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HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: A MILESTONE NIGHT FOR ELMIRA AS THEY DEDICATE THEIR NEW STADIUM, BUT IN THE END U-E TAKES THE WIN ON THE FIELD (24 PHOTOS) (2022-09-25)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
ELMIRA — It was a memorable night for the Elmira community, but in the end it was Union-Endicott who was celebrating as they came away with a 37-20 win over the Express in the first game at the new Dick Senko Field at the Thomas J. Hurley Athletic Complex.

“I hate being Debby Downer, but we lost,” Elmira coach Jimmy McCauley said. “The experience, it’s great, we’ll continue making it. That’s part of my job as a coach, making sure these guys have a great experience and we try and do that and have some things to remember. But, I’ll be honest when we sit around a camp fire we talk about winning.”

It was the first football game in the new stadium, and at halftime there was a ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication ceremony as they honored two legendary coaches in Senko and Hurley.

The coaches touched the lives of many former athletes, one of those athletes was Horseheads coach Kevin Hillman, who played for Senko.

“Congratulations to the Senko family,” Hillman said after his team’s win at Ithaca. “He meant a lot to myself and Free Academy football. He was very special. Congratulations to that whole family, it’s an honor, from myself and the entire Horseheads football family.”

While the packed crowd was settling into their seats, Elmira went to work on offense, driving the ball 47 yards on the first drive. However, the drive stalled and Union Endicott took over.

One play into the game for the Tigers and Nicholas Lang was off to the races for 71 yards. Elmira finally corralled him at the six-yard line, but Cooper Hughes scored a play later and at 7:58 of the first quarter the Tigers led 6-0.

Elmira again went to work, moving the ball from their own 36 to the Tigers 15, but again the drive stalled and the Tigers took over.

“Varsity football team and we still have center, quarterback exchange problems,” McCauley said. “I believe on the first drive it was third down, quarterback, center have a little mishap and next thing you know instead of first down or fourth and short, now it’s fourth and five, we gain a four-yard run and turn the ball over on downs. 100% on us. We can’t keep hurting ourselves and expect to win football games.”

It took the Tigers just one play on their next drive to get on the board as Lang took off for an 80-yard touchdown run on the first play of the drive and he ran in the two-point try and it was 14-0 at 3:11 of the opening quarter.

“You have to stop No. 9,” McCauley said of Lang. “We game planned it, we just didn’t do a very good job. I think there were some indicators we gave out to our players. I don’t know if they didn’t trust them. I don’t know if they just don’t remember in the game, that’s something we’ve just got to figure out.”

Elmira got onto the board on their next drive when Evan Garvin hit Brady Keefe over the top on a 71-yard touchdown pass and Keefe ran in the two-point try at 1:56 of the opening quarter.

However, just 2:01 later Union-Endicott started the second quarter with Max Sementelli hitting Jaheim Jackson with a 25-yard touchdown pass and Connor Smith hit the extra point to make it 21-8.

Garvin cut into the deficit at 4:45 of the third when he ran in from a yard out to cap a 64-yard drive and the two-point try failed and it was 21-14.

Sementelli and Jackson hooked up again to cap the first-half scoring as they converted on a 16-yard pass with 2:22 left in the first half and Smith hit the extra point and it was 28-14 at the break.

The Tigers scored on all four of their drives in the first half, but in the second half the Elmira defense stepped up early.

U-E went to work quickly, converting on a 25-yard pass from Sementelli to Lang to get to midfield, and eventually they moved to the 23. But, a sack by Keefe pushed them back 13 yards and then Elmira’s Byron Hall Jr. picked off a pass to give Elmira the ball back.

Elmira quickly went to work, putting together a 11-play, 59-yard drive, capped by a Keefe 10-yard run, as he fought through a tackle at the eight and exploded for the score. The two-point try failed and the Express were within 28-20 with seven seconds left in the third quarter.

It appeared the Tigers would answer right back, as they took the kick back fo ra score, but a holding penalty wiped out the touchdown and instead U-E got the ball at their 35. They got a 40 yard run by Lang, but then they fumbled, with Alex McKerrow recovering.

Elmira got the ball back , but a flag pushed them back and when they went to punt, the snap flew into the end zone for a safety with 8:37 left in the game.

On the free kick Lang had a 36-yard return for the Tigers and Sementelli hit Hughes on a 15-yard touchdown with 6:42 left in the game to cap the scoring as Smith hit the extra point.

“First half we said all week in the locker room it was limit big plays and I think we did the exact opposite in the first half,” McCauley said. “I thought we played a little bit better in the second half, we were getting things going on offense and we couldn’t stop them and in the second half it was the exact opposite, we got a couple stops and we couldn’t score.

“Special teams, we had a one-possession game going into the fourth quarter and we make an error on special teams. I don’t believe in excuses our guys are our guys, you’ve got to make them better each week. I’ll be darned sure we are better next week than we were this week.”

For Elmira there plenty of things that McCauley feels like need to be improved on.

“I thought our tackling was bad,” McCauley said. “I thought we couldn’t handle some things up front on offense. I don’t think we ran where the openings were. We had some plays, some opproetunies we just didn’t capitalize.

“I tip my hat to U-E, but that was definitely not our best game for sure.”

Elmira had three players run for more than 65 yards in the game as they racked up 213 yards on the ground in the defeat. Amir Williams ran for 89 yards, including a 24-yard run in the first half where he carried the entire Tigers defense down the field. Keefe ran for 70 yards, and he had a 71-yard catch. Garvin ran for 18 yards and a score and threw for 71 yards and a score.

Lang ran for 212 yards on just seven carries for the Tigers and Sementelli was 8-for-10 passing for 109 yards and three scores, with Jackson hauling in three of the catches for 52 yards and two scores.

Lang and Hughes each had two catches and Must Games had a coach. Joseph Pasquale had three carries for 38 yards.
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES

UNION ENDICOTT 37, ELMIRA 20
UNION ENDICOTT          14 14 0 9 — 37
ELMIRA                             0   8 6 6. — 20

FIRST QUARTER
U:
Cooper Hughes 6 yard run (Kick failed), 7:58
U: Nicholas Lang 80 yard run (Lang run), 3:11
E: Brady Keefe 71 yard pass from Evan Garvin (Keefe run), 1:56
SECOND QUARTER
U:
Jaheim Jackson 25 yard pass from Max Sementelli (Connor Smith kick), 11:55
E: Garvin 1 yard run (run failed), 4:45
U: Jackson 16 yard pass from Sementelli (Smith kick), 2:22
THIRD QUARTER
E:
Keefe 10 yard run (run failed), :07
FOURTH QUARTER
U:
Safety, 8:37
U: Cooper Hughes 15 yard pass from Sementelli (Smith kick), 6:42

ELMIRA
Rushing

Keefe 16-70-1; Johnnie Garcia 15-66; Amir Williams 15-89; Evan Garvin 7-18-1
Passing
Garvin 1-7-71-1
Receiving
Keefe 1-71-1
UNION-ENDICOTT
Rushing
Lang 7-212-1; Hughes 10-38-1; Joseph Pasquale 3-38; Sementelli 1-(-15)
Passing
Sementelli 8-10-109-3-1
Receiving
Jackson 3-52-2; Lang 2-30; Hughes 2-14-1; Musa Games 1-13

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