Homer's Logan Peck running the ball. (Ross Cohen/Cortland Voice).
Last night, the Homer Trojans defeated the Cortland Purple Tigers at Homecoming 48-0, keeping the Home-Cort Jug at home for the 8th straight year.
Homer now leads the Home-Cort Jug series 25-15-1.
"The philosophy coming into this game is that we started off rough this year," said Homer head coach Gary Podsiedlik. "We played poorly against Westhill and let some mistakes mess with our trust in one another. So what I said to them was, if we learn to trust each other and continue to learn what we are teaching you and do what we ask you to do, even if we make mistakes, we are going to win."
The game began with Cortland receiving the ball first, but the Trojans defense were quick to get the ball back on a set of downs.
After that, the Trojans started to take over the game offensively; with junior running back Andrew VanPatten rushing four yards to the left to score the first touchdown of the night.
"Our offense of line played fantastic tonight, which got our running game going and then got our passing game going," said Homer senior quarterback Dylan Yacavone. "Our running backs were running hard through the holes and our lines were opening them."
Then coming into the second quarter, the Trojans scored four touchdowns in a row with the help of their defense getting stops and forcing turnovers; therefore giving Homer a 34-0 lead by the end of the first half.
These four touchdowns were scored by Yacavone off a 14 yard run, then one by Logan Peck off a 16 yard pass from Yacavone, one from Connor Matthews off a 26 yard pass from Yacavone, and finally another rushing touchdown from VanPatten after rushing for two yards.
Yacavone finished the game with a total of two passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and one two point conversion.
Homer football team poses for a photo after the game. (Ross Cohen/Cortland Voice).
"We played more as a team as a team and our communication by far, especially on defense was the best it has been all year," said coach Podsiedlik. "Players were talking to each other, they made some really good plays, and very rarely a kid would get out of position. So the main thing on our agenda was to improve the communication and commit to doing your jobs so that your teammates can trust you and win."
Coming into the second half, the Tigers were able to get a fumble recovery and slowly work themselves up the field with Cortland's quarterback Collin Williams leading the charge.
The Tigers were even able to convert on three straight four downs with them desperately trying to get on the scoreboard. However, with them being at the 25-yard-line, they could not convert on a fourth time around and Homer took the ball back after a set of downs.
On the very next play, VanPatten once again rushed in to score a touchdown after an incredible 76-yard run.
VanPatten finished the game with a total of three rushing touchdowns.
Then to finish the game off in the fourth quarter, Colin Perks caught a 23-yard pass from Zachary Apker to make it 48-0.
"It meant a lot for us to win this game, especially against Cortland," said Yacavone. "For us seniors it was huge to win this one."
Here is a photo gallery of last night's game (All photos are provided by Ross Cohen/Cortland Voice):
