SECTION 4 FOOTBALL: ELMIRA DOMINATES ON DEFENSE AS THEY TOP ITHACA IN SECTIONAL SEMIS (24 PHOTOS) (2024-11-08)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
ELMIRA — A return trip to the section final, and a berth into the state tournament were at stake, and the Elmira defense made sure the Express would be moving on.

The Express didn’t allow a first down, and held Ithaca to negative yards for the game as Elmira won 32-0 to advance to next week’s sectional final.

Elmira is at Corning at 6 p.m. next Friday in the final. It’s a rematch of last year when the Express won.

“On the top of the board, on the top of every paper we print up it’s to win the section,” Elmira coach Jimmy McCawley said. “This is the game we want. We told the kids all week long. You want the medal, you have to win this one, and we did. Now we have a chance to defend it (their title from last year).

“I thought we did a nice job tonight, but again everyone is going to be worried about the next one. This one is done. Our attention, our focus is on Corning. They are a great team, they are hard to defend. Their defense is good. They fly around the football so we are going to have to be at our best this week.”

Elmira held Ithaca to -8 yards in the first half and the Little Red had -11 yards in the game. Ithaca had -15 yards rushing and gained four yards through the air.

“We’ve got good kids,” McCawley said. “High effort and when they believe in the game plan and they execute. I think we had a good week of practice coming into it. Kudos to those guys playing defense. But, not only that, we made sure those guys that play scout team for us, they gave us a great look. If those guys don’t give us a great look four defense isn’t getting better during the week.”

While the Elmira defense shut down the Little Red, the Elmira offense ran for 302 yards on 54 carries.

“We pride ourselves,” McCawley said. “My son and his crew here, they are in seventh grade and we tell them all the time, if our line is doing what it’s supposed to do my son as a seventh grader can run a little bit. It’s the line. If they get the job done we are going to have a good day.”

Elmira took the first drive 58 yards on 10 plays capped by a nine-yard run by Breyan Brooks with 6:11 left in the opening quarter. The two-point try failed and it was 6-0 Elmira.

Ithaca had one of their biggest plays of the game, on the first play, as Edward Peck ran for five yards. From there the Express held them to a three-and-out. Every Ithaca drive ended in a three-and-out, or a turnover.

Ithaca’s punt pinned Elmira at their own 11, but the Express went 89 yards on 16 plays. Dash Harris capped the drive with a one-yard run with 6:17 left in the half. The two-point try failed and it was 12-0.

The game was 12-0 at the half, and in the second half after forcing a three-and-out on defense, Ithaca’s defense came up big, forcing a fumble when Elmira was inside the Ithaca five.

Another three and out got the ball back to Elmira. A partially blocked punt gave Elmira the ball in the red zone and Julian Colon ran three yards for a score with 3:29 left in the third. Colon then had the two-point run.

The next Elmira possession was six Colon runs, the final one a two-yards score with 11:55 left in the game. The two-point try failed.

Colon came up big on defense, tipping and picking off a pass by Ithaca.

“Colon is athletic,” McCawley said. “A football player, basketball player, just all-around athletic kid.”

Elmira then went 62 yards on nine plays, with Zach Conklin hitting Liam Ogden on a 21-yard pass on a fourth-and-seven play with 5:27 left in the game. The two-point try failed and that capped the scoring in the game.

Colon ran for 147 yards on 27 carries with two scores in the game. He ran on 13 straight plays at one point in the second half.

“When he puts his mind to it, he does really, really good things for us,” McCawley said. “The big thing for him is he buys in and I think he’s going to be a handful for other teams.”

Harris ran for 64 yards on six carries and Brooks ran for 58 on 10 carries. Ogden ran for 26 yards and Ta’hJay Molina-Bacome ran for seven yards.

Conklin was 3-for-4 passing for 45 yards and a score. Ogden had the 21-yard touchdown and Marcus Brooks Jr. and Brandon Bertelstein had catches.

The win not only gets Elmira into the final, but this year with two teams going to states it puts Elmira into the state tournament.

“We are excited, but we want the sectional title,” McCawley said. “That’s our number one goal. No matter what happens after that, whether we go to Section 3, or down state, we are awesome, but our goal is to win the section.”
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ELMIRA 32, ITHACA 0
ITHACA 0 0 0 0 — 0
ELMIRA 6 6 8 12 — 32

FIRST QUARTER
E: Breyan Brooks 9-yard run (2-point failed), 6:11
SECOND QUARTER
E: Dash Harris 1-yard run (2-point failed), 6:17
THIRD QUARTER
E: Julian Colon 3-yard run (Colon run), 3:29
FOURTH QUARTER
E: Colon 2-yard run (2-point failed), 11:55
E: Liam Ogden 21 yards from Zach Conklin (2-point failed), 5:27

INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing
Elmira
Breyan Brooks 10-58; Julian Colon 27-147-2; Dash Harris 6-64; Liam Ogden 7-26; Ta’hJay Molina-Bacome 3-7; Conklin 1-0
Ithaca
Edward Peck 6-4; Jack Barton 3-2; Cameron Gelinas-Owens 2-1; Noah Butler 2-(-11); Jonah Jacobstein 2-(-11).
Passing
Elmira
Conklin 3-4-45-1-0
Ithaca
Jacobstein 2-3-5-0-0; Butler 1-4-(-1)-0-1
Brandon Bertelsen 1-11; Ogden 1-21-1; Marcus Brooks Jr. 1-13
Ithaca
Mikko Greene 1-6; Edward Peck 1-(-1); Jack Barton 1-(-1).

TEAM TOTALS:
                ELMIRA            ITHACA
Rushing            54-302            15-(-15)
Passing            3-4-45                3-7-4
Total yards            347                -11
INTERCEPTIONS: E: Colon
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES

PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME:


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