If there’s one key to East Syracuse Minoa’s Class A state regional football game against Section IV champion Maine-Endwell, it’s stopping the run, Spartans coach Kevin DeParde said.
M-E is predominately a running team that finally wore down Union-Endicott during a 14-0 victory in a Section IV title game that was scoreless at halftime.
ESM’s game plan in simple. Get ahead early in the game, stop the run and make Maine-Endwell try to pass the football.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday at Alumni Stadium in Binghamton. Both teams are unbeaten; ESM at 10-0 and Maine-Endwell at 9-0. ESM is ranked sixth in the state among Class A schools; Maine-Endwell is eighth.
After failing to mount much of anything on offense for two quarters against Union-Endicott, M-E used the option to put together lengthy scoring drives on its first two possessions in the second half.
How different were the halves? Maine-Endwell rushers totaled 21 yards in the first half and 178 in the second.
“In the second half, we came out and ran our option like we had all year,” M-E coach Matt Gallagher said. “The offensive line did a fantastic job.”
M-E has three rushers who have combined for more than 2,000 yards this season. Tailback Luis Uceta has 729 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Nick Sorrenti has gained 734 yards with five scores. Justin Jacoby has 575 yards and six touchdowns.
With Uceta serving mostly as a decoy, Sorrenti gained 164 yards against Union-Endicott, including a combined 74 on his team’s two scoring drives.
Quarterback Kyle Gallagher has thrown only 31 passes this season. He’s completed 18 of them for 369 yards, with five touchdowns and three interceptions.
Besides its running prowess, the strength of M-E is its defense. M-E has allowed only 61 points this season. It has four shutouts and has allowed only six points in its last four games.
That defense will go against an ESM team that has scored 40 or more points in eight of 10 games this season.
“They’re very good, and very fast on defense,” DeParde said. “They’re physically tough, and they play hard.”
“We match up well, our defense vs. their offense,” DeParde said. “From an offensive standpoint, we have to manage their defensive speed and defensive pressure. We just need to be who we are. We need to use a lot of formation and get that defense to move around and open some stuff up for us.”
ESM’s multiple offense is led by quarterback Tyler Johnson, receiver Bobby Campese and runners Jordan Barton and Jeff McDuffie.
Johnson has completed 83 of 156 passes (61.9 percent) for 1,752 yards. He’s thrown 27 touchdown passes with only two interceptions. Campese has 46 receptions for 825 yards and 10 touchdowns. Barton has rushed for 806 yards and eight touchdowns. McDuffie has gained 718 yards and has nine scores.
“We can pose a lot of problems for anybody,” DeParde said.
One concern this week for DeParde and his coaching staff was a letdown by the players after defeating previously unbeaten Whitesboro 27-0 in the Section III championship game. Whitesboro was a team ESM had been gunning for all season.
“I was worried about that, especially after a mediocre practice on Monday,” DeParde said. “But Tuesday might have been the best practice we’ve had all year. I’m real encouraged about that.
DeParde admitted being unbeaten is adding a little extra pressure.
“But they’re unbeaten, too, so it kind of evens things out,” he said. “We just need to continue to play the way we’ve been playing. We just have to be ESM play good team defense and execute on offense.”
Tom Leo can be reached at tleo@syracuse.com or 470-6013.
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