Binghamton Press
& Sun-Bulletin newspaper online article from the day before the game is at the
bottom of this page. click here
Hopefully I can soon have
the Oneonta paper article on the game here too (they cover all
the BGA games)
Forks
gets defensive, batters B-G/A
Victory
seals division title
CHENANGO FORKS -- Bainbridge/Guilford-Afton, Roy Deyo
feels your pain.
As a senior halfback for the Chenango Forks High football
team, Deyo practices five days a week against the toughest
defense in Division IV of the Section 4 Conference. He has the
bumps and bruises to prove it.
And after being shellacked 27-0 Saturday, every member of
B-G/A's offense does, too.
"I get beat up all week by these guys," said Deyo,
who doled out some punishment of his own by rushing for 103
yards and a touchdown on 14 carries to help the Blue Devils
improve to 7-0, spoil a perfect divisional record for the Bears
(3-1, 5-2) and clinch first place in Division IV with one game
left in the regular season.
"It's only practice, but I still can't get by any of
them," Deyo said. "I'd like to think I make them a
little better by giving them the best looks I can all week, but
it's a great defense. I love watching these guys from the
sideline."
Surely, that's the safest spot to see Forks' ferocious
defense, as B-G/A coach Steve Rice surely discovered.
In a newspaper article earlier this week, Rice intimated that
the Bears were more physical than the Blue Devils. It was enough
to fire up every member of Forks' defense, a unit that needs
little incentive to deliver vicious hits.
"They thought they were more physical than we are, but
we know we're the best," said junior nose guard Kelsey
Jenks, the Blue Devils' defensive catalyst. "We don't like
anyone telling us different."
Rice's remarks put Jenks, the latest in a long line of Forks
football standouts, in a terrible mood.
His father starred for Chenango Forks before playing at
Syracuse University, and his uncle was a member of the Blue
Devils before continuing his career at West Point. Both were
among the estimated Homecoming crowd of about 600 on Saturday,
and they saw Jenks brutally sack B-G/A's Jeremy Wicks on a
pivotal third-and-3 deep in Forks territory midway through the
second quarter.
It was one of several plays that sapped any possible momentum
from the Bears, who trailed 14-0 when Jenks stalled their drive.
Jenks' cousin, Jordan, was in the middle of nearly every play,
and defensive end Jake Frisch unloaded a similar drive-killing
sack on B-G/A's first possession to set the tone for the game.
The Bears mustered 98 yards of total offense in the first
half en route to a 21-0 halftime deficit. The beating continued
after the break as Forks yielded just 30 more yards.
"We wanted to hit them so hard that they wouldn't want
to touch the ball," Jenks said. "I knew we'd win this
game because we had the best week of practice we've had all
year."
Said Forks coach Kelsey Green: "I like our defense. Our
kids would rather play defense than offense, and I think it
shows. We certainly like [the Jenks'] genes. I wish they had
more sons."
Forks' balanced, ball-control attack pounded away at the
Bears in the first half, going up the middle, over the right
side and around the left for scores.
A 1-yard quarterback keeper by junior Matt Juriga gave Forks
a 6-0 lead with 4:10 left in the first quarter. Deyo tacked on a
24-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-1 play, and Drew Batty
burst through the middle of the line for a 30-yard touchdown run
before halftime.
Forks opened the second half with a clock-eating, 12-play
drive and scored on Jaime Hoover's 4-yard scamper around the
left tackle.
"It was a big goal of ours to get the division
[title]," Green said. "We get better and better every
week, and I hope we're springboarding to even better
things."
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