a little bit about uh the little redhac from Ithaca, Roger.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Well, we've been waiting a long time for Ithaca to be competitive again. They are that, but uh still just two and five overall, one and two in their uh double A play so far this year. Biggest thing for them is defense, or or should I say, littlest thing for them because they've not been able to shut down teams very well. They've given up 266 points that averages 38 points a game, so that's gonna be a key to them. If they can tighten that up, they can stay in the game. If they can't, it's gonna be a long day for them against uh a very solid Elmira team.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Absolutely. And Elmira runs that double wing, uh double tight as well, Roger. So Coach McCauley's got a real good program down there, and um these two uh these two teams actually played last week, week eight, at Ithaca, and Elmira won that one handily 53 to 12. So that's that's gonna be a tough game for Ithaca. And I know one thing that's on Elmira's mind, and and uh hopefully they're not looking past Ithaca, but they're all their loss this year, they lost a corning um eight to 30 in week seven, so two weeks ago. So that's still fresh in their mind, and I'm sure they want to get past Ithaca if they can, and then uh hopefully avenge that loss with corning. But that's gonna be a gonna be a tough division there. So we go on to class A, and we have three teams in class A. So one team is gonna have a bye, and that's gonna be Horseheads. So they're gonna be sitting on the sidelines watching the first game, which is gonna be Union Endicott. It's going to host Vestal, and uh Union Endicott comes in as an honorable mention, Roger. And tell us a little bit about the Tigers season and how Coach Bolino's got that program on the bouncing back really strong.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Well, they were on a roll, uh, they had a big matchup, of course, and um shut out Maine and well eight-nothing. That was a huge marquee game. And at that point on, it looked like, wow, what what do they have going here? Because uh they had not only an excellent defense but a very high-powered offense. Then they ran into the last couple of weeks of the season, and all of a sudden the winning streak goes out, and they ended up with two consecutive losses. They finish up in Class A competition one and one. And um, overall, a couple of those defeats, a big thing for them, they're able to put points up, which uh is a little different than some of the UB teams in recent years. They've done very well defensively, but at times they've struggled offensively. This year, 31 point a game average for them, 16 points against average, and you know you can't look ahead ever, certainly in the playoffs. No rivals from Vestel. So again, take records, throw them out the door. However, you can't help but think that UE would love another shot at a chance to play Horseheads, who started those uh first of two straight losses. So um I I think UE will rebound in that one. We'll see what they can do against uh Vestal team that has done okay this year, but again, a tough bow in that opening round.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Absolutely. And just to refresh our listeners' memory, these two teams played week three at Vestal this year, and Union Endicott had to have a spectacular play. They won late in the game on a pass and run to squeak out that game 20 to 13. So don't think that Coach Crundin and the Golden Bears aren't aware of that and UE as well. And as you alluded to, Roger, uh the Tigers, if they get past Vestal, they can avenge potentially avenge uh one of their losses this year, and that was against the the Blue Raiders at uh of Horsehead. So that's gonna be an interesting uh week, or I'm sorry, interesting games to play out there. Now onto the B classification. In the uh first portion of the bracket, you've got number seven ranked in the state, Maine Enwell Spartans are gonna be hosting on Friday night the Windsor Black Knights, who they just played week eight last week, and Maine Ewell won that game 35 to 20. So tell us a little bit about uh Coach Hogan. I'm sorry, tell us a little bit about the Spartans there, Roger.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Yeah, no, and how about that? Uh Windsor came back in that game. ME was rolling. Now, how much of that extra couple of TDs were scored against second team players? I don't know, but they they didn't make it a little too close for comfort for Maine Enwell near the end of that game. For Maine and Well, of course, um, situation was uh concern over some forfeiture games through sanctions of section four. That's been cleared up. The record has been restored intact, and so they come in by far the top seed. To me, anytime you're playing Maine Enwell this year, the biggest concern is stopping Michael Mancini. Mancini not only has breakaway speed, but he's extremely quick. He's as quick as anybody I've seen in the section over the last number of years. And by that I mean he gets through the hole. If he gets past the linebackers, if you're trying to play up with those linebackers not far from the line of scrimmage, you're leaving your defensive secondary in many cases one-on-one against him. He will fake any defensive secondary man one-on-one, pretty much uh to left field or off the playing field. He's that good. So Michael Mancini is the key. If he has a big game, look out because he can help Maine well roll. But they uh they have been unstoppable in uh the regular season in their classification. Again, that only loss showing up in the game against UE. So uh it should be a good one. We'll see if Windsor learned anything in the second half when they came back in that regular season meeting.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Yeah, to use an analogy that I've heard before, he's as quick as a hiccup. And that's that's pretty quick. Now, for Tim Hogan and the Black Knights, Roger, you mentioned in that game that they played on Maine Anwell last week. They did come back very strong in the second half. And Coach Hogan, I know the good coach that he is, he's gonna have that team ready and they're gonna hope to piggyback on that momentum and and go ahead and try to you know dethrone the Spartans. So you never know what'll happen there. And one key to this, Roger, that uh Maine Anwell's got to feel pretty confident that they've beaten all the other teams in this bracket throughout the season. So that that is really good for your confidence. Speaking of confidence, we'll jump into the next bracket, which has Ouigo hosting Johnson City. And the Indians uh came off a huge win last week, beating horseheads at home. And uh, so that that goes a long way. So tell us a little bit more about the Indians, Roger, and how Coach Verklers really got them uh playing really good football this year.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Well, that'll be interesting to see if any momentum from that win will carry over. Obviously, a win against horse heads as good as they played this year is a is a huge victory. Uh, so they come in second seed, one and two in their division. Again, defense is gonna be a key. And we say that because they put 95 points on the board, not the most potent offense, but they've given up 251. So again, they're gonna have to tighten that up to uh be able to come up with a victory. But uh obviously they've had uh a solid year closing the regular season on a very high note. Will that continue into the playoffs? Well, we'll we'll find out here in just a couple days.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Yeah, and these two teams played week two this year at Johnson City, and Weigo came away with a 20 to 8 victory in that game. Now, I know Coach Place has the Wildcats ready, and you and I, Roger, watched Wildcats play Maine and well a couple of weeks ago. And I'll tell you, Johnson City is uh, you don't be fooled by their record. They have got an outstanding team, they've got very good, strong, big running backs, a good quarterback, and they throw the ball very well. So you never know what can happen in that particular game. And I know uh Coach Place is gonna have that team ready to go when they go into a Uego on uh Friday night. In class C, Roger, we start off with the first bracket. We've got Shenango Forks, who is ranked number four in the state. They're gonna be hosting Friday night, the Watkins-Glen Odessa Montour Seneca Indians, uh coached by Trevor Holland. This is one of those games it really is going to be tough to call. You got to play it on the field. But I've seen Watkins-Glen Odessa Montour play a couple of times this year, and they've got a very explosive offense. And that's something that uh I know Coach Hogan at Shenango Forks is really cognizant of. So take take us a little further with the Shenango Forks, Roger, and what we can expect from them.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Yeah, Watkins Glenn uh um put up uh almost 200 points uh in the course of the season, so they can't explode on teams. What about uh the forks? Well, they're back to playing typical Shenango Forks football, outstanding defense, enough offense to win. They come in seven and one overall, and um in the uh division three and oh, they've given up just under eight points per game. So if you're gonna compete with them, stay close to them, you're gonna have to play a superb defensive game yourself because they're not gonna give up much offensively for the other team. So uh they've outscored opponents 36 to 8, and again, coming in with that clear-cut choice as a top seed in a very good class C field.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Yes, in the next bracket, we've got Waverly, who's going to be hosting the Purple Tornado from Norwich, coached by Mike Christie. And uh Jason Miller has got this team playing excellent football, and they're they're really outstanding on defense this year. And they actually got to play an extra game. They played in the week zero game, and they played uh East Syracuse Manoa at home and had an uh outstanding win there of 31 to seven. So this team is uh a team you really got to watch out for. They're dynamic on offense, they've got a great quarterback and Joey Tomaso, and a he's got a lot of good student athletes in the ball helding positions around him. But uh, Roger, tell us a little bit about the Purple Tornado, what we can expect there.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Well, they're a team that doesn't score a lot, doesn't give up much. Most of their games are very close to the vest within a touchdown, and uh they're averaging 22 points a game this year, giving up 12. So I don't expect uh certainly in the postseason anything like a 35-10 type game. I would expect another seven to 10 point difference either way. And uh again, Norwich um is now coming in with three losses. They had some health issues back several games ago. So we'll see if they've recovered enough to amount of charge and try to move forward into the final and championship round of that classification.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Yeah, and another another note here each of these two games in this bracket, neither of those teams have played each other. So they really don't have anything to fall back on in terms of we you know playing them head to head. They probably do have some excellent scouting information, but that's kind of unique. Normally you would have uh teams at least play each other or one of the games, but uh so in neither of these two games is a repeat of anything during the current season. So moving on to class D, we're starting off the uh first bracket is going to be Tyoga. They're gonna be at Johnson City on Saturday against the Delhi Bulldogs. Tyoga comes in ranked number one in section. I'm sorry, number one in the state. So take us through Tyoga, Roger.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

That could be one of the best matchups of the whole weekend. Tyoga is so strong, and well, do they live off defense? Yeah, but offense too, they've outscored a bonus 48 to 7 on the average. That's a whopping 283-point differential between what you've put up on the board and given up. 6-0 in the division, 7-0 overall. They've uh put up a total of 334 points, and as we have seen them in past years, they're awfully good during the regular season, double that in quality in the postseason. They know how to go into the postseason prepared and how to mount a charge and win the section and move on to the states. We'll see if they have that in them this time. But again, no easy foe as uh again some pretty good teams stacked up there in in class D.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Absolutely. And you know, Roger, as a former lineman, how important the linemen are. And Tyoga's always been known for very good linemen, and they always have a very good tailback. And it's not to say that they don't have good student athletes around them, but this year they've they've got the traditional student athletes in the ball handling position, but there's depth. So there's, you know, it's not just Emmett Wood running the ball, they can throw the ball, they can use misdirection, they they uh they can pound the ball at you. So there's you know, they're they're really good in all facets of the game. So Phil New or Coach Newman there with uh the Delhi Bulldogs, who is an honorable mention at the state level, are gonna have their hands full. And they played week four at Delhi this year, and it was it was really not a very good contest. Tyoga came away from that with a 55 to zero win. So uh coach Newman's got his hands full there with the Delhi Bulldogs, but uh don't count them out. That's an excellent program, and you you never know in the playoffs. The next bracket is the Harperville, Harpersville Afton Hornets. They're gonna be playing at Johnson City against the Newark Valley Cardinals. And uh take us through Harpersville Afton, Roger, a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yep, they're six and one, and uh they have not been as explosive as a team like Tyoga, for example. And again, their game is a little more like a Norwich type team as far as uh the evenness of play, both offensively and defensively. They've scored 33 points a game, given up 21. So they've won, they've done very well. They had uh a loss a couple of games back. That's the only loss that's marred their their whole season so far. But again, a lot of those games have been fairly close, at least until the end. So um certainly with only one loss, they're gonna be a challenge if they can get through the first round and move on and take perhaps Tyoga for the championship round and move on to the States. We'll see. But it should be a very uh very good game. And again, uh they're not playing an easy matchup when they've got to take on Newark Valley.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Yeah, Newark Valley Cardinals are coached by Ed Mertzen. That is uh a program that's been really good for quite a few years now, and you're absolutely right. That's a team that you do not want to look past. They're always tough, they always play good defense, they run the ball, they pound the ball at you. These two teams did not play each other this season. So that it's gonna, you know, you know, it's gonna have to rely on scouting either with your own eyes or through uh film. So that that's uh gonna be like you said, that'll be a pretty good game. Now on to the eight-player classification. In the first grouping, we've got number five ranked in the state, Groton Indians, coached by Joe Manning. Friday night, they're gonna be hosting the honorable mention, Trumansburg Blue Raiders, coached by Julia Mazzuno, Mazoo Mazuo. And uh, Roger, tell us a little bit about the Trumansburg Blue Raiders.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Yeah, Trumansburg uh overall three losses now in their last outing. So they're gonna have to try to regroup in the division. They are uh two and two. Strong points, a lot of offense. 280 points they put up on the board, an average of 40 points a game, giving up 26. So offensively, they have been very solid. They've had the second most explosive offense in uh division seven of the eight-man competition. So uh coming in, will they be able to advance? Well, we'll see. But again, as you know in the playoffs, you can put a lot of points up on the board regular season. It's a lot difficult, a lot more difficult once you get to the postseason, and defense wins generally anytime, but certainly once you get to postseason play.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Yeah, and uh Trumansburg Blue Raiders come in to uh, I'm sorry, the the Groton Indians are uh seven and zero this year. And Coach Manning is getting them playing very well. And matter of fact, they played a couple of weeks ago, week seven at Trumansburg, and Groton won that game 50 to 14. So they uh the Trumansburg Blue Raiders really are gonna have their work cut out for them in that particular game. Moving on to the next bracket, you've got Green Trojans ranked number three in the state. They're gonna be hosting the Spencer Vanetton Cander Warriors, who are 6-0. So, in this in all these four teams, Rogers, there's only been three losses all season long. So expect this to be a very tough bracket. So, Roger, tell us a little bit about uh Spencer Vanetton and uh how they're doing on their 12-week win streak.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

That's right. 12 in a row for them, six and oh in competition um in the season this year, and uh two and oh in the division. But uh, you know, do you highlight their offense or their defense more? Tremendous both sides of the ball. They've been averaging 57 points a game and giving up less than five. So a tough test for anybody that has to play them. That's a point differential that is huge. Uh, 314 points they put up, uh, better than the teams that they have played. So not only do you have to try to score against them, but your defense had better be just about perfect to try to keep that 57 point per game average in check once you get into that game.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

And not often in the semifinals of a section, do you have the number three team in the state playing the number two ranked team in the state? So just just that tells you that it's gonna be probably a very interesting game. And for our listeners out there, if you notice the bracket after the finals, the final winner, the section champion, is gonna get a chance to play a section nine winner. It's really uh not a game, it's a regional sort of game, but it's not an official regional game, it's just a relationship with section four has with section nine, and they'll be going to be going back and forth probably for a few years, but it's an opportunity to play another game for the teams in that eight-player classification. And the reason that there are not sectionals currently for that eight-player classification is because they need six sections with at least four teams, and they don't currently have that yet. But Roger, you and I have had many discussions on this. That seems to be the way a lot of schools are going. Instead of getting rid of their football programs, they tend to go with the eight-player game. So you may see the that grow, and you may see those teams get an opportunity to play for a sectional title.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

So that wraps up our overview of season number two, this uh the playoffs for section four. Anything else you want to, any words of wisdom you want to impart on either the the coaches or the student athletes, Roger?

SPEAKER_01 21:47

No, I think you you hit it on the head early. I mean, um, no matter what you do in the regular season, that all goes by the wayside. And certainly when you get games, for example, um like uh UE involved playing rivals, um, ME trying to make their mark and move on to the state playoffs. So, you know, um it's gonna be very interesting to watch how some of these teams respond to the more powerful teams, at least to what they've done in the regular season, but can they continue to do it? I mean, we saw last week a Wigo come up with a big victory over horse heads, and so it can be done. And uh, if you're playing your best football at this time of year, again, you can toss a record book out and and move on. So I think it'll be an exciting weekend of high school football.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Yeah, one of the the things you I used to depart on uh student athletes is typically you know you've had a successful season, or you probably wouldn't be in the playoffs in the first place. But in the playoffs, you you lose the game and your season's over with, and you tend to almost go from a such a nice high that you have a good team, you're having fun, and those kind of things, and then all of a sudden you have a loss. But you got to understand that's that's the way football is, that's the way life is. But one thing I that my dad told me a long time ago, and I know it would be tough at this particular juncture if you do lose, but be happy, you know, don't be sad that it's over with, be glad that it happened. And that may not sink in immediately, but later on, you're gonna be able to look back at that and say, Yeah, we we had a great season. I'm glad it did happen, and you had the opportunity to play, especially with what we saw last year, Roger, in the spring season with the the COVID and everything.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Yep, yep. Lose they uh know that when the game is over, they gave everything they had, nothing left. Then you you you let the chips fall where they may. You can't do better than give every ounce that you have, and that's what makes champion. So uh we'll see if there'll be. I I wouldn't doubt there'll be a couple of upsets this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Very good. If uh make sure everybody listened to that. That was Coach Neil giving you a little bit of wisdom there. And uh myself and uh I'm a part of Roger Neal. Best wishes to everybody and all the programs, not just the coaches and student athletes, but everybody that's involved, support staff, family, everybody. Good luck with everything, and uh, we'll be back next week with uh the uh finals coverage. Take care. Thank you. Thank you. 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.