HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: CORNING AND ELMIRA TO MEET FOR SECTIONAL TITLE (2022-11-10)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
While many teams are done for the season right now, the Corning and Elmira football teams are back on the field tomorrow night, as they’ll play for the Class AA sectional title.

“Best time of the year,” Corning coach Mike Johnston Jr. said. “This is what you work all year long for. This is one of your big goals when you start the season to be sectional champions. Here we are, now we just have to go out and pull it all together.”

For the Express it’s special anytime they get to play football.

“Real excited,” Elmira coach Jimmy McCauley said. “I’ll be honest with you, every chance we are playing football we are real excited. Football is different than other sports. Other sports you play multiple times a week, we get one time a week. It’s a real special, one-time deal.”

The last time the two teams met it came down to the final play of the night with Corning breaking up a pass in the end zone to win the game.

Now, the teams meet at 7 p.m. Friday in Corning. Elmira is 26th ranked in the state at 7-2, and Corning is honorable mention in the state rankings at 5-3 on the year.

Corning had a bye week last week after winning the division title this year with their victory over Elmira during the regular season.

“I don’t know that it got us healthier unfortunately,” Johnston Jr. said. “But, it gave us a chance to come up with a game plan without those kids. From a planning standpoint it was a good thing. So, earning that bye was helpful for sure.”

For both teams it is special just to be playing in the playoffs.

“It’s what the word playoff means,” McCauley said. “If you want to continue playing you’ve got to win. The seniors do a great job of leading the way, our younger guy do a great job of following the lead, and I think they do a good job of leading as well.”

Both teams know they are in for a tough test this week.

“I think they (Elmira) are really talented,” Johnston Jr. said. “I think they return a really experienced, well coached line up front. I think their backfield is as good as anybody in the state. Their quarterback, full back, wing backs, I think they are really talented and they are well coached. I think defensively they have improved a lot over the course of the season. I think last week against Binghamton, I thought they played really well. Binghamton has some really good athletes and I thought defensively they did a good job containing them.

“They have one of the premier fullbacks in the state in Amir Williams, he’s only a sophomore. I watched games he’s carrying six or seven guys. I think Johnnie Garcia is a great athlete and can make plays. Brady Keefe is a really tough runner and he’s been over 200 yards several times this year. (Evan) Garvin in a run-oriented offense, eh’s a weapon and a half because he can do everything. He can throw it, he can run it, he’s the field general in the backfield and he’s experienced. We have a lot of respect for all them.”

The Express know they are running into a strong opponent in Corning.

“Corning is tough, you are put into conflict in a lot of ways,” McCauley said. “Those three backs there you might think you have one figured out, then next thing you know the other pops through. I think the guys up front do a nice job of blocking. I think the backs do a good job of seeing where it’s supposed to go.

“I think we’ve had a good week of practice. I think the kids have bought in. We are going to have our hands full. I think they are pretty sound. I think they have some guys they lean on as does everybody. I really do like our week of practice.”

It’s supposed to be a really rainy day Friday, but neither team is really worried about that.

“Obviously ball security,” Johnston Jr. said. “But, I believe the double wing is build for these conditions. We don’t even flinch when we hear rain, we look forward to that.

“Ball security, and I think we have to stay on blocks. The ball is the program, but our guys up front, we really focused hard on our wing backs and our full backs blocking. We said we would be a lot better week 10 then we were week one and I think that holds true. I think we have shown a lot of improvement and matured from the beginning of the season.”

While ball security is important, it’s something that the coaches preach all year long to their teams.

“Here’s my outlook, you can’t wait for the rainy day to preach ball security,” McCauley said. “We didn’t talk about it one iota through the week. It’s the same expectations if it’s a sunny day or a wet day. The attention to detail has to be there. We will be all hands on deck trying to keep balls dry, but it’s not like it will be wet for us and dry for them, both teams have to battle through it.”

While the game is in Corning, the Express aren’t worried about where the game is as long as they get to play.

“It’s football, we’ll play at 6 a.m., we’ll play tonight, last night, we’ll play Saturday, Sunday we love football,” McCauley said. “We get a chance to win a sectional championship tomorrow night. We are in the playoffs. In the playoffs you have to be a road warrior anyways. That’s been our motto this week, put the ball down and I think we have guys that believe it.”
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STSR FILE PHOTOS.