The Tornado Football team gathers for a photo following the end of the pep rally/bon fire Friday night. The rally was held in Norwich’s East Park and it is the yearly bon fire prior to the game against the Oneonta Yellowjackets to celebrate the long-standing rivalry between the two teams. Former players Donny Lawrence and Jake Brown delivered rally speeches to all three teams – Varsity, Junior Varsity and Modified. JV will take on Oneonta at home Monday night. (Evening Sun Photo, Frank Speziale)

Norwich shuts out Oneonta in annual rivalry game

ONEONTA – As both teams entered the game with one win in their records, Norwich and Oneonta were set for the long time rivalry game on Saturday afternoon on the Yellowjackets turf. After the first six plays for Oneonta resulted in three Tornado interceptions and points on the scoreboard, Norwich cruised to a 48-0 victory to improve to 2-3 on the season.

The Purple Tornado disrupted the Yellowjackets’ quarterback Graham Wooden’s flow early and often as the Norwich defense ended the game with a total of six turnovers – five interceptions and a fumble in the backfield.

JT Vinal and Shane Lawrence led the defense for the Tornado as Vinal has two of the five picks and a team-high eight tackles in the win. Lawrence fired off the line, getting the quick jump against Oneonta’s offensive lineman and was able to get to Wooden in the backfield for two sacks.

Seth Wessels and Brayden Supensky also had a big day on the defense as each finished the game with six tackles while Nik Barber, Mike Squires and Carson Thornton each had a take-away in the air.

“I thought we played very well overall,” said Norwich head coach Mike Chrystie. “We challenged our defense this week in practice and wanted to create more turnovers. Six turnovers with five interceptions is a great job. We really got after them defensively.”