HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: HAWKS READY TO MAKE HISTORY AS THEY PREPARE TO PLAY IN STATE FINAL FOUR (2024-11-29)
By Brian FeesSouthern Tier Sports ReportMIDDLETOWN — For the first time in program history the Corning Hawks are headed to the state final four as they take on Christian Brothers Academy (Albany) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Middletown.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Corning coach Mike Johnston Jr. said. “If you can’t get excited about playing football on Thanksgiving weekend. This used to be the state championship weekend every single year. Now we bumped the season back a week. We are on week 15 as far as the start, because we were granted an opportunity in N.Y. State to practice a week earlier than the other fall sports and we are week 11 as far as games go. We’ve got 53 kids in our program and Thanksgiving weekend we are asking them to show up every single day and take some time away and make some sacrifices, but for a good cause.”
The Corning players are excited to get a chance to keep their seasons alive with another game this week.
“Extremely excited,” James Freeman said. “We are all very excited for the opportunity. Got in through the side door (as a wild card), but we are going to take advantage of it. We got a big win last week and we are very excited.”
While it’s Thanksgiving weekend the players are happy to be still playing football.
“We are really excited,” quarterback Ian Harpster said. “It’s nice being able to play on Thanksgiving. Thankful for the opportunity for it and excited to go out, work hard and represent our community.
“We have to take time away from our family to spend with this family and we have got to make the most of every day we have together and make the most of everything we’ve got and I think this week really brings that to the spotlight.”
The Hawks will face someone they don’t normally face this week as they take on the CBA out of Section 2. CBA is unbeaten at 11-0 this year.
While the Hawks are facing an undefeated team, they know they also have an advantage, they run an offense that not many teams see very often.
“Be better, be different,” Johnston Jr. said. “That has always been my theme. What we do is not something you see on a regular basis. We have a lot of confidence in it. We have been running it since 1998 and we have had a high degree of success. I think people have to prepare differently for us.
“We don’t see Section 9, Section 2, Section 2 a lot. It’s not like you can prepare in three days for what we do, for us, we just want to go out and compete.”
The Corning players know that it can be an advantage when you face teams that rarely see you.
“I feel like it’s a really good advantage,” Harpster said. “We use a lot of deception and quick movements on our offense. So, if you don’t see it very often it can be tricky to defend and I think it can be a big advantage for us.”
Corning knows they face a team with a lot of talent as they take on CBA.
Quarterback Archie Jones has thrown for 1902 yards this year for CBA. He’s completed 65% of his passes and has 23 touchdowns to just one interception this year.
Receiver Lucius Anderson has 49 grabs for 1,102 yards, fourth best in the state of N.Y. He has 14 touchdowns this year.
Running back Thomas Tohner has run for 932 yards on 106 carries, averaging 8.8 yards a carry. He has eight touchdowns. As a team CBA has run for 2,207 yards, with a 7.8 yards-a-carry average, with 30 scores.
“The biggest thing is we have got to contain their dudes,” Johnston Jr. said. “They have some kids. Their wide receiver is really good. He has 4.5 40 speed and he’s getting recruited, or committed already, to Penn State University. Their running back is only a sophomore and he’s a big, strong, physical, fast kid. Their quarterback has thrown for over 1,000 yards and their people up front are big and they are strong and they look like a college program. We know what’s in front of us. We have to go out, play hard and compete on every down.”
The Hawks players are excited for the chance to face to face CBA.
“It’s awesome, they have some really good athletes and just another opportunity to get not he field again and we are excited for it,” Freeman said. “It’s awesome, an awesome experience (being in the state final four). Last weekend we got great bonding experience, going up to the game, and staying at a hotel. This week we get to stay home and practice all week together, so it’s great.”
“Any new opportunity is exciting,” Harpster said. “You don’t know what they are going to bring to the table. How they are going to play, so it’s always a great opportunity to go and play someone you haven’t played before.”
Over the years the Hawks have had a number of close regional games that they came up just short in. This year was their first regional title, and it came in a year when they didn’t capture a sectional title.
Falling to Elmira two weeks ago in the sectional final was tough, but the way the Hawks bounced back is something that Johnston Jr. has liked seeing.
“We were really disappointed not winning the sectional title,” Johnston Jr. said. “Getting the at-large bid was like a second chance opportunity, a reprieve and we didn’t take that for granted, and everything was on the menu last week. Sometimes are conservative and we go out and we run our basic stuff and last week we came out and we ran everything we had in our arsenal to give us a chance on all three sides of the ball.”
Corning’s players weren’t happy with the sectional final loss and that just motivated them last week.
“It really made us mad,” Freeman said. “We played angry last Saturday. We really played physical and got the job done.
“It was awesome. It was a great win, now we are onto this week and looking to beat CBA Albany.”
Getting a second chance with the wild card into states was an opportunity that the Corning players were determined to take advantage of.
“We obviously wanted to win that game (against Elmira),” Harpster said. “But, that didn’t end up happening. But, we knew we were given an opportunity to put on our pads again and we knew that if we were to lose again we wouldn’t have the chance to put them on again.
“That was our mindset going into that week was earn another week to put on our pads. A lot of us it would have been our last time and that’s what we are doing this week to. Earning the chance to put on our pads again.”
Johnston Jr. saw how well his players bounced back last week.
“It did (motivate Corning), that’s not taking anything away from Elmira,” Johnston Jr. said. “They had a great year and overcame some injuries and got people in the right places and played a great game that night against us. We came back, and bounced back the next week and our kids attitude was awesome. They knew that this was a chance to go out and prove they deserved to be there.”
Right now there are only four teams left in the state in AA, and only one public school left, and the Hawks are proud to be that team.
“It’s honestly an insane feeling, it’s awesome,” Freeman said. “It’s unreal. It’s four teams playing football in N.Y. for Class AA.
“We are all excited about the win last week, but we have to push it even harder to get ready for Saturday.”
The Hawks are also proud to be the last fall sports team still competing at Corning.
“It’s funny, we are the only fall sport left in our school, so it’s kind of cool seeing us out here the only ones on the turf,” Harpster said. “The only ones who need it. Everyone else is in teh gym, getting ready for basketball, getting ready for that season, so it’s exciting.
“It’s pretty crazy thinking (that there are just four AA teams left in the state). Especially since we are the only public school. We are the only public school in AA still practicing and playing football, so it’s pretty cool being the only team left and we are excited to have the chance and represent the public schools. We are just a bunch of high school kids who are out here, loving the game, playing football, working hard every day and we want to show we may not get recruited, but we are a tough team and we are going to bring it to you when we play.”
It’s already been a historic season for the Hawks, and they hope to add to that history.
“It’s really special,” Harpster said of being the first Corning Hawks team to play in the state final four.
“It’s really special,” Harpster said. “I know a lot of us have worked really hard over the past couple of years and we really wanted it. It paid off and it’s really special and we want to keep going and make more history.”
Basketball teams are already practicing, and the first game for the Hawks is Dec. 7 at Wayland-Cohocton against Hornell.
Johnston Jr. not only coaches football, but also basketball. He would be perfectly happy if the season starts minus a few football players, and with him not able to coach the season opener.
“I said that to my kids,” Johnston Jr. said. “We are in a tip-off tournament against Hornell, who is really good at the Wayland-Cohocton Hall of Fame game and I told the kids we are going to have a problem.. It’s going to be a good problem, but a week from now my JV coach is going to have to coach our basketball if we go to the state finals.
“It’s obviously something that would be very exciting. We’d miss some kids who play football, and three of them play basketball as well, so it’s a really good problem to have that opportunity.”
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STSR FILE PHOTO.
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