The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
VVS takes rivalry game against Oneida
The atmosphere was electric under the lights on Friday as Oneida Football hosted Vernon-Verona-Sherrill for one of the area’s most anticipated rivalry games.
A see-saw affair throughout, VVS needed a late third-quarter drive for the go-ahead score and the win. Junior quarterback Alex Oliver scored three times, once through the air and twice on the ground, to help lead the Red Devils to a 19-14 victory in a hard fought contest.
“It felt great, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. The line...they are just amazing. The best brothers I could ask for,” Oliver said of his performance. “It’s our biggest rival. There’s a huge crowd here. It just makes the atmosphere so much better. And it’s Oneida, so obviously you have to prep hard. It was a hard week of practice, and we came out here and did what we had to do.”
With the win, coach Gary Oliver’s squad sits in second place in the Section III Class B East standings with a 5-1 record.
“It’s tremendous. You can see our fan base and Oneida’s fan base, being a rivalry team it makes it that much more intense. It’s nerve-wracking and very stressful,” the VVS coach said. “Every time we seemed to get a big play, there would be a penalty. We kind of hurt ourselves a lot, but I’m very proud of these guys. They stick with it.”
Both teams got off to a slow start to begin the contest.
Oneida received the opening
kickoff, beginning on its own 37 yard line to open the game. After two short rushes, disaster struck on third down when a fumble gave the Red Devils their first possession of the contest with great field advantage.
The game gives and takes however. Three plays after Oneida fumbled, with the ball on the Oneida 7-yard line, the Red Devil’s third down snap went sailing over quarterback Alex Oliver’s head. Though VVS was able to recover the ball, the visitors lost 23 yards on the play. Backed up to the Oneida 30, the visitors went for it on fourth down but failed to convert as Nate Palmer was brought down at the 9-yard line and VVS turned the ball over on downs.
A false start and holding penalty doomed Oneida’s next drive though, and the hosts were forced to punt.
With six minutes to play in the first quarter, VVS struck first. The Red Devils had the ball on the Oneida 45 when Oliver hit Jake Engler on for a deep touchdown pass on third-andten to give VVS a 7-0 lead.
Oneida was unfazed. The hosts answered right back, marching down the field to the VVS 15-yard line. With 1:50 remaining in the first quarter, running back Lucas Albro showed off his passing ability, hitting teammate Henry Froass for a 15-yard touchdown to quickly even the score at 7-7.
Both teams were hurt by penalties throughout the game and particularly in the second quarter as flags seemingly littered the field, hampering any kind of rhythm Oneida and VVS were able to generate on offense. At the end of two quarters of action, the Class B East foes carried a 7-7 tie into the halftime break.
Coming out of halftime, each team’s first offensive possession ended in a punt before the Red Devil defense threatened early in the third quarter. VVS converted a fourth-and-14 to keep its second drive of the second half alive, taking the ball to the Oneida 14-yard line. VVS had first-and-10, but a false start backed the visitors up five yards. Short gains on the ground set VVS up with fourth-andfour on the Oneida 8. The visitors decided to go for it again on fourth down, but this time, the Oneida defense held strong, forcing a turnover on downs to keep the game knotted at 7-7.
Following an Oneida three-and- out, VVS was able to string a drive together, picking upa keyfirst down on a Palmer reverse to threaten for a score. Oliver rumbled into the end zone form four yards out with 3:27 remaining in the third quarter to take a 13-7 lead, but VVS missed the extra point.
Almost as if on cue, Oneida answered the VVS score with one of its own on the very next possession. Ryan Chevier capped a drive with a touchdown toss to his big wide receiver John Jones who out-muscled a pair of Red Devils before extending for the impressive score. Oneida converted its extra point, and for the first time in the contest, the hosts had the lead, 14-13 over VVS.
Fittingly, the contest was ultimately decided in the final quarter of play. After Oneida scored to take a 1413 lead, VVS took its next possession into the red zone courtesy of a halfback pass from Palmer to TJ Horodnick, who was floating free in the Oneida secondary after a defender slipped. Horodnick was tackled on the 1-yard line, and once again, Oliver’s number was called. The junior pounded the ball into the end zone for his third tally of the game and a 19-14 VVS lead. The visitors went for two to bring their lead to a touchdown with an extra point, but Oliver was stuffed at the line by the Oneida defense.
Oneida’s last chance at victory came after the teams traded punts midway through the fourth quarter. Chevier hit Jones for a nice gain before barrelling forward for an eightyard carry to bring the ball close to midfield. Then, Chevier hit Froass for a 33yard completion, and Oneida’s offense looked like it was rolling with less than three minutes left in the contest. A holding call on Oneida negated the deep play however, and the hosts’ drive fizzled as VVS held on for the 19-14 win.
The Red Devil victory brings the overall series between the two rivals to 3332-4 in Oneida’s favor.
The loss gives Oneida a 2-4 record in league play.
“Our kids fought hard,” Oneida coach Jason Fuller said after the game. “We worked great this week. A great week of practice.”
Oneida will look to rebound next week as it hosts Notre Dame, while VVS will try to carry momentum from Friday’s win over to its contest with New Hartford.