SYRACUSE – The Clymer/Sherman/Panama Wolfpack took home their first ever NYSPHSAA Class D Football Championship after defeating Port Henery, NY’s Moriah Vikings, 26-6, Friday at the Carrier Dome.
After both teams exchanged punts on their first respective drives, the Vikings received the first break of the game, recovering a Michael Beatman fumble.
Moriah, however, was unable to take advantage of the golden opportunity, having to punt the ball back to the Wolfpack after netting -5 yards on a three-and-out.
With a personal foul penalty negating a first down play for the Wolfpack, quarterback Gerrit Hinsdale was intercepted by Jerin Sargent.
Once again, the Vikings failed to take advantage on their forced turnover. Three penalties forced the Vikings to punt.
The Wolfpack went three-and-out on their next possession. A 27-yard Zavon Overton punt gave the Vikings good field position at their own 46.
Moriah threatened to score on the drive, gaining 28 rushing yards. After a holding penalty, however, Vikings quarterback Jeffrey Streibel was sacked and fumbled the ball in the process.
The first quarter ended in a scoreless tie.
Early in the second quarter, the Wolfpack took a 7-0 lead after Hinsdale threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Barmore.
The Vikings had another three-and-out and were forced to punt.
Moriah received another opportunity to put points on the board after Hinsdale threw his second interception of the game.
The Vikings drove the ball to the Wolfpack 34, but fumbled on a fourth down play which squandered another scoring opportunity.
CSP did get one first down on their next drive but turned the ball over on downs after an unsuccessful fake punt attempt.
Moriah was victim to another three-and-out. Sargent punted the ball to the Wolfpack one yard line and was returned for one yard.
CSP ran out the clock to end the first half with a 7-0 lead.
In the start of the second half, the Vikings went three-and-out once again. Sargent executed a 37 yard punt.
The Wolfpack started their second half series when Hinsdale found Barmore for a 27 yard completion.
CSP threatened to score again with Hinsdale driving the Wolfpack to the Vikings 14.
Mike Cypher sacked Hinsdale twice for a loss of 19 total yards once the Wolfpack hit the Vikings Red Zone. CSP was forced to punt after losing 21 yards on their next three plays.
The Wolfpack maintained their 7-0 lead at the end of the third quarter.
CSP extended their lead to 13-0 after executing some trickery on a Hinsdale to Barmore to John Swabik 30 yard hook-and-ladder play. The extra point was no good.
After when the Vikings failed to muster a scoring drive once again, Robert Overton extended the Wolfpack’s lead to 19-0. CSP attempted a two-point conversion, and were unsuccessful.
The Vikings made it a 19-6 game after Streible found Sargent for a touchdown pass on a fourth down play. The two-point attempt was unsuccessful.
Moriah had a chance to close the gap even more with under five minutes left in regulation, Beatman, however, picked off Streible and returned it eight yards for a touchdown to extend the Wolfpack’s lead, 26-6.
The Vikings committed their fourth turnover of the game on their final drive to end the game.
WNYNewsNow‘s Norm Rodriguez and Justin Gould contributed to this report.
