69传媒

But due to an uncharacteristic six turnovers from the Blue Devils, their bid to become back-to-back champions was squashed by the Blue Raiders in a 34-12 loss Friday in Johnson City.聽

Moravia was able to get into the red zone on several of its drives, but head coach Fred Ott knew his team didn't play to its standard.聽

"For whatever reason, we weren't really playing our type of football," he told 69传媒. "I'll be honest, even up until the beginning of the second half, I wasn't that worried about it yet. We were moving the ball pretty well, we just weren't scoring. We definitely didn't play well, had a lot of turnovers, which is not like us. It's hard to win a championship football game when you have so many turnovers."

After electing to receive the opening kickoff, the Blue Raiders paid off that decision two plays into their first drive when they connected on a 65-yard touchdown through the air.聽

"When the game began, the one thing we said was, 鈥榃e can't give up the big play.鈥� We talked about that all week, and then it happened right away," Ott said.

"I think that deflated us a little bit. We (as coaches) expect a lot of these kids, and I think they all got a little deflated."

With the turnovers and missed connections through the air, the Blue Devils were held scoreless in the first half for the first time all season. The Blue Raiders made a Moravia comeback even more difficult with a 66-yard touchdown in the closing minutes of the first half.

Despite trailing 20-0 coming out of the locker room, Ott knew his team had what it took to mount a comeback.聽

鈥淲e kind of got in our own heads a little bit," he said. "I think we calmed them down a little bit at halftime, talked to them about, 鈥楬ey, we're OK. You know, 20 points for us isn't that bad.'"

The Blue Devils looked like themselves out of the break, as quarterback Thomas Palmer linked up with Joe Baylor on a 39-yard touchdown that trimmed the team's deficit to 14.

Ethan Dehart added to the Blue Devils' momentum when he blocked a punt that gave his offense the ball at Trumansburg's 30-yard line. Riley Jones rewarded Dehart's effort after catching a 4-yard touchdown from Palmer.

Though Moravia came out of the second-half gates swinging, the Blue Raiders took some wind out of their sails with another passing touchdown toward the end of the third quarter.

Moravia looked to answer on its next two drives, but an interception and a fumble stopped both in their tracks.聽

"We definitely weren't running the ball very well, we weren't getting the guys up front," Ott said. "So hats off to Trumansburg, their line was playing pretty good. We got behind, we had to throw the ball a little more, but we were there (and) we were executing. We just lost the ball a few times.

"Again, hats off to Trumansburg, they made a couple really good plays on defense. Those six turnovers killed us. You can't win championship football with six turnovers."

Following the fumble at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Blue Raiders delivered the final blow off a 33-yard score with eight minutes remaining.聽

Even with the sectional loss, Moravia football still has life. The Blue Devils will travel to James I. O'Neill High School to take on the Section IX champion on Friday in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association 8-man football regional championships.

With another postseason matchup ahead of Moravia, Ott wants his team to focus on what has led to its seven wins this season.聽

鈥淭he kids are going to be fine," he said.

"We just gotta get back to playing Moravia football. We definitely weren't playing that tonight. We just gotta get kids healthy again and just keep pressing forward in the way we know how.鈥�