By Brian FeesSouthern Tier Sports Report
HORSEHEADS — The offense made mistakes at time, but all night long the Horsheads defense came up big as the Blue Raiders beat Elmira 19-14 on Friday night.
The Blue Raiders are now 5-0 on the year, their best start since 1998.
“Whenever you can come out here and have this dog fight with a rival, it’s electric,” senior Patrick Laney said.
The past two games junior Bryce Thomas was out for the Blue Raiders. He returned Friday and immediately made a big impact in the win.
“It’s nerve-wracking, watching my team,” Thomas said. “It sucks watching from the sidelines, but to be back, it’s awesome.
“Just being able to get back in there, running the ball and knowing they trust me.”
After the Blue Raiders defense stopped Elmira on the first drive, Elmira’s defense forced a turnover. A pass was tipped in the air and picked off by Julian Colon, who raced back 40 yards to set up Elmira at the Horseheads 26 yard-line.
The Blue Raiders defense stood strong and the game stayed scoreless until late in the half.
In the final minutes of the half the Horseheads defense force a punt and got back-to-back runs from Patrick Laney of 17 and 28 yards. The second run had Horseheads at the one and Thomas punched it in at 3:49. Lyncoln Bennett hit the extra point to make it 7-0.
The Horseheads defense made another stop, but Elmira’s defense took things up a notch, scoring as Darien Harris picked off a pass and raced in 28 yards for a touchdown with just 55 seconds left in the half. Zach Conklin hit Julian Colon on the two-point try and Elmira led 8-7.
It took Horseheads one play to retake the lead as Laney raced 62 yards on the first play of the next drive to make it 14-8 after the two-point try failed with 37 seconds left int he half.
“The thing is, anytime you get the ball in his hands you have an opportunity for a big play,” Horseheads coach Kevin Hillman said of Laney. “Luckily we got one before the half, and it was huge. Same thing with Bryce. We saw they were trailing the motion and really keyed on that so we talked about that at halftime and just tried to find a spot to do it and got the ball back and made that play.”
Laney knew he had to step up late in the half.
“We were down, we needed a big time player to make a big time play,” Laney said. “These coaches trust me enough to put the ball In my hands in big-time situations, so I feel like I have an obligation to go out there and make a big-time play. I can’t do it without my O-line and my blockers. The O line going out there and opening up holes for me. Without them none of this happens.”
Elmira nearly scored to end the half. Dash Harris had a 10-yard run on second down and from their own 46 yards line, Conklin ran the ball and just as he was going down pitched back to Colon who raced 48 yards to the six-yard line. But, Horseheads made a stop to end the half.
The Elmira defense made a big play to start the second half as Colon picked off a pass and raced 50 yards back to the Horseheads 14-yard-line.
“We have to do a better job of protecting the football,” Hillman said. “We are putting our defense in bad positions a lot. So, we have to do a better job of that. But, hats off to our defense, and when we had to make plays our guys made plays. That’s the one thing I tell these guys, I’m really proud of. Things go bad, we make mistakes, they just put it behind them and keep working. But, we’ve got to do a better job or these games are not going to turn out the way they have been.
“The defense has been outstanding. A lot of their (Elmira’s) scores we were giving them good field position. But, they did a great job defensively too. Just a great defensive game on both sides. When it was time to make plays we got it to our player makers like Patrick and Bryce and they made big plays.”
After the interception the Express went to work on offense and Dash Harris ran for 11 yards on back-to-back plays and then Conklin ran in from three yards out with 7:40 left in the third quarter to put Elira up 14-13.
After Elmira’s defense made a stop, the Express drove to the Horseheads 16, before Horseheads recovered a fumble to take the ball back.
Elmira’s defense forced another three-and-out and so did Horseheads, before an Elmira punt hit and laid on the ground and was recovered by Elmira.
The Horseheads defense made a fourth-down stop and then Thomas broke off a 74-yard run with 9:42 left in the game to cap the scoring in the game.
“I knew I had to put it in there,” Thomas said. “I almost got caught down there (inside the 10), but I knew I had to get in. In those situations players have to make plays.
“I stay fired up, we have Laney going crazy all game and I’m there to back him up and when it’s late in the game I’m there.”
When the game is on the line Thomas is at his best.
“That’s what’s great about him,” Hillman said. “When it comes third and fourth quarters, that’s his time. We can lean on hi a little bit. Getting the first down at the end of the game, and dragging some guys. And, on the touchdown he had contact at the five or six yard line and just dragged some guys.”
Elmira got the ball back and Colon raced to a 32-yard gain to move the ball into Horseheads territory. Elmira took a shot at the end zone and Laney was there to pick off the pass.
“I saw the ball and I was thinking, I can’t give them another chance, I can’t knock it down, I have to get that,” Laney said.
All game the Horseheads defense came up big.
“The D line awas making plays, the linebackers were always getting there, the secondary was helping out when we can. It was a whole team effort. We have no quit, we have the best defense in the section and we really proved it tonight.”
Horseheads got the bal back and faced a fourth and one at their own 11. They ran the play and drew Elmira offsides to gain the first down. However, a fumble on the next play gave the ball back to Elmira.
“I thought they shut us down offensively and took some things away we wanted to do, so my hats off to them,” Hillman said.
Elmira started at the Horseheads 11 and got to the 10 on fourth down, but Conklin was stopped on a fourth-down run to end the drive.
Horseheads got the ball back and gave Thomas three straight carries, the last one for 10 yards on third and three to pick up the first down.
For Horseheads it’s special to be able to gain big yards and a late first down when everyone in the stadium knows who is getting the ball.
“When they know and we know where the ball is going and he (Thomas) can get those tough yards, that’s nice to have in your pocket,” Hillman said.
Thomas ran for 143 yards on 23 carries, while Laney gained 122 yards on nine carries.
“It’s awesome,” Laney said of Thomas being back. “I have been saying that all week, with Bryce back it’s going to take some of the pressure off me. Whenever they start keying on me, he goes in and breaks things open and whenever they key on him I break stuff open.”
Colon led Elmira with 98 yards on the ground along with the two interceptions. Dash Harris ran 14 times for 57 yards.
Horseheads is at U-E next week, while Elmira hosts Vestal.
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES
PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME:
