The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Red Devils shut down Thunder
Palmer’s 3 TDs lead VVS to 3rd straight win
VERONA >> The Vernon-Verona-Sherrill football team hosted Central Valley Academy under cloudy skies on Saturday afternoon, although there wasn’t any sign of rain in the air.
The Red Devils kept the Thunder quiet on the ground as well.
Nate Palmer scored three touchdowns for the hosts in a 27-8 victory, the third straight for head coach Gary Oliver’s squad.
“It was huge,” said Palmer. “Especially to have so much momentum going into Oneida, our biggest rival, a huge game, it was just great.”
VVS dominated the line of scrimmage Saturday, keeping CVA from gaining more than eight yards on a rushing play until the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach. The hosts, meanwhile, had seven runs of at least nine yards in the victory.
“Offensively and defensively we did a good job,” said coach Oliver of the line’s play. “Offensively I think we struggled a little bit moving the ball in the first half. We’ve got some big guys up front and made some adjustments and did a lot better the second half.”
Palmer gave the Red Devils a spark to start the game, weaving his way through the Thunder kick coverage and returning the opening kickoff to the CVA 29. Sean Galla’s 22-yard run set up 1st-and-goal but the hosts lost 14 yards on the next two plays. Palmer came through again on third down, taking a screen pass from Alex Oliver 21 yards for the only touchdown of the first half. Jake Engler kicked the PAT, giving VVS a 7-0 lead two minutes into the game.
“Kickoff return, it’s great,” said Palmer. “The offense builds so much momentum off of that. It gives us so
much power over them.”
The rest of the first half was a battle for field position. CVA held the edge in the first quarter and was driving to begin the second, facing 3rd-and-1 at the VVS 14. The Red Devils’ defense held with some help from a botched fourthdown snap, forcing a turnover on downs.
VVS had its best chance to build on the lead late in the second quarter when it switched to a hurry-up offense. Chris Cable had runs of 13 and 9 yards before catching a 13-yard pass into CVA territory. The Red Devils, however, committed a personal foul that derailed the promising drive and the score stayed 7-0 going into halftime.
The Thunder opened the second half with possession and drove inside the Red Devils’ 30 but turned the ball over on a fumble. Cable’s 36-yard run two plays later moved VVS into CVA territory and a 23- yard carry by Alex Oliver got the hosts down to the 1. The sophomore quarterback punched the goal-line run in himself and Engler’s second successful PAT extended the lead to 14- 0 with 7:12 to play in the third quarter.
After exchanging punts, the Thunder found itself facing 4th-and-1 on the VVS 43 late in the period and elected to go for it. Galla timed the snap perfectly, blitzing through the line and hitting Josh Panko deep in the backfield to force the turnover on downs.
Palmer helped his team continue to pull away on the ensuing drive, scoring on a 41-yard catch-and-run on a pass from Alex Oliver, making the score 20-0 with 10:38 to play in the game.
Cable batted a fourthdown pass away on the next Thunder possession before Palmer struck again two plays later, taking a pass from Austin Grow 47 yards for his third touchdown of the game. Engler’s kick was good, giving the hosts a 27-0 lead with 8:08 to play.
Palmer finished the game with seven catches for a 148 yards and three touchdowns.
“That’s very nice having a weapon like that because really, any time he touches the ball, he has that opportunity to make a big play,” said coach Oliver.
CVA scored on its final possession, marching 75 yards in 14 plays behind the running of Rene Sumanasuriya and scoring on a 3-yard run from Richie Brewer. Gunar Holmberg capped the scoring with a two-point conversion run on the final snap of the game.
The Red Devils improved to 3-2 with the win, moving into a four-way tie for third in the Class B East standings with CVA, Utica Notre Dame and rival Oneida. VVS will host Oneida on Saturday at 2 p.m., with the winner of the game to gain ground in the hunt for a playoff spot.
“We’re going to try to ride the momentum that we’ve got,” said coach Oliver. “There’s a lot of hype around the school and in the community and we’ve just got to stay focused and play our football.”