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SECTION 4 FOOTBALL: CORNING ADDS A LAST-MINUTE NEUTRAL SITE SHOWDOWN WITH MONROE WOODBURY (2021-09-17)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports report
Midweek there was no game for the Corning football team.

However, they never stopped looking to fill an opening they had when Aquinas wasn’t able to play them, and they picked up a game on Thursday, playing Monroe Woodbury at 5 p.m. Saturday at Johnson City.

“I give a lot of credit to Bill Pierce, my AD, and him reaching out and finding Monroe Woodbury needing a game because of Covid protocols and their opponent not being able to play and making it happen so quickly,” Corning coach Mike Johnston Jr. said. “And, Johnson City AD Jeff Paske to make it happen so fast that we were able to find a neutral site a couple hours each way for both teams.”

One challenge for both teams is preparing for a quality opponent on short notice.

“We exchanged film and sometimes you exchange film and I’m not sure people always give you there best view when you watch,” Johnston Jr. said. That’s why I’ve always been old school, you go to games and show up with your staff and you get a better picture of what’s happening. I think what they do, and what we do, they are a triple option team and we are a double wing team, so we are different than what others do. With shot preparation for these two offenses it can be hard to defend.”

The Hawks know they face a tough team this week.

“They are very good,” Johnston Jr. said. “I’ve seen them play in the state championship game a couple of times, just in my years. They have a perennial powerhouse in New York State in AA. They play a good brand of football. They are well coached. They have 58 kids on the team, we are suiting up 28. I have confidence in our team.

“I think our kids believe in what we do. They believe in our staff and program, so we are excited to play. One more opportunity so we aren’t sitting around for a week to go play a football game. We did the same thing last year with St. Francis that is pretty good. It was 48 hours and we suited up and played a game on a Monday night.”

WHEN CORNING HAS THE BALL
The Hawks know what they do on offense.

They also know they are facing a team they don’t usually play, so they will have to make some adjustments as the game goes along.

“You don’t know a lot about each other, so you make adjustments as the game goes along and you’ve got to make them quickly, you can’t wait a quarter in” Johnston Jr. said. “Then it comes down to Jimmy’s and Joe’s, what can you exploit, what can you minimize.”

WHEN MONORE WOODBURY HAS THE BALL
The Hawks know they have to do their job on defense against a good offense.

“They are good, you have to be extremely disciplined,” Johnston Jr. said. “We talked about that and you have to trust the guy next to you that he is going to do his job. They have pretty good experience in their backfield, experienced coaching staff and they are well coached. They have been winners for quite some time so they know how to win.”




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