SECTION 4 FOOTBALL: HORSEHEADS TOPS U-E TO WIN DIVISION TITLE; CLINCH HOME SECTIONAL FINAL (24 PHOTOS) (October 23, 2021)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
HORSEHEADS — Want to know how Horseheads game plan was going on Friday night?

You needed to do nothing more than glance down at your watch.

It was 7:15 and Horseheads and Union-Endicott were getting ready to start the second quarter.

Horseheads controlled the ball, and the clock, throughout the game, beating U-E 17-7 to wrap up the division title and clinch a spot in the sectional finals in Horseheads.

“That was kind of our goal, kind of eat the clock and move the ball downfield,” Horseheads coach Kevin Hillman said. “They did a much better job adjusting in the second half and they have a couple of guys on their defensive line up front if we don’t double team them they can cause some problems and make some plays. They have some really, really though aggressive kids. We did a good job with our game plan and we were able to move the ball down the field and eat up some clock, so I was happy with that.”

Right from the start the Blue Raiders put the ball in the hands of star running back Riley Loomis, behind their talented offensive line, and Loomis went to work, capping the opening drive with a touchdown at 7:42 on a 16-yard Loomis run. Ben Massengale hit the extra point and it was 7-0.

“It’s great, definitely some relief, we worked hard all week,” Loomis said. “I’m glad it paid off. It’s great to have a bye and go right into the chip.

“That first score was great. I kind of toned it down a little bit, I knew they were pretty good and we had to put a couple more (scores) in so I’m glad we got a couple more.”

After getting the ball back, Horseheads went right back to work again.

The Blue Raiders took over at their own 25 and they went 75 yards on 13 plays, keyed by a 20-yard and a 14-yard run by Loomis and a 14-yard pass from Alex Christman to Tyler Johns. Loomis capped the drive with his second touchdown, this one from two-yards out at 9:43 of the second quarter. Massengale hit the extra point and it was 14-0.

For Horseheads they knew they had some size advantages up front and they wanted to take advantage of that.

“We watch film all the time,” Gannon Johnston said of seeing what matchups there were on the field. “Our plan was just to move the ball the whole time. It’s something we work on all the time, we have our big guys up front moving their big guys up front.”

Loomis had a big day running the ball, wracking up 118 yards on 28 carries to go over 1,000 yards on the season. While Loomis had a big day, he knows his line is a big part of the reason why.

“They had some great blocks today,” Loomis said. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without the line and I thank them, it was a good day.”

On Union-Endicott’s next drive they got a 10-yard pass to start the drive and they were quickly at the Horseheads 40, looking like they might get their offense going.

However, as quick as their drive started, it was stalled as Gannon Johnston and KaHill Scharborough broke through the line and took down the quarterback for a 12-yard sack.

“We planned for that, we planned four our big guys to get in there,” Johnston said of the defensive line working in practice to find matchups to put pressure on the quarterback.

Hillman knew that if U-E had time to pass it was going to be tough to stop them, so they wanted to make sure their defense got pressure on the quarterback.

“That was kind of our hope,” Hillman said. “We knew if they had an opportunity to sit back there, I don’t care who you have back there covering it’s tough covering those guys because they are athletic. We were lucky enough, we got some pressure on and those guys executed what we were doing and the quarterback wasn’t comfortable back there and that allows us to make some plays.”

On Union-Endicott’s next possession they tried to go to the air again, but this time Loomis leapt and came down with the interception.

“I was waiting,” Loomis said. “I knew they were a throwing team so I was practicing my reads all week and that was crazy.”

In the second half things didn’t start any better for Union-Endicott as they fumbled away the opening kickoff. The U-E defense tightened on the drive and forced Horseheads into a 35-yard field goal attempt, which came up short.

On the next drive Horseheads got a big 35-yard pass from Christman to Johns, but again the U-E defense tightened and they forced a fumble and ran it back 96 yards for a touchdown. However, a pair of post fumble penalty called back the score and forced Union-Endicott inside their own five.

Horseheads got another stop and after a U-E punt, Christman got a 27-yard run and the drive was capped off by a 22-yard field goal with 4:58 left.

Union-Endicott avoided the shutout with 37 seconds left when Rocco Spinelli scored a four-yard run and Nicholas Faber hit the extra point.

For Horseheads the division title is special, but it’s not the end goal.

“It is nice,” Johnston said “It also shows how much work we put into this.”

“Nice first step, but kind of like I told the guys, it’s nice, it’s a nice thing to hang your hat on but it means nothing if we don’t come back here and win in the playoffs. We are happy with what we’ve got, but we can’t settle for this, we have to keep moving forward.”

Horseheads players knew going into the game how big this matchup was and they were ready for the big moment.

“We were hyped, we have been hyped the whole week for this game and we couldn’t wait,” Loomis said.

“Super fired up because it’s our Homecoming,” Johnston said.

Along with the 118 yards from Loomis the Blue Raiders got 66 yards from Christman who was 5-for-6 passing for 47 yards all to Johns.

Johnston had six tackles and a sack, Loomis and Tyler Stone each had five tackles and Scharborough has four tackles and a sack.

The division title is big, but what’s more special for the Blue Raiders is having a bye into the sectional final and getting to host the game.

“That’s great, it’s a great way to open the field and a great way to end it so I’m glad we could do that,” Loomis said.

Hillman knows how special it is to have the game in Horseheads new stadium.

“There is no doubt about it,” Hillman said. “The guys really feed off the kids here and they are really juiced up when they play here, that was a big thing for us. It’s like an extra player when we are here with this crowd, so the goal we really felt like was we needed to win this game to get that home game.”