By Brian FeesSouthern Tier Sports Report
It was a big year for area football teams, and now they are earning honors at the state level for all the success.
Horseheads and Elmira won sectional titles this year, the Blue Raiders for the first time since 1998, and Corning won their first regional title as a Hawks program, while Edison made the playoffs for the first time in 17 seasons.
All four schools were represented on the all-state teams, including Horseheads senior Robert Peckham earning first-team all-state honors as an offensive lineman. For Horseheads this is the first all-state selection since the New York Sports Writers all-state teams began.
He’s the first first-team pick by an area school since Elmira’s Allaah Sessions was a first-team linebacker in 2015. Elmira’s Eli Thomas was also first-team all-state as a defensive back in 2013. The last offensive first-team all-state from an area team was Corning’s Brandon Griffin at utility in 2010.
“I think it’s reat, it’s more special for Robert because it’s an indication of how hard he’s worked,” Horseheads coach Kevin Hillman said. “I think it’s a great thing for the program. Everyone takes part in it. I think Robert would be the first to tell you thank you to the rest of the team for helping him.
“He lives and breathes football. It’s all he talks about and thinks about. When you say something to him he’s really miled mannered, but you could tell there was a little smile on his face (when he found out he made all-state first team). He deserves it. Everyone has worked their butts off. I’m so happy for these guys.”
Lucas Mosher was a third-team selection as an offensive all-purpose player for the Blue Raiders and Griffin Stevens made fifth team as a linebacker.
Miles Woodhouse at receiver, Hunter Lavigne and Jonah Lamb on the line and Kyle Ernst at linebacker were all honorable mention all-state picks.
For Horseheads having seven players honored was special.
“It’s awesome,” Hillman said. “It’s the first time we have had this number of kids. It’s a testament to how hard these kids work. Just unbelievable. Great accomplishment for them. They deserve it.
“For those guys, Griff (Stevens) was honorable mention last year and made fifth team. Lucas as well (moved up from last year). All the hard work pays off. All the all-state selections, they were really excited about it.”
And, Hillman hopes this motivates future athletes.
“That’s the hope,” he said. “You hope it drives those other guys. The guys on there (on all-staet) are why we got to where we got to. We are losing those guys so we are going to need people to step up if we want to stay a a premier team and make a run to the state playoffs.”
James Freeman was a second-team pick at all-purpose for Corning. The last 2nd team pick for Corning was Seth Hogue in 2019.
“To the victor go the spoils,” Corning coach Mike Johnston Jr. said of his team that won regionals this year. These kids earned the honors by winning and going to the state final four and winning a regular season league title. All the time they put in the offseason, I’m happy for them.”
For Johnston Jr. it’s special to see Freeman earn honors as high as second team. Freeman has battled injuries through his career, and throughout this year, but was able to run for 22 touchdowns this year to earn the second-team nod.
“For the past three years, every year, he had something nagging and he kept fighting through it,” Johnston Jr. said. “People don’t realize what he was doing behind the scenes to get healthy. It’s rewarding for him and the program to get an honor that high. Second team all-state might be as high as anyone we’ve had before.”
It’s not since Griffin nearly 15 years ago that the Hawks have had anyone higher than second team.
Corning’s Jayden VanDusen was a fifth-team pick at defensive line, while Elmira’s Marcus Brooks was a fifth-team linebacker.
Brenden Jardin-Reed of Corning was a sixth-team linebacker.
For Johnston Jr. all the players earning honors was special.
“Jayden had a great year for us on defense, he was really focused,” Johnston Jr. said. “I’m hapy he was honored as well. Brenden Jardin-Reed, he is a three-sport star and he’s excelling in all three of them. (He recently broke the meet record at the Invite at the Glen and the Wolverine Invite in diving). He carried the load, all three of our three-headed monster back there with Jimmy (Freeman) and Clayton (Smith), they had a lot of carries. They had close to 3,000 rushing yards (between them) on the year. He (Jardin-Reed) played an integral part on both sides of the ball and on special teams.”
Elmira coach Jimmy McCauley was happy to see Brooks earn the honor.
“Marcus is a guy that worked extremely hard in the offseason,” McCauley said. “He had some success for us on offense and defense and special teams. He’s an exciting kid. I think if you ask him he would say the same thing, with the help of his teammates he was able to play hard and get some recognition toward the end of the season. Which, kudos to him and his family.”
Elmira’s Zach Conklin was honorable mention as a quarterback and Corning’s Clayton Smith was honorable mention as a running back, while Carter Sparks was honorable mention as an offensive end. Edison’s Greg Golden made honorable mention in eight-man football.
The two honorable mention picks for the Hawks were also players Johnston Jr. thought had a strong year.
“They are buys that are 2-3 way starters for us,” Johnston Jr. said. “We have a lot of very good players who have invested quite a bit of time and have been on varsity three years. I’m just happy to see them recognized for all their hard work and what they have given for our program and to go succeed at the state level.”
Having his quarterback get recognized was special for McCauley.
“We put a lot of pressure on our quarterbacks,” he said. “They have to know what they are doing and the whole picture and I thought he did a nice job of that last year. Whether we were under center or in the gun, we put a lot on him. To get him on the all-state list is pretty admirable as well.
“Every year our number one goal is to win the section and we feel like if we are doing that and we are getting in the state playoff system we feel like if we have success those end of the year awards usually take care of themselves.”
Like Conklin and Smith, Golden is just a junior for the Spartans. He led Edison with 844 yards rushing and 10 scores and on defense had had 45 tackles, three sackes and a fumble recovery as the Spartans had their best season in a long time.
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IN PHOTO: Horseheads’ Robert Peckham. . . STSR FILE PHOTO.
