SECTION 4 FOOTBALL: HORSEHEADS SETS THE TONE ON THE LINE AS THEY TOP CORNING (24 PHOTOS) (2024-10-11)
By Brian FeesSouthern Tier Sports ReportHORSEHEADS — It didn’t take Corning coach Mike Johnston Jr. long to realize there was something different about this year’s Horseheads team.
The Blue Raiders came out right from the start and dominated on the line of scrimmage. The Blue Raiders controlled the the line and they controlled the game on their way to a 35-14 win on Friday night.
“I knew they were good, I knew we had to play flawless football tonight,” Johnston Jr. said. “I thought they were bigger, and I thought they were stronger and I thought it was very obvious they controlled the line of scrimmage.
“I went through the line and shook their hands after the game, and they are put together. That doesn’t happn by accident.”
For the Horseheads linemen the goal was simple, show up and impose their will on the game.
“We did a great job of it and I can’t be more proud of the guys,” Robert Peckham said.
Horseheads coach Kevin Hillman knew that the matchup was a tough one. The Hawks are always physical, and he knew that the Blue Raiders players had to match that toughness.
“We talked about that,” Hillman said. “Just try and match the physicality right off the bat. Both those games (Elmira and Corning), it’s really hard to replicate that in practice so just to try and get a feel for it when it comes to you. They did a really good job. The defesnvie line up front, they did a really good job. They don’t get a lot of credit, because they don’t get a lot of tackles, but they do a great job of keeping those guys off our linebackers and when they get penatration it creates a lot of ruckus and it lets our other guys clean up the mess.
“They don’t get a lot of credit, but you’ve got (Hunter) LaVigne, (Maxwell) Mickley, (Elijah) Miller and Peckham. Those guys did an awesome job in there, rotating around and creating some ruckus.”
The first drive of the game the Hawks controlled the clock and moved the ball on a 11-play drive. However, the Blue Raiders limited 10 of those plays to five yards or less, and the Hawks moved the ball just 24 yards before the drive stalled on fourth down.
It wasn’t until the final play of the game that the Hawks had a run of more than nine yards as the linemen for the Blue Raiders limited most runs to short yardage.
“When we stop them 2-3 yards down, it feels great,” Peckham said. “I’m proud of the guys. Next week we’ve just got to prepare for it and get another W.”
Hillman knows that when you limit the other team to shorter runs it makes the drives take more plays, and gives the defense more chances to end the drives.
“It takes them longer to get down the field,” Hillman said. “They are going to get some first downs. But, hopefully we can eventually get the stop and we were fortunate to be able to do that. Hopefully we can keep that going.”
On their first drive the Blue Raiders got an 18-yard run from Mosher and then Jaxson Burchard had a 10-yard run, a play before catching an 11-yard pass from Cardinale. Burchard capped the drive with an eight-yard run with 3:37 left in the opening quarter. Trevor Reidy’s kick made it 7-0.
Corning answered right back. They took over at their 43 and after three runs, Ian Harpster hit Reilly Wells on an eight-yard run on fourth-and-three. Wells then caught a 40-yard touchdown from Harpster with 15 seconds left in the quarter.
The Hawks lined up to kick an extra point to tie the game, when Peckham busted through the line and blocked the kick.
“I thought Peckham was a man child,” Johnston Jr. said. “He’s hands down the best lineman around here on both sides of the ball, it’s not even close. We scored on a pass play no less. Went for the extra point, we usualy go for two, but I thought holding our cards close, let’s kick the extra point and tie the game and go play defense. And, he (Peckham) just ran right over our kid.”
Horseheads scored again on their next drive as Bryce Thomas had a 12-yard run to start the drive and Mosher moved the Blue Raiders into the red zone after a 19-yard run. Mosher then hauled in a 26-yard touchdown catch from Cardinale with 9:28 left in the half and Reidy made the kick.
“You always like catching the ball,” Mosher said. “Great placement by Dom makes it easier.”
Corning took over and moved the ball on another 11-play drive, but the drive stalled on fourth down and it took the Blue Raiders just three plays to score.
Horseheads got a 15-yard run by Thomas, a 32-yard catch by Mosher and Mosher scored on a seven-yard run with 1:39 left in the half. Reidy kicked the extra point to make it 21-7.
For Corning a few big plays in the first half put them behind and made them have to play catch up.
“We gave up a pass interference,” Johnston Jr. said. “We gave up two very long passes, one for a touchdown, one for a big game, I believe on third-down situations. So those three things in the first half got us down two touchdown scores.
“I thought we came out with some momentum, defensively in the second half, and played a little bit more like we are accustomed to. Then we got the stop and we fumbled the ball.”
In the second half the Hawks forced a three-and-out on the first drive, but Peckham again came up big for the Blue Raiders, recovering a fumble.
After the fumble recoverly the Blue Raiders went to work from the 29 and four runs, capped by a 22-yard scamper by Mosher with 6:53 left in the third made it 28-6 after the Reidy kick.
Mosher and Thomas were dominant in the game, combining for 206 yards and three touchdowns on just 16 carries between them.
“It’s great, because those two guys are two heck of players and I think they are feeding off each other a little bit,” Hillman said. “It’s a great thing. One guy does it and the other wants ot match it. Lucas is great because in the passing game and the running game he makes big plays. A couple big catchs on some corner routes here that was big. Dom out there leading them, just all the way around.”
Mosher and Thomas had fun feeding off each other’s successes.
“It’s awesome,” Thomas said. “If one of us isn’t getting the ball, it’s the other one.”
“It’s not just us too,” Mosher said. “We have great depth, anyone can do it, it just happened to be us tonight.”
The backs know a lot of their success is because of the big guys up front.
“We get all the praise for scoring the touchdowns, but really it’s all them,” Thomas said.
Horseheads defense again stopped Corning on downs after 10-play drive. However, Thomas fumbled on the first play of the next drive.
The Blue Raiders defense stepped up and forced a three-and-out and the Blue Raiders went right back to Thomas who gained 10 on the first play of the next drive.
Corning’s defense stopped Horseheads on fourth down, and Corning went 14 plays, moving into the Horseheads red zone, before Horseheads caught Corning in the backfield for a loss on a second-down run, forced and incompletion and caught a Hawks receiver in the backfield on a pass play on fourth down.
On the first play of the next drive Thomas took off for an 80-yard run with 3:39 left in the game and Reidy hit the kick.
“I fumbled it, but I had to come back strong and scored a touchdown,” Thomas said.
Hillman was proud of how his sophomore back responded after his fumble.
“That’s the thing, there are some times he’ll make a mistake and put his head down,” Hillman said. “I have to give him a lot of credit today. That fumble happened, he gets right back out there and he shook it off, made a couple big plays and then he had that touchdown run. That’s a lot of maturity for him. I”m proud of him for that.”
Corning got a score as the clock expired on their first run of double digit yards of the game as Tahj Haynes ran for 42 yards on the final play of the game and then had the two-point run to cap the scoring.
For Horseheads this is just the second time the team has beaten Elmira and Corning in the same year.
“There has been one Horseheads team to beat Corning and Elmira in one season, second time to do it and it’s an amazing feeling,” Thomas said.
“Beating rival teams like this always feels amazing,” Mosher said.
After beating Elmira last week the idea of winning both ot these games was on the players minds.
“It was on our mind and we knew we could do it and it feels great we did it,” Peckham said. “It was very special. Just the second time we have ever done it. We have a good group of guys, we are proud of each other.”
The hard work for the Blue Raiders started in practice the past two weeks.
“Those are two great programs,” Hillman said. “We haven’t beaten them much at all. To get them both in a year, it’s a special thing we have not done a lot. The kids rallied around that. They had a couple good weeks of practice last week and this week again. Hats off to them. They came to play physical.”
The back-to-back wins follow back-to-back losses to Waverly and Owego, where Horseheads felt like they hurt themselves in the game.
“We were stopping ourselves in those games, and we bounced back these two,” Peckham said.
Thomas ran for 129 yards on eight carries with a score and Mosher had 77 yards on eight carries, with two scores, while Burchard ran for 21 yards with a score and Cardinale ran for 10 yards.
Cardinale was 4-for-9 passing for 74 yards and a score. Three of those catches for 63 yards and a score went to Mosher and Burchard had an 11-yard catch.
Ian Harpster was 8-for-19 for 93 yards and a score for Corning. Wells had two grabs for 48 yards and a score, Carter Sparks had a 21-yard catch, Brenden Jardin-Reed had three grabs for 18 yards and Clayton Smith and Taj Sides had catches.
Smith ran for 63 yards on 16 carries and Haynes gained 56 yard son three carries. Jardin-Reed ran for 24 yards, Sides ran for 20 and Freddie Clark ran fro 10 yards.
Corning hosts Elmira next week, while Horseheads is at Vestal. Both games will determine the top seeds for sectionals in their clases.
“Keep our minds right, don’t expect anyone to roll over, we have to go out and earn it,” Thomas said.
“It (the past two weeks) gives us a lot of confidence. WE just have to stay humble and finish out the season.”
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES
PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME.
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