Football

Binghamton 35, Norwich 26

NORWICH – Norwich could not have asked for a better beginning to its season Friday night against Binghamton. Then, the Patriots flipped the script.

In 13 seconds, the Patriots scored their first TD, and then added a go-ahead score on a pick six. Those scores were part of a 28-point second stanza that keyed a 35-26 win over the Purple Tornado.

“We weren’t as physical a team as Binghamton, and we felt going in we needed to be physical, take care of the ball, and limit big plays,” said Norwich coach Mike Chrystie. “We didn’t do a good job of that in the second quarter. We made a good run, but we were playing catchup the rest of the game.”

Binghamton sophomore quarter John Petrucci threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns, and senior running back Supreme Jones ran for 145 yards and two TDs. Jones’ second score was ultimately the back-breaker as it answered a Norwich score and raised the lead to 35-18 midway through the third quarter.

Norwich capitalized on Binghamton’s bad snaps and early penalties to jump out to a surprising advantage. NHS sophomore quarterback Cole Rifanburg threw a 16-yard on-the-money TD strike to Zan Stewart for the only score of the first, and early in the second, a snap to Binghamton’s punter sailed over his head and into the end zone for the two-point safety.