Staff Report
Skylar Thompson rushed for 104 yards and scored twice Friday, but host Oneonta High remained winless with a 48-22 loss to rival Norwich in a Section Four Football Conference Division III game.
Thompson opened the scoring with an 86-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and Joe Sparato caught the two-point conversion pass from Brendan Lord for an 8-0 lead.
Michael Oralls scored on a 9-yard run and followed with a two-point run to tie it in the first quarter for Norwich (4-1, 2-0), which scored five straight touchdowns.
The Yellowjackets (0-5, 0-2) pulled to 33-22 on a 90-yard kickoff return by Thompson and a 5-yard TD run by Scott Conrade. Thompson followed the latter with a two-point run.
“He’s been having back spasms for most of the year, so he hasn’t been able to run like we know he can run,” OHS coach Adam Hoover said of Thompson, who carried the ball nine times. “He went into that extra gear on the run, and it was the same thing on that kickoff return. His back’s not 100 percent, but it’s definitely feeling better.
Two 85-plus yard TDs in one game shows what kind of speed he has.”
Oralls finished with 122 rushing yards and two TDs on 14 carries for the Division III-leading Purple Tornado, who won their fourth straight. Kyle Edwards contributed 113 rushing yards on 12 carries. He ran for two TDs and scored on a 67-yard punt return.
Lord went 5-for-11 for 68 passing yards, with 43 coming on three completions to Spataro.
Oneonta plays its homecoming game against Owego at 3 p.m. Oct. 6.
Unatego 53, Oxford 0
Kevin Thayer scored three touchdowns and David VanAlstine rushed for a game-high 128 yards on six carries as host Unatego cruised to a Division VII victory in the Section Four Football Conference.
Tanner Winchester opened the scoring by catching a 31-yard TD pass from Tyler Butler, helping the Spartans to a 21-0 lead after one quarter.
VanAlstine followed with a 72-yard touchdown run before Butler capped the first-quarter scoring with a 53-yard TD run.
Thayer scored on runs of 1 and 5 yards.
He also returned an interception 34 yards for a touchdown.
“Every week we work on getting better,” Unatego coach Frank Microni said. “We had a good week of practice. I thought we improved from last week to this week.”
Unatego (4-1, 2-0) can clinch the division title with a victory over visiting Unadilla Valley this Friday.
