Stallions win to close in on playoff berth

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August 6, 2012

Stallions win to close in on playoff berth

Anonymous Staff Report The Daily Star Mon Aug 06, 2012, 03:30 AM EDT

One down, one to go.

The Oneonta City Stallions inched closer to their first postseason appearance Saturday with a 58-32 victory at Watertown in the Northeastern Football Alliance.

Oneonta High graduate Noble Champen passed for 146 yards and three touchdowns for the Stallions, who can clinch the third and final NFA playoff berth with a victory over the Utica Yard Dawgs this Saturday at Hartwick College's Wright Stadium.

Both teams will head into the regular-season finale at 6:30 p.m. Saturday with 5-4 records. The winner will play at the Glove Cities Colonials (7-2) the following weekend for a chance to advance to the NFA East Division final against defending league champion Troy (8-0), which earned a first-round bye for the playoffs.

"It's dead-even, and that's the way we like it," said Stallions co-owner Tom Terry, whose fourth-year franchise fell, 28-15, to Utica earlier this season. "Clearly this is the first time we've ever had a game that actually meant something. We're in foreign territory, but our offense is really, really firing on all cylinders."

Champen's performance included a team-best 85 rushing yards and touchdown passes of 49 yards to Michael Mason, 25 yards to Jason Carnel, and 14 yards to Zach Blocker.

Mason and Blocker also contributed two touchdown runs apiece for Oneonta City, which capped the scoring with a 1-yard TD run by Jeremy Polemus late in the fourth quarter. Mason had six carries for 70 yards, highlighted by TD runs of 13 and 7 yards. Blocker rushed for 50 yards on 10 carries, including TD runs of 15 and 2 yards.

"This was the first game we had Mason and Blocker in the same backfield at the same time," said Terry, adding that one or the other had been absent because of other commitments. "Both of them, along with Champen, make our offense click."

Sidney graduate Jimmy Kazalski accounted for 10 points, going 7-for-7 in extra-point attempts and kicking a 30-yard field goal in the second quarter.

Mason's 7-yard TD run opened the scoring as the Stallions scored on their first possession Saturday.

"We basically took the opening kickoff and scored," Terry said. "We went 65 yards for a touchdown and never looked back."

Unatego graduate Andrew Ruff recovered two fumbles and Bobby McKnight intercepted a pass for Oneonta City, which took a 31-14 lead into halftime.

Despite the loss, the Revolution (1-7) remained one game ahead of the last-place Cortland Bulldogs (0-8) in the NFA's six-team East Division.