SECTION IV FOOTBALL: TIOGA DEFENSE KEYS STRONG SECOND HALF IN 35-14 WIN OVER SVEC IN CLASS D SEMIFINALS (24 PHOTOS) (2024-11-09)
TIGERS SEEK 7TH STRAIGHT CLASS D TITLE AGAINST DELHI FRIDAY
By TIM BIRNEY
Valley Sports Report
CONKLIN — Tioga's defense dominated in the second half, leading the Tigers to a 35-14 win over SVEC here Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Section IV, Class D football playoffs.
The three-time defending Class D state champ Tioga will play for its seventh consecutive Section IV title against Delhi Friday night at Johnson City. Delhi topped Tioga, 41-34, in Week 4.
"After that Delhi loss, this has been our goal — to get back to the Class D championship game," said Tioga coach Nick Aiello, who has 11 Section IV titles and four state titles to his credit.
"We figured we'd get another shot at Delhi in the Sectional playoffs, and this is right where we want to be.
"That's really what's been driving these guys since that loss," added Aiello. "Delhi's gotten better, and we've gotten better, so it should be fun."
The Section IV championship game is even more important now as Section IV no longer has a wild card in the state tournament.
"We found out two weeks ago that Section IX will have a representative in the Class D playoffs, so there is no wild card for Section IV this year," said Aiello.
"That's OK though, I'd rather win it on the field," he added.
The Tigers have been riddled with injuries this season. They lost seniors Shea Bailey and Brennan Sindoni to season-ending injuries midway through the season, and had three two-way starters return to the line-up Saturday after missing multiple games.
"To have these kids in position to play for a Sectional championship, I'm really proud of them," said Aiello.
"They could have folded it up, there were a lot of doubters after starting 3-3, but they still showed up to practice, got better, got the big we needed, and now here we are with a chance to play for a Sectional championship," he added.
The Eagles, who did not complete a pass in the contest, rushed for 135 yards in the first half, and went to the intermission tied at 14-14. In the second half, the Tigers allowed just 17 yards on the ground.
Aiello said the difference was a halftime adjustment.
"It wasn't really a rah-rah halftime, it was more of a halftime chalk-talk.
"This team is different than any other team I've ever had because they actually pay attention to adjustments," said Aiello. "The guys handled the adjustments well, and really played well in the second half.
"We didn't play as well as we can in the first half, but at least they answered the call in the second half," he added. "I was really disappointed with our tackling in the first half, but it picked up in the second half."
Tioga opened the game with the ball, and thanks to a 53-yard kick return by junior Connor Streeter started at the SVEC 27.
After seven straight running plays — six by senior Jake Browne, Tioga faced a fourth-and-3 at the Eagle 9. An offsides call moved the ball inside the 5 for a first down, and Browne finished off the drive with a 4-yard TD run with 7:51 remaining in the first quarter. Junior James Miller's PAT kick made it 7-0.
SVEC answered with a similar drive, which started at the Tioga 30 after Jakobe Foster returned the kick 40 yards.
The Eagles needed five runs plays — all by Logan Aman, who capped the drive with a 4-yard TD run with 6:08 remaining in the first quarter to close the gap to 7-6. The Tigers stuffed the run for conversion to maintain their lead.
Two plays after the ensuing kickoff, Tioga coughed up the ball and Ryan Huizinga pounced on it at the Tiger 40.
Four plays later, Aman broke loose around left end on a 23-yard TD run with 3:35 remaining in the opening stanza. Aman added the run for conversion to give SVEC a 14-7 lead.
On Tioga's ensuing possession, Browne ripped off an 11-yard run to the SVEC 42 on the first play, but the Tigers faced a fourth-and-11 moments later.
Junior QB Jayden Duncanson, who has not played since injuring his ankle against Waverly four weeks ago, subbed in for senior Lukas Nichols and promptly connected with junior Gavin Albrecht on a 17-yard completion to the Eagle 26.
Streeter followed with an apparent 26-yard TD run, but a block-in-the-back call brought the ball back to the SVEC 23.
Duncanson then hit junior Dominic Palmer on a 23-yard TD strike down the middle of the field with 31.4 seconds left in the first quarter. Miller's PAT tied the game at 14-14..
Jakobe Foster appeared to give the Eagles the momentum back with an electrifying 75-yard return of the ensuing kickoff for a score, but a block-in-the-back call brought the ball back to the SVEC 46.
The Eagles picked up a pair of first downs, the first on a 3-yard QB sneak by Chris Merrick on fourth-and-1, and the second on a 15-yard run by Aman to the Tioga 27.
However, a fumble on second down resulted in a 9-yard loss, and a third-down pass was picked off by Tioga junior Kadin Cole, but the Tigers fumbled the ball back to SVEC three plays later at the Eagle 41.
The Eagles picked up a pair of first downs, but a fumble on fourth-and-10 (recovered by Cole) turned the ball back over to the Tigers.
With Duncanson ripping off runs of 24 and 26 yards, sandwiched around a holding penalty, Tioga quickly moved the ball to the SVEC 20.
Runs of nine yards by Palmer, and six by Duncanson set the Tigers up with a first-and-goal at SVEC 5.
Duncanson scored on a 5-yard run, but it was nullified by a holding call. After Palmer broke off a 10-yard run back to the 5, Duncanson scored again, but it was also nullified by a holding call.
The half ended with a 32-yard field-goal attempt by Miller that was just under the cross bar.
Aiello wasn't surprised by the first-half battle.
"SVEC got better as the year progressed, and they played really hard against us the first time we played.
"I told our guys (SVEC) would come in ready to play," said Aiello. "They had nothing to lose, and they had (Logan) Aman back for this game.
"I wasn't surprised with the way SVEC played, and the miscues on our part did not help," he added.
After a SVEC three-and-out to start the second half, Nichols came back on the field with the Tioga offense and directed a 15-play, 74-yard scoring drive.
The big play was a 14-yard QB keeper by Duncanson on fourth-and-4, but that was his only play on the drive.
Palmer added a 13-yard run on the 7-plus minute drive, which was capped by a 5-yard TD run by Browne with 2:43 remaining in the third quarter. Miller's point-after made it 21-14.
Aiello said the decision to stick with Nichols, who won all three of his starts in Duncanson's absence, this week was "two-fold."
"Lukas (Nichols) has been playing really, really well for us, and Jayden (Duncanson) didn't practice until mid-week.
"On Thursday, we didn't even know if Jayden was going to play, so we decided to stick with Lukas under center," he said.
"Jayden was moving pretty well, so we decided to get him into the mix today," added Aiello. "Both of them played very well."
SVEC fumbled the ball away on its first play of the ensuing possession, but Tioga gave it back three plays later.
SVEC could not capitalize on the turnover, and punted it back to the Tigers.
Nichols directed a five-play, 39-yard drive, which included runs of 9 and 11 yards by Browne, and finished it off with a 21-yard TD pass to Palmer with 7:02 remaining in the game. Miller's point-after made it 28-14.
"(Dominic) Palmer played a really good game today. It's no surprise, he's been practicing a lot better lately," said Aiello.
"There are times when we have four sophomores, a bunch of juniors, and one or two seniors on the field, so these guys are young.
"They've played 10 games now, but it's been a long process, and a long season," added Aiello. "Palmer is a good example of that, the process is making him better, and it's really starting to show here in the playoffs."
SVEC's next possession ended with a turnover on downs, thanks to big defensive plays by seniors Garrett Godfrey and Tate MaCauley, and a fourth-down QB sack by Palmer.
Tioga took advantage of the short field with a 3-play, 16-yard drive, capped by Browne's third TD of the day — a 7-yard run with 4:19 remaining in the game. Miller's kick provided the final margin.
Tioga's ground game pounded out 296 yards on 52 carries. Browne led the way with 111 yards and three TDs on 29 carries, while Duncanson had 84 yards on five carries, Palmer had 36 yards on four carries, Streeter had 26 yards on four carries, and junior Gage Hopkins added 24 yards on four carries.
Browne sat out a large portion of the first half, but Streeter, Palmer, and sophomore Shane Platukis stepped up in his absence.
"If there's anything that comes from the injuries we've worked our way through, it's getting different personnel on the field, and getting them reps.
"So when you have an injury in Week 10, you're putting those guys in and they've had reps, they're not going in cold, they know what they're doing," said Aiello. "They have confidence because they've been there before, they've been getting reps and it's paying off."
Duncanson completed 2 of 5 passes for 40 yards and one TD, and Nichols was 1-for-2 for 21 yards and one TD.
Palmer led Tioga with two receptions for 44 yards, and two TDs, and Albrecht had one catch for 17 yards.
Aman led SVEC with 103 yards and two TDs on 20 carries, and Charlie Hilbert added 31 yards on 11 carries.
Defensively, Godfrey led Tioga with nine tackles, including three solo stops, while MaCauley, Platukis, Streeter, and senior Jackson Clark each had five tackles.
Cole had six tackles, an interception, and a fumble recovery, and freshman Josh Rought added an interception.
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IN PHOTO 1: Tioga's Jake Browne. IN TOP PHOTO: Tioga's Jayden Duncanson. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
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