SECTION 4 FOOTBALL: HORSEHEADS RALLIES PAST ELMIRA IN OT (24 PHOTOS) (2021-09-18)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
HORSEHEADS — Both Horseheads and Elmira had explosive running backs make big plays.

Both teams had quarterbacks come up with big throws, and defenses make drive ending stands.

In the end, the rivalry game, in front of a packed house, didn’t come down to a big run, or a big throw. It all came down to the leg of senior kicker Ben Massengale of Horseheads.

Massengale drilled a 27-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Blue Raiders to a 17-14 win over their rivals in front of an announced record crowd of 7,533 fans.

“The butterflies in my stomach,” Massengale said the final kick. “That was unbelievable. I have never experienced anything like that and to be able to do that in overtime, in a brand new stadium, against a rival, that’s the craziest I’ve ever felt.”

As the game headed to overtime, the Horseheads senior just felt like it might come down to a kick.

“I was sitting there like I got this,” Massengale said. “My teammate Garret Elston was sitting there and we were talking about it’s going to come down to a field goal, and sure enough we spoke it into existence. It’s a crazy feeling.”

After making his kick Massengale raced to the sideline. He had teammate Ian Watson leap onto his shoulders, and the coaches giving him huge high fives, and that’s when he saw the Raider Rowdies.

“I have never felt anything like it,” he said. “I made that kick and ran over and saw everyone cheering and everything. I was ecstatic.”

When Massengale made the kick he left no doubt, drilling it long past the goal posts.

“I was sitting there and lining it up and I was like I’m about to kick this ball harder than I ever have,” Massengale said.

For Horseheads coach Kevin Hillman there was never a doubt that facing a fourth down from the 10 yard line they should kick the field goal.

“Kudos to Ben Massengale to put three through the uprights,” Hillman said of the field goal. “And, even the extra points, they are not give mes. We have confidence in him and we were talking there if we got into a long fourth down we were going to kick a field goal and not try and get the first down or a touchdown. When we had the bad snap, or whatever, we had the loss, it was a no no brainer we were going to put it through.”

While the kick proved to be the game winner for the Blue Raiders, Elmira almost spoiled the celebration.

Facing a fourth down from the 24 Elmira quarterback Evan Garvin rolled out and fired a pass to the end zone. Mikey Middaugh found himself open in the end zone, but Horseheads put pressure on Garvin and he was forced to throw across the field. Garvin got the throw there, but the long throw hung just long enough for Horseheads’ Alex Chrisman to get over and break it up.

“Luckily it hung up a little bit and our guys were able to come over and make a play,” Hillman said. “When he threw the ball, I saw it and it hung up just enough that our guy was able to come over and get a piece of it. Because he was open. But, kudos to them (the Horseheads defenders) for not giving up on it and running over and making a play on the ball.”

In the early going it looked like Elmira might roll.

The Express jumped out to a 14-0 lead after scoring six in the third quarter.

But, as they did last week against Vestal, the Blue Raiders came on strong in the second half.

“We went into the locker room and we knew we had many opportunities in the first half,” Chrisman said. “We just shot ourselves in the foot. We made some adjustments in the second half and we came out firing. WE gave up another touchdown, but showed heart and kept fighting and it shows. I just love this team so much.

“We got a second wind, the conditioning we do it always pays off in the second half.”

While Horseheads made mistakes in the first half, they only trailed 8-0 at the break, and Hillman knows that was huge for his team.

“We went back at halftime and talked about it and the kids regrouped,” he said. “I think we played one of our worst halves of football, especially offensively, and we were only down 8-0 and the 8-0 was because we gave them the ball at the one.”

One of the keys for the Blue Raiders was getting a good balance in their attack.

Last week Riley Loomis ran for 211 yards, but the Blue Raiders didn’t have a ton of diversity in their attack.

On Friday Loomis had another strong game, with 111 yards on 17 carries, but Chrisman ran for 71 yards and he was 7-for-11 passing for 51 yards and a touchdown in the game.

“The first half we couldn’t get any momentum going,” Hillman said. “We’d get some big plays, then we’d put ourselves in terrible second or third down and long situations with penalties or whatever. In the second half we had some opportunities, we could take some shots either on first down or second and short and let Alex try and hit some guys.

“They were aggressive so we thought we’d have some holes if he could get the ball in there to those guys in the seam. Then at the goal line we thought they’d be coming so we faked the hand off and popped the tight end for the touchdown.”

Hillman also liked the balance running the ball between Loomis and Chrisman.

“It’s like having a two-back backfield with your quarterback and the back, even though it’s a single back,” Hillman said. “It makes it tough for people to key in.”

Chrisman was happy to be able to carry the ball this much for the Blue Raiders.

“It’s so fun to carry for this team,” he said. “But, the true warriors are the dudes blocking, my teammates around me, supporting me, without them this runs wouldn’t happen.

“They always key on Riley, so it’s perfect for me. I just run and make things happen.”

Both teams struggled early in the game.

Elmira got the ball first and fumbled on their second play of the game.

Horseheads went to work, but penalties called back a 38-yard run and they wound up punting.

Elmira had a penalty wipe out a 17-yard run on their next drive and punted back to the Blue Raiders and after forcing a three-and-out, the Express got the ball at midfield. They moved the ball to the Horseheads 30, but another fumble halted the drive.

“I thought we did ok stopping the run,” Elmira coach Jimmy McCauley said of his defense. It was our run game, which is what I’m more concerned with. I thought we were gosh darn awful. Fumbles the first two possessions. You are not going to win a lot of football games if the first two possessions you give the other team the football. I’m not happy.”

On Horseheads next drive they went to punt from their own 36, when a snap flew high over the head of Loomis and Elmira took over at the one. With 11:48 left in the half Tyler Marks ran in the touchdown and Taylon Johnson had the two-point run to make it 8-0.

Horseheads got the ball at their 35, and an 18-yard pass from Christmas to Watson got things started, and then a 32-yard-run by Loomis moved the Blue Raiders to the Elmira nine. However, the run game gained no yards after three runs, and a fourth down pass went incomplete as the Express defense held.

Neither team was able to get anything else going in the half, but on the final drive Elmira got 29 yards on the ground to move to the Horseheads 17. Elmira got the timeout with one second left in the half and a pass for the end zone looked like it might give Elmira another score, but it was ruled incomplete.

In the second half it was Elmira striking first. Johnson had a 14-yard run and Garvin connected with Jelani Muhammad with a pass on the right side for 39 yards. Johnson got a four-yard touchdown run to cap the drive, and the two-point try failed as Elmira led 14-0.

Horseheads wasted little time fighting back. Loomis had a 28 yard run on the next drive and a 20-yard pass from Chrisman to Casey Klossner moved Horseheads deep into Elmira territory. Chrisman capped the drive with a one-yard run with 1:56 left in the third and Massengale hit the extra point to cut the deficit to 14-7.

After the defense forced a three-and-out, Horseheads went on a 14-play drive, spanning nearly eight minutes.

Loomis ran for 39 yards on the drive and Chrisman ran for 23, before Chrisman hit Tyler Johns on a five-yard touchdown with 4:43 to play in the game. Massengale’s kick tied things up.

Elmira went 3-and-out, giving the ball back to Horseheads with two minutes to go, however Horseheads also went 3-and-out.

Elmira’s last chance in overtime moved into Horseheads territory after a 16-yard run by Johnson, however time ran out on the drive.

In overtime Horseheads got a seven-yard run by Chrisman, a three-yard run by Loomis and then a six-yard run by Chrisman as they moved to the three. However, after the Express made a tackle behind the line, on third down there was a fumble that rolled back to the six. Horseheads recovered, setting up the winning kick by Massengale.

Elmira got the ball and a penalty immediately set them back to the 25, and the drive ended with the incomplete pass in the end zone.

“Story of the game,” McCauley said. “The only person that stops us is us.”

For Horseheads players the atmosphere, the whole night was special.

“This week was a buildup,” Massengale said. “This was a huge rivalry and with beating them last year, we wanted to keep it going. There was a lot of talk on social media and everything like that. The hype around this game was real as you can see, the stands over there were filled, our stands were filled, our amazing student section showed school spirit and it was incredible.”

Chrisman loved seeing the reaction from the crowd all night.