Section 4 Week 0 Football: Horseheads' line, Waverly's Tomasso shine
Horseheads coach Kevin Hillman said offensive improvement would be a key for his team this season. He certainly liked what he saw Friday night in a 56-34 Week 0 road victory over Columbia High School of East Greenbush in the Albany area.
Spearheading the outburst against the Section 2 opponent was an offensive line Hillman praised for doing "an awesome job" in paving the way for a running attack that put up well over 400 yards.
"Those guys were animals. We don't do anything without them and they kicked some butt today," Hillman said.
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Among the beneficiaries was Lucas Mosher, who led the Blue Raiders with 149 rushing yards.
He had plenty of company as Horseheads got numerous players carries.
Josh McCawley added 95 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Bradock Salisbury rushed for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
Finn Scanlon ran for 72 yards.
Bryce Thomas was good for 55 yards and a touchdown.
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Also for the Raiders, Miles Woodhouse caught a 30-yard touchdown from Dominic Cardinale and Dylan Chalk recovered a punt blocked by Griff Stevens for a TD.
"I thought the kids did a good job when we did face adversity," Hillman said. "We gave up scores and the kids immediately responded by answering back, which I thought showed a lot on their part, whereas in years past sometimes we ended up getting in a dogfight. But these kids kept battling back. Real proud of them."
Up next: Horseheads will host Fayetteville-Manlius of Section 3 at 7 p.m. Sept. 8.
Teams had the option of playing a Week 0 game that counts in the regular-season standings or going with the more traditional scrimmage. Horseheads elected for the second year in a row to play a standard contest.
"It’s huge just to get a full game experience going into that next week," Hillman said. "F-M is a great team and usually a state-ranked team. For us having that full-game experience, especially with a lot of young guys who didn’t play varsity last year, I think that helps us going into that game."
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Tomasso accounts for 5 TDs in Waverly win
Senior quarterback Joey Tomasso, a first-team Class C all-state pick last season for defending Section 4 champion Waverly, ran for three touchdowns and passed for two Saturday night in a 41-19 home victory over Honeoye Falls-Lima of Section 5.
Tomasso scored on runs of 7 and 5 yards in the first half, then scooted 75 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. He finished with eight carries for 105 yards.
Passing scores from Tomasso covered 12 yards to Xavier Watson and 47 yards to Jake VanHouten in the fourth quarter.
Tomasso completed 15 of 25 passes for 214 yards, with no interceptions.
Watson added an 85-yard kickoff return and had four catches for 52 yards. VanHouten caught four balls for 82 yards and Jay Pipher had six catches for 74 yards.
Up next: Waverly hosts two-time defending Class D state champion Tioga at 7 p.m. Sept. 8. Tioga rolled to a 42-6 win over Burke Catholic earlier in the day at Waverly Memorial Stadium.
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SVE/Candor takes Shovel Game
Spencer-Van Etten quarterback Jacek Teribury ran for his second touchdown from 1-yard out with 1:58 remaining to break a 6-6 tie and the Eagles held on for a 12-6 victory over Watkins Glen/Odessa-Montour in the Shovel Game at Watkins Glen on Saturday night. Teribury's 53-yard run set up the TD.
Teribury's 1-yard TD sneak in the third quarter gave SVEC a 6-0 advantage. He added an interception on defense.
Gavin Lohmeyer's 41-yard touchdown pass to Brady Cannon with 10 seconds left in the third quarter got the Schuyler Storm even at 6-6. The PAT was no good.
Bradley Gillis led the Storm with 116 yards on 14 carries. Thomas Snow ran 15 times for 69 yards and Ryan Willett had 50 yards on 14 rushes and 23 yards on two catches.
Norwich's Holden Ryan runs for 179 yards
Holden Ryan carried 19 times for 179 yards and scored on runs of 13 and 22 yards for Norwich in Saturday's 46-30 loss to defending Section 5 Class B champion Batavia. He added eight tackles on defense, matching Kaden Downey for team high.
Steven Dowdall completed 12 of 26 passes for 174 yards and two TDs for Norwich, one to Mitchell Collins and the other to Collin Olds. Collins had four catches for 64 yards.
Bronx Buchholz completed 11 of 15 passes for 322 yards and four TDs for Batavia. He ran for 98 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.
Other Scores
Warwick 27, Binghamton 16
Dryden 20, Cortland 14
Tioga 42, Burke Catholic 6
Delhi 44, Cambridge/Salem 33
Westmoreland/Oriskany 46, Harpursville/Afton 7
Palmyra-Macedon 25, Lansing 14
Whitney Point 42, Midlakes 8
8-Man
Sauquoit Valley 36, Unadilla Valley 8
Moravia 45, Rondout Valley 0
To report game information, email bgmsports@gannett.com. Recap based primarily on reported results.
Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Recap of Week 0 high school football in Section 4
