Tioga takes down Oakfield-Alabama/Elba in Class D high school football state semifinals
While Oakfield-Alabama/Elba emerged as a power in Section V high school football this fall, the Aggies were stopped in the state tournament Friday.
The Tioga Tigers were too tough for Oakfield-Alabama/Elba during the Class D state semifinal as the Binghamton-area champions shutout the Aggies into the fourth quarter of the playoff game before winning 49-6 at Cicero North-Syracuse High.
Emmett Wood, a senior running back, rushed for four touchdowns while the Tigers from Section IV plowed a path to the state final December 3 inside the Carrier Dome at Syracuse University.
"We got it rolling early and (the offensive linemen) just kept going all day," Wood said.
The Tigers take on either Greenwich of Section II (Albany region) or Section VII's Moriah (Northeast), and seem capable of adding to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association state title Tioga won in 2015.
"I just think we're really physical and fast," Wood said. "You let us start it up, we're not going to stop."
Tioga finished with 417 rushing yards during the semifinals with Wood as the main ballcarrier with 178 yards on 25 of the team's 45 attempts.
"I've already lost this game three times," Wood said before shaking his head back and forth. "It wasn't happening again, it wasn't happening again."
Connor Scott, a junior, scored the Oakfield-Alabama/Elba touchdown with about nine minutes remaining on a run of about 50 yards.
Oakfield-Alabama/Elba's ends the season at 12-1 and won its first Section V championship in 11-man football.
"They were incredibly physical, and they were settled in," Oakfield-Alabama/Elba coach Tyler Winter said about the Tioga Tigers. "They were comfortable, and they made us incredibly uncomfortable."
The teams at Oakfield-Alabama and Elba in Genesee County merged in 2016, allowing both school districts to keep offering high school football.
Together, Oakfield-Alabama/Elba won two Section V titles in the 8-man classification before moving into the 11-man Class D group for the schools with the smallest student enrollment in the spring 2021. The Aggies were sectional semifinalist earlier this year, during a season moved from fall 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"In the spring, we were a little bit limited (while trying to get everything on the field the way we wanted) because of time," Winter said earlier this season.
Building a roster of players large enough to field an 11-man football team was a non-issue this fall for Oakfield-Alabama/Elba. Instead, it was the Aggies posing problems for opponents in Section V.
The Aggies scored 35 or more points in their first five games. Lopsided victories in the first two rounds of sectionals put Oakfield-Alabama/Elba against reigning champion Avon in the Section V Class D final, which the Aggies won 26-21. The Aggies then squeezed out another victory during last week's state quarterfinal round, 28-22 over Randolph, the Section VI or Buffalo region champion.
"There was a tone, and Randolph did a good job of setting that early," Winter said. "We grew comfortable playing fast and physical."
The Tioga Tigers have a similar playing style, and reached the end zone for the first time early in the second quarter of the state semifinal.
"We had a tough time finding a weak link (in the Tioga lineups)," Winter said.
Gaige Armbrewster was Oakfield-Alabama/Elba's leading rusher in his final high school game, finishing with 67 yards on 16 carries. Scott also made 10 tackles, one for a loss, as a linebacker. Oakfield-Alabama/Elba linebacker Noah Currier made nine tackles.
"They kept the pedal down," Winter said about Tioga, now a state finalist.
JAMESJ@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Tioga tops Oakfield-Alabama/Elba in NYSPHSAA football semifinals
