Championship Weekend with Roger Neel & "Coach" Smith

Roger Neel and "Coach" Smith provide in-depth analysis and insight you won't hear anywhere else. They cover the six Section IV Championship matchups and share knowledge to help you be a more informed fan.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to Cover 4, football failure, your podcast. I'm coaching the copy or something. 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. Hey, Section 4 football fans, welcome to Championship Weekend. Congratulations to the 12 teams and their football communities. Let's get started. Well, we made it to the championship weekend. Welcome, Roger. Thank you. Hey, buddy, we're going to start off with what I call the class AA double wing game. If you're a ground and pound football fan, this is your game. And you got Corning coming in at 7 and 1, number 15th in the state, coached by Mike Johnston Jr. Their game's going to be hosted at Corning, and they're going to host Elmira with Coach McCauley and he's bringing his team in at five and three. And they're an honorable mention. Both sides, Roger, double wing. Talk to us about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Well, a lot of running game, obviously. And uh, and with that, um, a lot of it is gonna come down to trying to defend that, you know, as a as a coach trying to shut down that double wing formation. When a team is hot making the blocks, it is really difficult. And teams can run off a ton of time on the clock. So if you get down by it, that's one of the things with that that type of offense. If you have ball control and can methodically pound out a couple of scores, then you really put the other team behind the eighth ball if they have that same style because they don't pass a lot. And if you don't pass a lot, it's okay if you're even or down a TD. You get late in the game and you're down a couple of scores, you have to pass, and that makes it much more difficult. It's going to be very interesting. Uh, Corning advancing, uh blowing out the Bingham Patriots to close out their season 51 to 6, and that only lost him um was to horse heads. And so uh now Corning um will be uh in action and they beat Elmyra in the regular season 30 to 8. So my question is second time around, uh, is uh El Myra gonna be able to do anything more, not just shut down the offense and hold him under 30, but can they put up more than eight points on Corning? That'll be a very interesting battle. And as you said, ball control no doubt is gonna be a huge factor in that one.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Yeah, what they you you say that uh Corning beat Elmira 30 to 8 this year. In the 2020 season, Corning beat Elmire 30 to nothing. And in the 2019 final, which was also at Corning, uh Corning eked out a 14 to 12 game there. So you're right, Roger. There's going to be a lot of rushing in this game. And last week, I know Corning employed a uh what we call like a no-huddle, like a fast breaking basketball offensive uh setup. And um, they ran like 14 plays and ended up with three touchdowns on their first three drives. So they're uh a very good team in terms of running the ball. And Elmira is too, they're no stranger to the double wing. Coach Mike Johnston actually brought that offense to the area uh at corning, I believe, first, uh it was Corning West, I believe, at first, and then uh brought it to Elmira already coached, and now he's at Corning. So either team is no stranger to each other. There's no secret sauce in terms of uh how they're running the ball, what they're doing, it but you hit the nail in the head. How do you defense it? And I know I faced it one time as a coach, as a defensive coordinator against Corning West. And what I studied and studied and studied and employed was literally a six-five front. And every play, the eligible pass receivers had to be looked at real quick just to make sure that they weren't going to hit you with a pop pass or something, uh, you know, that tight ends or one of the wings sneaking out. But it was a lot of misdirection in the backfield, and we were playing on a muddy field. At that time, it was all, you know, mostly uh grass, mud, and dirt fields. And this offense is great on that because you can be running misdirections, you know where you're going, and the defense doesn't. So when the ball changes direction so quickly behind the line of scrimmage, one or two times, you got to take a lot of people that are don't even have to be blocked, they slip and fall down. So that should be a real interesting game. With uh, I call it the double A double wing game.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

There you go, and it'll come down to uh somebody has to make some big plays defensively.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Oh, yeah, absolutely. And um, you know, these these uh there's still a little thing going on inside the game. I always like the the numbers aspect of things. And last week Elmira won their game 44 to 30. Now the 44 is significant. That was the number that Ernie Davis wore at Syracuse, and Ernie Davis played at that at the time, Elmira Free Academy. And that, my understanding, is the last game that's going to be played on that field because next year Elmira is going to be opening a new stadium at the Elmira High School, which used to be Southside, but now it's it houses all the students from the area. So that was kind of interesting how that kind of crept into it. But yeah, that that game should be a real real good game. Now we're on to the class A game, and this is gonna pit horseheads who had a bye last week, six and two of their honorable mention against uh they're gonna be hosting UE, which is also an honorable mention team at seven and two. Now, these teams played in week seven at Horseheads, and it was horseheads 17 to 7, and it sounds a little bit closer than it really was. Horseheads dominated that game pretty much from start to finish, and you and Indicat ended up scoring, I guess, late in the uh fourth quarter uh to make it a seven to four seven to seventeen game. But uh tell us a little bit about UE, Roger, what we can expect there for from Tommy Bellino's team.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Well, uh, you know, we go back to watching them play early in the season against Maine Inwell, and uh to shut down Maine Enwell is one tough task. I thought uh Coach Bellino and his staff in that game defensed that as perfectly as you could ever imagine. ME, despite incredible speed, just couldn't turn the corner on UE. And that really set the stage for what was the start of a tremendous UE season. Then all of a sudden they run into those Western teams. As uh you talked about they lost to Horsehead 17-7 and then got clobbered by Corning 48-0. So, what has happened to the UB Tigers? I mean, is that enough to say wow, uh, you know, there's a there's a pin in our hot air balloon there because they were rolling by people and playing superb defense, and all of a sudden, not only do you lose to horse heads, but you give up 48 against Corning. So uh it'll be interesting to see what Coach Bellino can do not only to um get the defense uh tightened up, but also to um get his offense back on track because uh quarterback Max Sementelli and and company, they were putting up a lot of points until those last couple of games. So did that really kind of uh stall out the Tigers or are they able to regroup? And of course, um Horse Edge is sitting back with uh the bye last week. Sometimes that helps you, sometimes it doesn't. But uh we'll we'll find out more when this game comes about. But you you can bet that UB is looking for revenge, and of course, on the line is a chance to advance into the state playoffs.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Yeah, and not all not often do you get a chance to avenge a loss like that, specifically back at the field where you actually lost that game. And you're right, that Maxim Matelli is a very good quarterback, and Unendicott's offense is pretty prolific in terms of very big plays uh that they used they would score on throughout the season, whether it's a a pass and run or a long run, um, whatever it was, they were just very dynamic on that side of the ball. Uh Horseheads has a lot of good student athletes on both sides of the ball. And I just want to single out just a few of them here, but there are a number of them. Their senior running back, Riley Loomis. Uh, he's got 1,150 yards rushing this year, and he's also a standout safety on defense. So he has to be dealt with as well. And I think that's if any place where you can attack the Union Endicot is in the running game. Not that they're soft, but I think you know, you've got to pick your poison there. And I think uh running is probably the first place I would try to attack them as well. On the defensive side of the ball, you have senior Gannon Johnston. He's coming in with eight sacks and approximately 60 tackles this year. And he uh is the nephew of coach Mike Johnston Jr. with uh with Corning. So that's some of the uh student athletes they have, and they also have a senior quarterback, Alex Chrisman, who was who was very good in terms of you know rolling out, passing the ball, and uh tucking it and running it. So he's dual thread as well. So that's gonna be a real uh interesting game. And I think if uh UE can pass the ball and and get uh horseheads back a little bit and and play coverage, I think they may be able to mix in a little bit of run there, but it's gonna be tough, uh no doubt playing down there. And I understand that horseheads this year is really packing them in there at the stadium. So it's just it's a it's a tough place to play. Now we go to class B, Roger. Now we've got Maine Enwell is going to be hosting Owego. Main Enwell comes in, ranked number seventh in the state, and they're hosting Owego. Um, they played week five this year at ME, and it really wasn't close, Roger. It was 55, Maine Enwell, Owego 13. So this is uh a return trip that hopefully Owego can get things get their ship righted. Now they did uh have one significant home game just a few weeks ago. They beat Horsez at home 23 to 20. They're I know Coach Verkler hasn't playing well done, but they tend to play better in games when opponent is supposedly supposed to be stronger than them. So that's that's one of the things that I look for in that B game. Tell us a little bit about what we can expect from main endwell there, Roger.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Well, uh you mentioned class B. Well, the class of B is mainwell, they are outstanding once again. And uh, you know, uh everything uh offensively is generated uh by the quarterback Michael Mancini. Not only is he fast, but elusive, he can turn on a dime. And as we mentioned last week, if he gets into the if if you're linebackers and your front four or five, whatever you play up front, if they can't uh stop him and he gets into the secondary, uh I would not want to be uh one of the cornerbacks or safeties trying to go one-on-one to tackle him. Uh-huh. Not because he's so physically dominating, he's not huge by any means, but he's just so quick. He could make uh, I think NFL defensive backs miss. He's so he can turn on a dime and has that shiftiness that makes it awfully tough. So as he goes, so goes the main NWL offense. But along with that, they've got a tremendous defense this year as well. So that supplements everything. And um they uh beat Windsor in the semis 35-6. Uh-huh. And uh the most points they've given up defensively all year against Windsor was 20.

unknown 12:02

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

And uh at least one of those touchdowns came in the late stages of the game, so it was not quite as close as the score indicated. So uh Weigo's gonna have their hands full. As you mentioned, they often play better when the team that they're playing is heavily favored, but ME 8-1 is gonna be an awfully tough ship to sink when they take the field coming up this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Yeah, you're absolutely right, Roger. And uh one analogy I wanted to uh pass on to our listeners, but I got to kind of uh preempt it here and explain something. I'm gonna talk about a telephone uh booth. That's some people may not know what that is, but that's uh like a little tiny room, little glass room. You have to, we used to be setting on street corners in different places in different cities, where you could walk in, shut the door, put a quarter or way back when, put a dime in, and make a phone call. The analogy I'm gonna make is you could put Mancini in a phone booth with two defenders and try to tackle them, they'd still have a very difficult time tackling him. And really, in a phone booth, you can get maybe two people in there comfortably. So, yeah, you're right. He's he's very difficult to uh uh tackle. But that that should be uh if Oigo plays up the way they played against Horses, they could make that an interesting game. But I think ultimately Mainewa will win that and move on. Now we're into class C, Roger. We've got Shenango Forks, number four in the state, coming in at eight and one. They're going to be hosting on Friday evening Waverly, which is number seven in the state, and they come in at 10 and 0. Now, this year, uh Waverly is enjoying their best regular season ever. This is the first year, I understand, that they've had the opportunity to go 10 and zero. And again, they they played that zero-week game at the beginning of the season. And uh they ended up winning in dominant fashion last week over Norwich. And I think their key to victory from Waverly's perspective is they've got to stop the run of Schnangle Forks. Their Schnangle Forks is just so good uh running the ball that uh you know it it's it's gonna be difficult. If they can't do that, then it's gonna be a long evening. Tell us a little bit about uh forks, Roger.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Well, forks uh is back to Forks football. Uh and when you say that, that means a very difficult goal for anybody who has to take them on. Only loss came 40 to 14 against Maine Enwell, and that is atypical of the Forks defense giving up 40 points to the high-flying Spartans, but they did. But uh after that, you talk about a defense rising to the occasion and more. They pitched five shutouts and gave up a safety in another game. That's with an eight-and-one record. So you can do some simple math and realize uh opposing teams didn't do much offensively against them. They did have a one-nothing win over Norwich. Norwich had health issues and so a forfeit awarded to Forks, but otherwise, those shutouts had a safety. Uh-huh. So in six of those games, uh pretty much nothing given up by the defense. So with that ball control offense that they have, it's going to be tough on Waverly. However, Waverly has had a tremendous season, too. I think this is going to be the marquee game of the finals in section four. Both are outstanding. And it's one of those things we saw a few years back, Tim, uh, when you had Forks, Maine Anwell, and Waverly all in the same classification. And it was a shame because all three were good enough to play for the state championship. Only one could come out of section four. And in this case, it may well be the finals are you know going down to two teams that could win a state title. And again, unfortunately, somebody has to go home after this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Yeah, and that's you you nailed it, sorry, Roger. And one thing that uh Shango Forks has always been really good at that's running the ball. They always have uh the good offensive linemen up front, uh, they're the bigger guys, well coached in terms of technique and overall instinct and different types of blocks, you know, the reach blocks, the different kinds of blocks that they have to do, pass block. They really are good at the solid fundamental basics. And just to give you a little bit uh of what Waverly is going to have to deal with last week in uh their win uh over Watkins Glenn O'Dessimontour, Dubbs Hay carried 19 times for 147 yards. Uh Xander Arnold carried 18 times for 127 yards, and um their Grady Starks had uh four complete four attempts, four completions for 87 yards and a TD. So they can actually do very both very well. And I think if Waverly can stop Shenangle Forks' running game, and this is not uh cliche things that we're talking about. This is typically what happens in and you get into playoff football and look into advance. You've got to be able to obviously do the basics, block and tackle, but run the it really comes down to usually running the ball first because it tends to end up being, if it's a close game, a possession game. And that's why you want to be able to run the ball, keep the clock moving, those kind of things. So I think that that's gonna be huge. Now, some of the there's some interesting um statistics, or I should say, um uh leaders from a state ranking. And I just went in and I looked at the top three, either individual or team leaders from a state level. And Waverly ranks number two in total yards with 2,966 yards. Now, Joey Tomaso, their sophomore quarterback, is number three in the state with 1000, I'm sorry, 1,577 yards. And his go-to receiver is Jay Piper, who's also a sophomore. He's number three in the state with 580 of those yards. So those two are going to be around for a while. They're sophomores this year, and they're already doing well, and they both each have two more seasons after this to go. Now, another little bit of an accolade to hand out to Joey Tommaso, my understanding is he's surpassed 3,500 yards in his his career so far, and he's topped the 300 completions mark. Now he's a sophomore, but this is his third season. That's right, you heard me. It's his third season. He played as an eighth grader, ninth grader, tenth grader. Now he's got two more years to go on top of that. So expect good things out of him, especially uh, you know, if if they both stay healthy, you're gonna probably see them rewriting some uh section four or possibly some state records based on their their skills. And I like to call them JT, Joey Tomaso to JP, Jay Piper. And the other thing is, Roger, uh, they've done something that I don't think I've ever heard of in section four, and you may not ever again, is last week Joey Tomaso threw a pass to Jay Piper and uh it made the Sports Center top 10 number one in that. And uh I've talked to some people, watched a lot of clips. I think from my perspective, it looked like he caught the ball, but there's an official that was right on the other side in perfect position. Only he could see the ball because the player, the student athlete had blocked anybody watching the video, couldn't see the actual ball. They called it incomplete, but nonetheless, it was a spectacular play. And I'll give him credit for that. That was absolutely cool. Now, in this game, if it by chance does come down to be a close game, Waverly is number one in the state. Number one in the state for field goals. They are four for four. Ryan Clark, who's a junior, is four for four in field goals. So if it gets to be a close game, Roger, and uh Waverly's got the ball at the end and they're down close, maybe it's a tie game, or they're they're down by one or two, uh, you might see Ryan Clark jot out on the field, and that's a big potential. So that's something to watch out for as well. Okay, we're moving on to class D. Okay, this is uh this is gonna be an interesting game, I believe. This is a a rematch of uh uh the first, I think week three they played at Tyoga. And uh Tyoga won 46 to 15. Now, I I watched that game and Tyoga ran the ball pretty well, but they also could pretty well pass the ball if they wanted to as well. Tyoga comes in ranked number one as they have been pretty much all year, eight and zero record, and they're gonna be playing this game at Binghamton Alumni Stadium. Newark Valley comes in ranked number 13th in the state, and they have a seven and two record. Now, Roger, tell us about how Newark Valley got here last week on my favorite kind of game.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Yeah, well, you know, to start things off, they rolled, they ran the opening kickoff back, took the lead, and then Hartburgsville Afton battled back. They had to go to OT, and it was a victory for uh for Newark Valley. But uh what looked to be and was a great start and had the makings of a route. Well, that was quickly uh a race by Hartmersville Afton. Um and uh Newark Valley lost to them uh 42-33 in the uh the regular season that avenged that uh with the win in the playoffs 26-20. So um they came back with that victory. And of course, uh the uh the road is uphill uh when you play Tyoga. Uh they just don't have any weak spots. They are so incredibly dominating, uh they open up not just holes but major holes. Uh huh. They're outstanding, getting outside, they've got good speed to turn the corner on the opposition.

unknown 21:47

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

So it'll be quite interesting to see how New York Valley tries to defense them. Uh I'm not sure what strategy you use because they can pass the ball well, but their uh their running game is so dominant that you can uh not. Afford to worry strictly about any kind of a passing attack because you'll get burned very fast by Tyoga. So this will be an outstanding win. Tyoga, not only unbeaten, but uh again, a chance to uh win a championship and move on to the states.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Yeah, this is a classic Coach Ayolo Tyoga Center team, uh, very um solid in the fundamentals, uh, run-oriented, but although, like you mentioned, can pass if they need to. They have the number one rusher in the state, and Emmett Wood was a senior, and he comes in with 1,253 yards. And according to my research and some people I've talked to, a bulk of his yards have come in the first half because of the lopsided scores in a lot of situations. They wouldn't need to rely on uh Emmett in the second half. So a bulk of his yards came in the first half, and it's no no uh surprise that Tyoga comes in number two in rushing in the state at 2,831 yards total. And they're also number two, scoring 393 points uh throughout the year. On the Newark Valley side, they have an exceptional student athlete and Joey Sherwood, who was their quarterback, and he's number two in the state with 508 yards receiving as well. So he's a quarterback and a wide receiver. It's not that he's quick enough where he throws it and he goes and catches it himself, he just plays the two positions, but uh that that's pretty significant. Uh Coach Ayalo, my understanding is he just won his hundredth and uh fourth win at Tiaga. Congratulations! And the school has won now 400 games in football uh at that same mark. So, congratulations to Coach Ayalo, the Tioga program for that. Uh back in uh 1980, in the they're both in class C. These two teams met back then for the sectional title, and that was the first time they could play for a sectional title. The Tigers won that game in a close one, and also that was the first time that uh a team in section four went 10 and zero, and that was Tioga, and that was because again, it was the first year of the sectional championship, so that was it was pretty significant there. So, yeah, that that tends to be uh a potential for a good game. It's gonna be on the turf at alumni field. So I don't know if being on turf has anything to do with uh the game or not, because they were played on uh uh good old mud, grass, and dirt in their last game. I don't think that really came into play either, but just two very well-coached teams. It should be an exciting game to watch. Okay, now on to the eight-player classification. We've got Groton that comes in at number four with an eight and zero record, and Spencer Vanetta and Candor comes in at number two in the state with a seven and zero record. That game is going to be played at alumni stadium. And Roger, tell us a little bit about Groton.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Yeah, how about this eight and oh? And they beat Trumansburg to advance to the championship game. But how about this? A 30 to 7 win. And you say, well, that's uh pretty handily uh a big lopset of victory. That's the closest any team has come to to uh beating them all season. How about that? So you know Trumansburg did okay when you take a look at what uh the Groton Indians have put up throughout the the year, they've scored 50 or more points five different times. So in eight games, they put up 50 or more on five of those occasions, and they're playing another you'll touch on here, uh uh explosive team. Uh-huh. Spencer Bennett and Kander. They've not only taken what Groton has done, but they've added to it 60 or more points four times. So if I'm a defensive coordinator trying to figure out how to shut down either side, I'm not sleeping this week because nobody's been able to do it so far. And you may need a calculator to find out the regular uh the score at the end of regulation in this one. It should be high scoring.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Yeah, it's definitely right. I know uh Joe Manning up there in Groton has got uh those that team there, the uh Indians, they're hitting on all eight cylinders. Like that one, Roger. They're hitting on they're hitting on all eight cylinders uh for that one. And you're right, they've had a lot of lopsided victories, as has Spencer Bennett and Cander, uh, as they have as well. So this is one of those games I think that uh he and uh Coach Chafee there at Spencer Vanett and Candor with the Warriors. It you might need another uh digit on that scoreboard with this this one is done. Uh, not to say that they don't they can't play defense because they can definitely play defense. I mean, last week when Spencer Videtton played green, green was seven to zero. Green is no slouch, and they shut green out 56 to zero. So you've got to have a defense to do that because green is a very good uh football team as well. And um, so I I think that this one is gonna be a very interesting one to watch, especially when they're playing an alumni field. And you got to understand when you're playing in the eight-player game, you're playing on a regular regulation side field, 53 and a third yards wide, you know, and the field is 120 yards long, including the end zones. That's a lot of space to cover with eight student athletes on the field on either offense or defense. So it's one of those games where uh you know you make just a little juke and fake one person out, and then in like an 11 player, you may have somebody filling in for you in a gap or coming to help you make a tackle. Not the case always in eight player. It's like, oops, missed them. Oh, there they go, 65 yards for a touchdown. So it's gonna be very interesting. And uh, unless you have anything else, Roger, that really sums up the championship weekend. And I really look forward to this weekend and seeing some of the uh things come around that we talked about, and hopefully we enlighten our listeners to uh be all set and ready to go for spectators in this game.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Absolutely, gonna be an outstanding weekend and uh left standing. We'll find out uh after the uh the conclusion of this weekend who's gonna be heading on to represent section four in the state quarterfinals coming up next weekend.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

Yeah, and we we, I should say, section four gets to host those. And uh, I think most of those games are at uh Dick Hoover Stadium at Vestel. And uh so that that's a good thing that we'll get a chance to you know see our uh our section champions play the section three winners, which is the uh section up around the Syracuse area, and then uh then we'll see what teams move on from that point. But as long as the section four football team is playing, you're gonna get a heavy dose of Roger and Coach Smith.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Sounds good. We'll keep it keep it going, and good luck to Section Four teams, whoever they may be representing Section Four in the States.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Yeah, absolutely. And I think I shouldn't say I think I know we will be represented very well, whoever makes it through this round and advances to the states. So with that, thank you, everybody, and take care. And Roger, now I'll be back next week. Thanks, Tim. Your bet, Roger. 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 Four podcast.