By Lori Brown
GRAHAMSVILLE — October 2, 2007 — The Tri-Valley Bears hosted their Section IX Class C football game on Saturday afternoon.
T-V overwhelmed the visiting Millbrook Blazers, 48-0.
With the win, T-V improved to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in Class C. Millbrook fell to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in Class C.
Millbrook won the coin toss and received a kick from T-V’s Bo Murphy to start the game. But due to the strong Bears’ defense, the Blazers did not gain enough yardage for a first down.
With 1:39 left in the first quarter, T-V’s Daniel Byrne ran 33 yards to score the first touchdown of the game. The PAT kick was no good, but the Bears enjoyed a 6-0 lead at the end of the quarter.
T-V running back Brendan Musa took a handoff from quarterback and ran for a 60-yard touchdown with 4:54 left until halftime. T-V’s David McDonald made the PAT kick to boost the Bears’ advantage to 13-0.
T-V’s Kevin Drown returned the second half kickoff 48 yards to set up his team’s offense in the Blazers’ half of the field.
T-V then made its way down the field to the Millbrook 6-yard line. But the Blazers recovered a fumbled ball at the 5-yard line. However, Millbrook was not able to gain much yardage and was forced to punt. But the punt went straight up into the air as opposed to down the field and it landed on the Millbrook 3-yard line.
With 7:45 remaining in the third quarter, Musa ran for a TD and McDonald added the extra point to give T-V a 20-0 lead.
With 1:49 left in the quarter, Daniel Byrne scored on a 3-yard run and McDonald’s PAT kick was good.
With 9:23 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Michael Towt ran for a touchdown. Jake Gray made the extra point kick to bring the score to 41-0.
Millbrook had possession of the ball for a few minutes, but the drive ended when T-V’s Sean McNamara intercepted the ball at the T-V 30-yard line with only 7:55 left in the game.
With 5:40 remaining on the scoreboard clock, the Bears added another touchdown to their already dominant lead as Jesse Boncek carried the ball into the end zone. Gray kicked the extra point to make it a 48-0 contest.
Millbrook Coach Sean Keenan said his team did not tackle very well.
“Tri-Valley had a good team and we got hammered today,” he commented. “Tri-Valley is well coached and played hard.
“Nick Finger and Kyle Cuomo played very well today,” Keenan added.
Finger led the Blazers’ rushing attack with 20 carries for 64 yards. Tom Wohlfahrt had one interception to pace the Millbrook defense.
“Overall, we had an excellent team effort,” T-V Coach John Rusin said. “We had the best week of practice this week and we were very focused.
“Millbrook had very talented players,” he added. “Coach Joe Porcaro prepared our defense well. Our offense did a great job and our line blocked very well. Sean Drown did a great job.
“We were fortunate to move the ball and I’m pleased with the outcome of today’s game,” Rusin continued. “Millbrook was a tough team, young team but they did a good job. Defensively, we did not take Millbrook lightly. They are a dangerous team. They have very fast running backs and their misdirection could have caused us problems.
“Next week we play Walton, which will be a challenge for us. It should be a good showing.”
Musa led the Bears’ offense with 13 carries for 149 yards and three TDs. Byrne added 11 carries for 75 yards and one touchdown.
Garrett Grey led the Bears’ defense with 13 tackles, eight assists and one interception.