SECTION 4 FOOTBALL: HORSEHEADS STOPPED ON 2-POINT TRY IN OT AS THEY ARE EDGED BY U-E IN SECTION FINAL (24 PHOTOS) (November 14, 2025)

BY BRIAN FEES
Southern Tier Sports Report
ENDICOTT — The Horseheads Blue Raiders came up two yards short in their sectional final against Union-Endicott, falling to the Tigers 21-20 in overtime on Friday.

Down 14-0 at the half, the Blue Raiders fought back and tied the game, sending it to overtime. 

“These kids all year that’s what they’ve done, had their backs against the wall, battled adversity, came out the second half played their tails off,” Horseheads coach Kevin Hillman said. “They deserved to win, hats off to UE they deserved to win too and had a great season.

“They (the Horseheads players) have nothing to hang your hats on. It’s our job to put them in position to execute. The kids did nothing wrong.”

The Blue Raiders went for two points and the win in overtime, and were stopped on the two-point try, letting the Tigers escape with the win.

“We wanted to try and ent it if we could at that moment,” Hillman said. “I thought we had a good look. There are a couple things we probably would have done different, but you have to live with the decisions you make. We probably would have kept our first call we wanted to do, we kind of out thought ourselves.”

Horseheads went fro a swinging gate to a standard formation and handed the ball to Patrick Laney, but a U-E players came in off the edge and broke up the play at the line of scrimmage. 

U-E took the lead at the half with touchdowns in both the first and second quarters.

Chad Eldridge had a three-yard scoring run with 3:40 left in the opening quarter to make it 7-0.

With just 14 seconds left in the half Joseph Gennarelli Jr. had a 14-yard scoring run to put the Tigers up 14-0.

Horseheads fought back with scores in both the third and fourth quarters to force overtime.

Laney caught a 22-yard pass from Dmitri Charlanow with 8:21 left in the third quarter.

With 10:05 left in the game Charlanow scored on a one-yard run to tie the game.

In overtime Gennarelli had a 14-yard touchdown where he dove over the pylon at the corner of the end zone. The Cooper Morgan extra point made it 21-14.

Horseheads got a 21-yard touchdown on third-and-10 as Laney hauled in a Charlanow pass. That’s when Horseheads went for two and U-E got the stop to seal the win. 

Hillman was proud of the way the team fought back from the halftime deficit.

“These guys never backed down,” Hillman said. “We had guys out, that’s no excuse, but we had a lot of tough, almost state-level players out. (Liam) Morrissey, (Jaxson) Burchard, (Kyle) Ernst. I give credit, the guys who came in stepped in and made plays. IT was 14-0 at the half and these guys battled back.”

It’s tough for Hillman to say goodbye to a senior class that got to the sectional final this year, after winning sectionals a season ago.

“It’s so hard, that’s what breaks your heart,” Hillman said. “They lay everything on the line. They didn’t care about who got the ball, to see them grow together like that, it’s something special. It hurts that they didn’t win. But, the one thing that I can sleep with is knowing that they will be great people. They will do great things in life, because they did that, when things got tough, they didn’t back down. They are going to be great, great young men.”

For the younger players on the Blue Raiders, they are already set to go back to work.

“They were talking about it in the locker room after the game, saying they will be in the weight room Monday,” Hillman said. “I’m okay with them taking a couple days off, but it’s good to see that fire is still there.”

Bryce Thomas had 75 yards on 19 carries and Laney ran for 32 yards, while Charlanow ran for 25.

Charlanow threw for 54 yards and Laney had two grabs for 42 yards, while Elijah Miller had a 12-yard catch.

Miller had five tackles and Boe Briggs had six tackles.

Nate Tousley had eight tackles and Keegan Harkness had four tackles and fumble recovery.

Laney had two tackles and a forced fumble and Connor Warrick had five tackles. Wyatt MacNeal had six tackles and Trey Kennedy and Josh Wilson each had four tackles. 
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PHOTOS BY MATT PATTON. 

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