2001 Chenango Forks Varsity Football

SYRACUSE -- Make it 11 Chenango Forks football opponents up and 11 down, not a one able to get the better of this tremendously intense and physical unit that may now set very realistic sights on a state title.

Friday night's step in that direction came in the form of a 27-7 battering of Cazenovia in a Class B state quarterfinal in the Carrier Dome, a shutout averted when the Lakers punched one in with 2 1/2 minutes left and the outcome long since decided.

As 20-point margins of victory go, this one was more than a tad misleading.

Forks, ranked No. 1 among the state's Class B lot for many good reasons, was far superior.

Senior halfback Roy Deyo was the big-play offensive guy, scoring on rushes of 62 and 59 yards, and on an effortless 20-yard reception from Chris Spencer as the Blue Devils hammered away to a 27-0 halftime lead.

Ahead will be a semifinal back in the Dome against either Olean or Bath on Friday.

As for the quarterfinal, beginning with the very first play of the second quarter, it was really no contest.

That second 12-minute segment began with Forks holding a mere 7-0 advantage and staring down third-and-8 from its 41-yard line. The call was for a counter play, the ball carrier Deyo, and the primary path-clearer Kelsey Jenks.

Deyo accepted the handoff, made his way through initial traffic to the middle of the field and ... well 6 allow him to describe what transpired.

"There was one guy to beat and I was following Kelsey Jenks," Deyo said of his able-bodied escort. "If you're following Kelsey Jenks, there's no better feeling than that. You know you're going."

Go, he did, sprung by Jenks' leveling of that final defender at about the Lakers' 40. Deyo completed the 59-yard touchdown run, Steve Tronovitch added the point-after, and it was the safest of 14-0 leads.

That, by the way, was Deyo's second score of the night. The first came on the third play from scrimmage, when he tore off on a speed sweep for a 62-yarder down the Blue Devils' sideline that, it appeared in hindsight, dealt Cazenovia (9-2) a blow from which it never fully recovered.

A 14-0 lead, on this night, wasn't about to evaporate. Not with this Forks defense at its very best, making things absolutely miserable for Lakers quarterback Jamison Koesterer.

Koesterer had thrown for nearly 1,400 yards before Friday.

Of course, he'd yet to encounter anything like this Blue Devils' defense, with Steve Blackman and Jake Frisch and Jordan Jenks and Art Baxter and Jenks and the rest to go with that well-schooled secondary. Koesterer may be seeing red helmets in his sleep for some time to come.

He threw for 86 yards, but that came on 7-for-17 with three interceptions and too many pressures and bruises to track.

"Chenango Forks has a very good defensive line," Cazenovia coach Tom Neidl said. "That nose guard [Jenks], he's a tough cookie. He's quick, and he was coming on a lot of plays. And he wasn't the only one causing problems."

Talk about problems? The Lakers turned the football over five times, and had 14 plays go for negative yardage. In fact, Forks turned two turnovers into second-quarter scores.

Frisch recovered a fumble near midfield, and four plays later, Spencer delivered the tidiest of third-and-9 passes for a 20-yard score to Deyo, who was led perfectly and received the ball near the goal line beyond a beaten defender.

"Chris did everything on that play but catch it-- it was that beautiful," Deyo said.

And then there was an interception by the Devils' Drew Batty, one of two for him on the night, setting up Forks at the Lakers' 19 with 54 seconds to play in the half.

The TD was the doing of Jamie Hoover, a 4-yard rush that served to complement all the superb defense he played all night -- all season!

"We just came out more fired up, just took it to them early," said Hoover, his right hand a swollen mess upon completion of this very satisfying win.

Cazenovia threatened on occasion in the second half, only to be thwarted by Forks defenders.

There was Frisch pressuring Koesterer into a fourth-down incompletion from the Devils' 36, Hoover intercepting a pass thrown from Forks' 16-yard line, and then picking off another on first-and-goal from the 7.

"We got pressure from the outside and a good push up the middle without having to do any real stunting tonight," Forks coach Kelsey Green said.

In other words, it was just the basics, no trickery, that was more than sufficient to dominate this one.

"As a team, I think this was probably our best game," Deyo said.

Chenango Forks rushing:

• Deyo 10-155, 2 TDs
• Hoover 7-67, 1 TD
• Tronovitch 8-36
• Mirabito 5-18
• Carle 2-13
• Batty 5-12
• Voorhis 2-11
• Juriga 3-8
• Pendleton 1-7
• Spencer 5-(-7)

Cazenovia rushing:

• Ward 10-36, 1 TD
• Etter 9-26
• Hope 3-2
• Koesterer 8-(-13)

Chenango Forks passing:

• Spencer 1-for-1, 20 yards, 1 TD
• Juriga 0-for-1, 0 yards, 1 int.

Cazenovia passing:

• Koesterer 7-for-17, 86 yards, 3 int
• Hoffman 1-for-1, 31 yards
• Hasey 0-for-1, 0 yards, int.

Chenango Forks receiving: 

• Deyo 1-20, 1 TD

Cazenovia receiving:

• Perkins 4-79
• Etter 1-12
• Copland 1-11
• Hoffman 1-11
• Ward 1-4.

Cazenovia Run Ends

Chenango Forks wins Class B regional 27-7

Saturday, November 17, 2001

By Neil Kerr - Syracuse Post-Standard

Sparked by a pair of early touchdown runs by senior halfback Roy Deyo, unbeaten, No. 1 state-ranked Chenango Forks dominated play to post a 27-7 win over Section 3 champion Cazenovia in state Class B regional football action at the Carrier Dome Friday night.

Deyo, a 5-9, 160-pounder who finished as the game's leading rusher (11 carries, 164 yards), took a handoff from junior quarterback Chris Spencer and sprinted 62 yards around his own right end for a touchdown on the third play from scrimmage. When Steve Tronovitch added the conversion point, the Blue Devils led 7-0 just 1:23 into the contest. A stunned Cazenovia squad never recovered.

With the win, Chenango Forks (11-0) collected its 15th straight win over two seasons. It also earned coach Kelsey Green's Blue Devils a return trip to the Dome next Friday at 1:30 p.m. to face the winner of today's Western Region Class B playoff matching Olean-6 (8-2) with Bath-5 (8-2).

"Deyo's early run put us back on our heels," said Cazenovia coach Tom Neidl. "When that same kid broke another long run on another counter play to start the second quarter, we found ourselves in too deep a hole to climb out of. Their defense took over from there."

On the first play of the second quarter, Deyo went 59 yards on a third-and-8 play for his second touchdown.

Six plays later, Cazenovia quarterback Jamison Koesterer fumbled the ball away to Forks' defensive end Jake Frisch near midfield. In four quick plays, Chenango Forks drove 46 yards to take a 21-0 lead, the 20-yard touchdown coming on the only pass of the game thrown by junior quarterback Chris Spencer. It went to a wide-open Deyo in the end zone 7:12 before halftime.

Six minutes later, after Forks' cornerback Drew Batty produced the first of two pass interceptions, Chenango Forks went 20 yards in three plays and took a 27-0 halftime lead on a 5-yard run by fullback Jamie Hoover.

Cazenovia, hurt by five turnovers, never penetrated inside Chenango Forks' 30-yard line until the final period. Led by Koesterer, who completed 7 of 18 passes for 88 yards, the Lakers drove 49 yards in six plays to score their only touchdown with 2:26 left in the game. The score came on a 10-yard run off right tackle by senior tailback Mike Ward, who led the Lakers in rushing with 11 carries for 46 yards.

For the game, Chenango Forks outrushed Cazenovia 288-59, while the Lakers led in passing yardage, 118-20.

As indicated by Ward's meager rushing total, Cazenovia was unable to move the ball with consistency against the muscular Forks' defense. That defense was led by 215-pound middle guard Kelsey Jenks, 225-pound tackle Juan Mendoza, end Jake Frisch, linebacker Jamie Hoover, and Batty - who had two intercepted passes.

"That's the best defensive unit we've seen all year," Neidl said. "They put heavy pressure on Jamison throughout the game. He just wasn't comfortable throwing the ball."

Deyo pointed to his early touchdowns as key to the win.

"Putting Cazenovia in a hole by scoring in the first minutes of the game took away a lot of their confidence," Deyo said.