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Gouverneur Races Past OFA In First Half
By DAVE SHEA
Utilizing its eye-catching speed on offense, defensive and special teams, Gouverneur struck for three topuchdowns of 50 yards or longer in the second quarter to key a 42-14 victory over host OFA in a duel of 3-0 NAC Football teams on Friday night before a large crowd at Ron Johnson Field.
"This was our midterm exam and we failed but this doen's have to be our final grade. There is a big gap between us and them right now. They are a very good team with a lot of quickness on offense and very good linebackers on defense," said OFA Coach Matt Tessmer.
"We aren't going to beat each other up over this. We just have to get a lot of better before playing them again in the playoffs. That starts Monday in practice."
Cayden Stowell (9-119) turned the corner and ran for touchdowns of 34 and 17 yards in the the first quarter and the two teams combined for 36 points in the second quarter. A stalled OFA OFA offense came to life in the second quarter when Harry Powers followed strong blocking to the endzone on three-yard run and MeSean Johnson a caught a two-point conversion pass from Jackson Jones.
Gouverneur answered with Mitchell Tyler taking a pitch for a 51-yard touchdown run but OFA closed the lead to 18-14 when Jackson Jones (10-17-1 110) found MeSean Johnson alone in the secondary and the running back, who rushed for 114 yards on 9 carries and caught 5 passes for 83, sprinted to the endzone to complete a 54-yard scoring play.
With a defensive stop the Devils had the opportunity to score on the final possession of the first half and first series of the second half. But the Wildcats' detonated their plays and took control at 36-14.
Stowell raced 87 yards to the endzone on the ensuing kickoff and Kyle Savage took an interception 54 yards to the endzone two plays later. The touchdowns were converted on runs by quarterback Caleb Farr (12-79) and Savage.
Farr's ball handling and quick bursts into the middle were a key component of the Wildcats' rushing game.
"We played very well tonight. We are very young in the offensive line but they blocked very well," said Gouverneur Coach Sean Devlin.
"But this was only one game in our season and we know that OFA wasn't fully loaded with with the Lovely boy out. We know it will be tough game when we play again in the playoffs. The second half was basically a stalemate tonight."
Tristan Lovely, OFA's top scorer in the first three games and a starting linebacker, missed the game with a broken thumb.
Whille the offenses dictated the first half, the opposing defenses took second stage after intermission. The Wildcats produced lone touchdown of the second half which came one yard run by three-yard run by Joe Cummings late in the fourth quarter and Jared Wilson added the two-point conversion.
Jacob Shippee had nine tackles for Gouverneur and a fumble recovery and Brock Cox and Joe Cummings came through with fourth down stops.
Austin Jones knifed into the backfield for a fourth down stop for OFA and another fourth down stop came with a blitzing Tristan Richardson breaking up a roll-out pass play.
"I was very happy with the way our defense played in the second half," said Coach Tessmer.
In other games of the night Potsdam matched Gouverneur's 4-0 start with a 42-0 victory over Malone, St. Lawrence Central outscored Canton 34-28 and Watertown outscored Massena 36-21. Gouverneur will host Potsdam on Saturday while OFA visits Malone.
AROUND NAC
Quarterback Deante Hall rushed for 288 yards and three touchdowns to lead Watertown which received 12 tackles from Kalub Conway.
Torran Robinson rushed for 138 yards to lead SLC while Zach VanBrocklin rushed for 75 yards for Canton and Adam Calton completed six of eight passes for 80 yards.
Bobby Voss and Will Varney combined for 106 and 75 rushing yards for Potsdam and Zach Kirka passed for 79 yards.
Gouverneur 42, OFA 14
Gouverneur 12 22 0 8 — 42
OFA 0 14 0 0 — 14
First Quarter
GOU—Stowell 34 run (run failed)
GOU—Stowell 17 run (run failed)
Second Quarter
OFA—Powers 3 run (Johnson pass from Jones)
GOU—Tyler 51 run (run failed)
OFA—Johnson 54 pass from Jones (pass failed0
GOU—Stowell 87 kick return (Farr run)
GOU—Savage 54 interception return (Savage run)
Fourth Quarter
GOU—Cummings 3 run (Wilson run)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Gou, Farr 12-79, Tyler 9-37, Stowell 9-119, Shippee 3-4, Savage 3-12, Cummings 1-3. OFA, Johnson 9-114, Morley 14-59, Reed 6-25, Powers 2-12, Jones 2-(-6), Richardson 2-2, Costello 1-0.
Passing: Gou, Farr 1-3-0-5. OFA, Jones 10-17-1-110, Reed 3-6-0-29.
Receiving: Gou, Stowell 1-5. OFA, Morley 1-2, Powers 2-10, Johnson 5-83, Jones 3-29, Reed 1-5, Bullock 1-10.
Records: Gouverneur (4-0); OFA (3-1).
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