By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports Report
NORWICH — An efficient offense and a bent-don't-break defense staked Waverly to a big halftime lead, and a dominant second-half performance finished off the Wolverines' 49-14 win over Norwich here Thursday night in Section IV, Division IV football action.
"Four possession, four scores," said Waverly coach Jason Miller "That's efficient, and that's what we want.
"The defense bent a little bit and we were just so concerned with their quarterback getting outside, we played our ends wider, and it allowed them to kind of run inside zone pretty easily," added Miller.
The Wolverines led 21-0 on sophomore Cooper Chrystie's first three TD runs, but the Purple Tornadoes got on the board with 1:36 remaining in the half to close the gap to 21-6, and appeared to have some momentum.
Waverly answered quickly, however, with a 55-yard, 63-second scoring drive, capped by Cooper Chrystie's fourth TD run with 27 seconds left until halftime.
Miller agreed that was a big score to take back the momentum heading into the halftime locker room.
"We got good field position on the return, so that started it, and gave us about a 50-yard field.
"We had a couple completions ... Matthias Welles had a nice catch, and Cooper (Chrystie) made a really nice run; that's our mode, we play fast on offense," said Miller.
"It was good execution with 1:30 left, and it was good to see," Miller added.
The Wolverines opened the game with the ball, and drove 69 yards on nine plays to take the lead.
Cooper Chrystie had three carries for 29 yards, including a 6-yard TD run, and also completed a pass to his brother Carter for 17 yards.
Junior Jesse Lantz's PAT kick with 7:51 left in the first quarter made it 7-0.
Norwich answered with a pair of first downs, and moved the ball to the Waverly 33 before turning it over on downs.
The Wolverines needed nine plays to take the ball 67 yards and extend their lead.
Cooper Chrystie completed two passes to Carter Chrystie for 22 yards, and ran the ball four times for 40 yards, including a 3-yard TD run with 2:25 left in the first quarter. Lantz's kick made it 14-0.
The Purple Tornadoes picked up three first downs in a 12-play possession that bridged the first two quarters, but it ended with a Ben Shaw interception at the Waverly 15, which he returned to the 46.
A penalty on Shaw's return moved the ball back to the Waverly 31, but a 50-yard run by Cooper Chrystie quickly moved the ball deep into Norwich territory.
Cooper Chrystie capped the drive moments later with a 20-yard TD run with 5:38 remaining in the half to make it 21-0.
Norwich answered with a 10-play, 54-yard drive, capped by Bo Brown's 18-yard TD run with 1:36 remaining in the half to close the gap to 21-6.
Junior Sam Cheresnowsky field the ensuing kickoff and returns it 19 yards to the Waverly 45.
The Wolverines needed just six plays, including a 21-yard Cooper Chrystie and a 10-yard pass to senior Matthias Welles, before Chrystie scored on an 8-yard run with 27 seconds remaining to make it 28-6.
Waverly's first-team defense forced three straight three-and-out punts to start the second half, and the offense scored twice — the second coming on the first play of the fourth quarter — to extend the lead to 42-6.
"I thought we played better in the second half," said Miller. "I thought we had a lot of energy late in the game.
"We made a little adjustment offensively at halftime," he said. "Not really an adjustment, we emphasized what we should be doing on a certain play, and they came out and executed pretty well in second half.
"It's good to go into locker room, identify something that's wrong, and what we're not executing well, go over it at halftime, and execute it in the second half," added Miller. "That's always a good sign."
After Norwich's first punt, Waverly drove to the Purple Tornado 5, but the drive stalled their on downs.
After the second three-and-out, Carter Chrystie returned the punt 54 yards to the Norwich 1, but a Wolverine penalty moved the ball back to the Purple Tornado 28.
Four plays later, senior Rylen Larson scored on a 4-yard TD run with 4:19 left in the third quarter to make it 35-6.
After Norwich's third punt, Waverly took over at its 38. Senior Bryce LaForest pounded out 39 yards on five carries to start the drive, and senior Rhylee Stotler finished it off with 23 yards on three carries, including a 2-yard TD run to cap the eight-play drive with 11:55 remaining in the contest.
Lantz made it 6-for-6 on extra points, although the point was never added to the scoreboard. (NOTE: An official did confirm to the Waverly coaches the extra-point was good.)
After Norwich scored to close the gap to 42-14, freshman QB Brody Lambert, who was 2-for-2 for 20 yards on the possession, capped Waverly's final scoring drive with a 13-yard TD run with 2:01 remaining in the game.
Miller was pleased by the performance of his reserves.
"We got a lot of guys into a game for the first time," he said. "We had all these close games, so it feels good to get a lot of the teammates in.
"I am really, really happy with the way they executed, especially that first drive because their varsity team was still in," noted Miller. "They did make some subs there in the fourth quarter, but we still went down and scored.
"It's special when you can get everybody in a game and you can get a win," added Miller.
Cooper Chrystie, who had just one carry for 6 yards in the second half, led Waverly's ground game with 180 yards and four TDs on just 13 carries, while LaForest had 98 yards on 16 carries, Stotler had 23 yards and one TD on three carries, and Larson added 19 yards and one TD on five carries.
In all, the Wolverines rushed for 341 yards on 39 carries, and threw the ball 118 more yards.
Cooper Chrystie completed 11 of 17 passes for 98 yards, and Lambert, who had one carry for 12 yards and one TD on the ground, was 2-for-2 for 20 yards.
Carter Chrystie led Waverly's receivers with eight catches for 81 yards.
Norwich had 222 yards in total offense, including 140 rushing yards on 30 carries.
Waverly, now 3-2 overall and 1-0 in divisional play, returns to action next Friday at Johnson City.
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IN PHOTO 1: Waverly's Cooper Chrystie. IN TOP PHOTO: Waverly's Bryce LaForest. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
