N.Y. STATE FOOTBALL: TIGERS HEADED BACK TO THE DOME! TIOGA HOLDS OFF NEWFANE, 20-16, IN CLASS D SEMIS (24 PHOTOS) (November 30, 2025)
By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports ReportCICERO, N.Y. — Ball-control offense and a pair of big defensive stops were key as Tioga punched its ticket to a fifth Class D title game appearance since 2015 with a 20-16 win over previously-unbeaten Newfane in the state semifinals here Sunday afternoon Cicero-North Syracuse High School.
Tioga will now face Section I champ Tuckahoe (10-1) Friday at 3 p.m. at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse.
Heading into the season, few pundits gave this team much of a chance to reach the Dome, but Aiello knew what it could do.
"I knew what these guys were capable of," he said. "I knew we were small in the skill positions, but I thought we could have a really good line.
"I knew if the guys put in the work, we could get back to the Dome," added Aiello.
The Tigers (12-1) opened with a 9-7 loss to Class C Windsor, and haven't lost since.
"You know, losing that Windsor game, I don't know if we improve as much as we did in those two weeks after that game, if we had come away with a victory," said Aiello. "Losing that game really set a tone for us.
"And then winning a couple big games early on, the confidence started growing, and the big part about that is you can prove the hard work is paying off," noted Aiello. "And, that's what these kids have done. People see us on game day, but they don't realize how hard we push these guys in practice.
"I think I was just swearing at Jack Bombard this week about his foot work," laughed Aiello. "We are very demanding as coaches, but these kids respond very well and they prepare very well and they're going to the Dome next week because of it."
Newfane entered the contest at 12-0, averaging 43.8 points per game. How do you beat a high-powered offense? Answer: Keep the ball away from them.
"I didn't really stress that (ball-control) this week because I wanted these guys believing that they could play good defense, which they did," said Aiello. "But I felt in the back of my mind, the less snaps (Capen) got, the better off we would be; and that proved true today.
"Our best defense was definitely our offense on the field today," added Aiello.
Tioga ran 52 offensive plays compared to Newfane's 38, but 51 of the 52 plays were run plays. The Tigers had a time-of-possession edge of 30:09 to 17:51.
Tioga amassed 326 yards in total offense, including 278 yards on the ground, while Newfane had 252 yards, including 198 on the ground.
"(Newfane) scored 75 points last week, so it was a long week (of preparation)," said Aiello. "It was a long week, and with two extra days of waiting for the game, it was even longer.
"I thought we were ready to go on Tuesday with our defense," noted Aiello. "I thought our kids really liked the game plan and they really understood what they had to do. And with the film we watched, I think they knew they could do it.
"They believed they could do it, and they played some really, really stout defense today, even though we gave up some big plays here and there, in the end it was enough," added Aiello.
Senior Logan Bellis, who had 238 yards and three TDs in the quarterfinals, led the Tigers with 211 yards and two TDs on 31 carries, while junior Max Stauder had 24 yards and one TD on eight carries, senior Jayden Duncanson added 18 yards on four carries, and junior QB Jackson Bombard chipped in with 17 yards on two carries.
"We thought we could run the ball and chew up some clock," said Aiello.
"We noticed on film that they didn't have a lot of linemen numbers on their defense, so we knew that they were quick, but we thought maybe our line could wear them down," he noted. "And, I felt like we did that.
"We moved the ball pretty well and had a pretty good mix going on until we didn't need the mix," added Aiello.
Tioga opened the game with the ball, and marched 80 yards on nine plays to take the early lead.
Bellis accounted for 72 yards on five carries in the drive, including a 46-yard bolt up the middle for a score with 6:35 remaining in the first quarter to give the Tiger a 6-0 lead.
On the third play after the ensuing kickoff, Newfane's standout QB Mac Capen scrambled around right end, cut back across the field and scored on an apparent 59-yard run, but a block-in-the-back call at the Tioga 13 brought the ball back to the 23.
Seven plays later, Capen was stopped short on fourth-and-1 by Duncanson, Stauder and senior Kadin Cole to give the Tigers the ball on downs at its own 3.
Tioga, thanks to an 18-yard run by Bellis, quickly moved the ball to its 40, but coughed up the ball to give Newfane good field position at the Tiger 41.
After a run of 9 yards by Chance Burrowes, and an 11-yard run by Capen moved the ball to the Tioga 20, Capen mishandled a shotgun snap and Tioga junior Gavin Kithcart pounced on the loose ball at the Tioga 23.
On Tioga's first play, Bombard was flushed out of the pocket, scrambled right and hit Cole on a 48-yard completion to the Newfane 39.
Runs of 8 yards by Bellis, 5 yards by senior Gage Hopkins, 4 yards by Stauder, and 13 yards by Bombard moved the ball to the Panther 9. Three plays later, Bellis scored on a 5-yard run with 3:45 left in the half.
Bellis tacked on the two-point conversion to make it 14-0, which is where it stood at the halftime break.
Newfane answered the bell to start the second half, with Capen ripping off a 42-yard TD run on the fifth play of the opening possession.
Isaiah Gertsung added the conversion run to close the gap to 14-8 with 9:00 minutes left in the third quarter.
Tioga was forced to punt for the first time on its next possession, and Newfane took the ball at its 22.
Newfane picked up a pair of first downs, then faced a fourth-and-5 at midfield. The Panthers gambled, but sophomore Brendan Clark and Bellis hit the intended receiver on Capen's throw to force an incompletion, and Tioga took over on downs with 1:11 remaining in the third quarter.
Tioga went back to work, and drove 50 yards on 10 plays in 5 minutes and 53 seconds to extend its lead to 20-6 with 7:18 remaining in the contest.
Bellis did the brunt of the work on the scoring drive, carrying the ball eight times for 42 yards, but Stauder finished it off with a bruising 3-yard TD run.
Capen was just 4 of 10 for 58 yards throwing the ball in the game, but he had back-to-back completions of 32 yards and 16 yards on Newfane's ensuing possession to move the ball to the Tioga 17.
Burrowes finished off the drive with runs of 10 and 7 yards, then Gertsung tacked on the conversion to close the gap to 20-16 with 5:19 left in the game.
Capen then hit a spinning onside kick, and the Panthers came up with loose ball at its 49.
On Newfane's first play, Tioga junior Shane Platukis dropped Capen for no gain, and on the next play, Stauder stopped him after a 1-yard gain to force a third-and-9 at midfield.
After an incompletion, senior Dominic Palmer provided heavy pressure off the edge, and Capen's fourth-down pass was off-the-mark to give Tioga the ball with 3:42 remaining in the game.
Aiello said his team showed "some grit" after Newfane came up with the onside kick.
"It's a big game, and I've been in those situations," he said. "The worst thing you can do is panic.
"(On fourth down), we got lucky ... it was a great play-calling on their part, but we sent the blitz off the edge to get into the quarterback's face, and I think it was enough to have him sail the ball a little long.
"I think it all came together. Sometimes you have to be lucky, too, and I think we were on that particular play," added Aiello.
Tioga took over and Bellis knocked out runs of 6 and 5 yards, then ripped off a 20-yard run to the Newfane 20 on second-and-10.
After runs of 6 and 3 yards by Bellis moved the ball to the Newfane 11, the Panthers took their final time out.
On third-and-one, a "hard count" by Bombard drew the Panthers offside for a first down, and Tioga was able to run out the clock in victory formation.
Bombard completed his only pass of the game for 48 yards. In two state playoff games, Bombard is 4-for-4 for 108 yards and one TD.
Capen finished the game with 135 yards and one TD on 17 carries, with 88 yards coming on two carries. Burrowes added 31 yards and one TD on four carries.
Aiello, who is now 5-7 in the state semifinals, but 4-0 in his last four appearances, said this is a big win for the program and the Tioga community.
"I just want to thank my coaches," he said. "With the JV program folding, I got four young guys with me, two of them are coaching a winner sport on top of it right now.
"Along with coach (Adam) MaCauley and coach (Jordan) Hathaway, the time we put in to prepare, so we can prepare our kids — it's a lot.
"Hats off to them and the young guys who are with me right now," noted Aiello. "They are former players, and they're all bought in and they're helping out as much as possible. We had another coach, another young coach coming and helping us on our scout team this week.
"So, you know, it is a program," said Aiello. "It's a program, and a lot of people take pride in it. And our community takes pride in it.
"The community support our youth program, they support the whole football program and I get to benefit from that," added Aiello.
"And we get to benefit from that and these kids do. So I'm just really, really glad that these kids get to experience the Dome and I'm glad that our community is behind us like they are."
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IN PHOTO 1: Tioga's Logan Bellis (20) celebrates his first TD with Josh Rought. IN TOP PHOTO: Tioga's Logan Bellis runs off a block by James Howey (64). ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
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