Latest / Cover IV Podcast / Week 8 - "Games of the Week" with Roger Neel

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Week 8 - "Games of the Week" with Roger Neel · Cover IV Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Cover Four.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a Section Four football fan, this is your podcast.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Coach Smith and I'll be your host.
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• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to week eight, the final week of the Section 4 football regular season.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Today, Roger Neal and I will be analyzing four games of the week.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Two are Friday night and two are Saturday, one in the afternoon and one in the evening.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Five of the teams are New York State ranked and one is honorable mention.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, check with your school for any last-minute schedule updates.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Our first game is a Friday evening non-divisional game between Class B, two and six Owego Indians, led by Coach Verkler.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: They will be traveling to Blue Devils Stadium to take on the number one ranked Class C Shenango Forks Blue Devils, led by Coach Hogan.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: The Blue Devils are coming off a tough win against Newark Valley, where they only won by a five-point margin.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: If Oego can get their running game going, they will make it an interesting contest.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think, Roger?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think you're right, but again, you're going to the Forks, and it's never easy there, no matter what your record may be going in.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And OFA's been in a lot of games, just coming up short.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: They're relying primarily on Stephen Bidwell, key running back for them.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: In the loss to Norwich last week, he gained 119 yards and scored a touchdown.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: So he obviously is what helps to make that offense go.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: But the question is, how much can it go against that tough Forks defense, especially at Blue Devil Stadium?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: The Forks coming in, as you mentioned, 5-0 in division four play, but they only give up 12 and a half points per game.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: So any team they play is going to have a tough goal.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: And in particular, the Wigo Free Academy better really have that running game going if they're hoping to stay tight with the Forks.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Neither team puts up a ton of points, but again, the Forks at home will be an always tough foam.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if you if you do what you want to do on offense, when Forks gets the ball, they tend to methodically uh drive it down the field.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So your defense has to be ready as well.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think with the small numbers across section four, a lot of those student athletes of the week were probably playing both ways.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's going to be a uh a tough contest for them.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: But nonetheless, they they get to go out and do the best part of football.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's play the game.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Our second game is also a Friday night non-divisional, non-divisional contest.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Ranked number five in Class C, the 7-1 Waverly Wolverines make the long trip north to take on the honorable mention Class B six and two Norwich Purple Tornado, led by Coach Christie.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Norwich is a solid program, and they're always playing tough when they're at home.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe this will be a closer game than most people think.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: What say you, Roger?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, a lot of people talk about offense puts people in the stands, defense wins games.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Waverley's defense, outstanding, but they can put the ball in the air, and they are a very good offensive team, too.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: They're only giving up 13 and a half points a game going into this one.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Norwich, a very tough team in Class B.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: They were able to pull one out against a Wigo last weekend.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Spencer Root, the difference with a 33-yard field goal in that game.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: This has the makings of a very good game, even though you're having uh a B team against a C team.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Waverly at the C level is tremendous.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that should be a good, good battle.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Our third game is a non-divisional game between two longtime rivals.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: This game is scheduled for Saturday evening, and it pits Class AA two-and-6 Binghamton Patriots, led by Coach Stenho.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to venture into Ty Cobb Stadium to take on the Class C six and one, ranked number 11th UE Tigers, led by Coach Bellino.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Binghamton is coming off a lopsided victory over Ithaca.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Although these two teams are in different classifications, this should be a real backyard brawl.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Coach Stenho has the Binghamton program definitely going in the right direction, but they're catching a UE team who's looking like the UE Tigers of old when Coach Bellino played for UE.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Take it, Roger.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you're exactly right.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And the Tigers have really put everything together since the opening game against Maine and well, that loss, and they've not looked back since then.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: The thing is uh so uh outstanding with UE, many weapons, and the biggest weapon of all is speed.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: They have speed to burn.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Nicholas Lang is an outstanding runner, he can break away from anybody.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, of course, uh UI has already uh clinched uh home field for the playoffs.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: They'll be hosting Ithaca again in the semifinals in a couple of weekends.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Vestel, meanwhile, after losing that tough battle to Yui, Vestel will be playing uh at horseheads in a couple of weekends in the playoff encounter too.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: But Yui at home, but again, it's one of those games Binghamton is improving, and they could have uh UE looking ahead a little bit, and that should be interesting to see exactly what happens.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: But again, the Tigers just at outright speed, awfully tough.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Binghamton, too, traditionally has a lot of uh fast student athletes, specifically in the ball handling positions, as you and I can attest to from uh broadcasting many of those games.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it could be very interesting.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you bring up a key point, Coach Neil.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you want to make sure you don't have those student athletes looking ahead to the playoff game.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Our fourth and final game of the week will take place Saturday afternoon at Dave Kelly Stadium between Class D teams who are both six and one.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: The number nine ranked Walt Warriors, led by Coach Hoover, will pay a visit to number eight ranked Delhi Bulldogs, led by Coach Newman.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Delhi is coming off a tough game where they lost to the number one ranked Tiger Tigers by one touchdown.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Not many teams can say that.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned, each team has one loss, but in all likelihood, the winner will likely host a first-round playoff game.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to this being a longtime rivalry, that adds a little bit more meaning to the game.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Take it away, Roger.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're exactly right.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, two schools uh at the lower classification level D, but they are tremendous.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And Walton tied for second in Class D, as is Delhi.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: So you mentioned a home field game coming up when the playoffs is on the line.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Pride also on the line.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: Each team with just one loss.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: This may be the marquee overall game of the entire weekend.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: It should be a barn burner right down to the closing gun.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely will.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And um, it's amazing, Roger, that this is week eight, uh, the the final weekend of the Section Four regular season.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: It just seems like it flew by.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a uh testament that we do what we really like, and it just you know, it just seems to fly.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: But um nonetheless, we'll we'll be back and we're gonna have the full slate of playoff games ready to be talked about, and then we'll go from there.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: But thanks again, Roger.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: All right, you too.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Tim.
• 7:38
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• 7:41
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• 7:44
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• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: In football and life, it's not where we line up, it's where we wind up.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Cover Four podcast.