OWEGO – In the final road game of the regular season, the Norwich Purple Tornado football team won a close 23-20 game against Owego on Friday. Spencer Root’s 33 yard field goal attempt was the game-winner for Norwich with about six minutes remaining in regulation.

Norwich was down 20-12 at halftime with touchdowns by Collin Olds and Holden Ryan.

Both teams were held scoreless in the third quarter before Norwich took control in the fourth to win the game. Braden Hagenbuch ran for a 10 yard touchdown while Steven Dowdall ran for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 20.

Norwich’s defense held Owego and the offense went back onto the field to set up a 33 yard field goal for Spencer Root and “Root the Boot” did not disappoint.

Norwich picked up their sixth win of the season and head home to face a tough 7-1 Waverly team. Norwich will also be honoring its 12 seniors prior to the 7 p.m. game.

Scores by Quarter:

NHS 0 12 0 11–23

OFA 0 20 0 0–20

Scoring Plays: O, #7 one yard run (kick is good); N, Steven Dowdall 13 yard pass to Collin Olds (kick by Spencer Root is no good); O, #33 one yard run (kick is good); N, Holden Ryan 59 yard run (2-point conversion pass from Dowdall is no good); O, #7 60 yard pass to #33 (kick no good); N, Braden Hagenbuch 10 yard run (2-point conversion run by Dowdall is good); N, 33 yard field goal attempt by Root is good. 

Team Summary: 

First Downs: N 18, O 13. Rushes-yds: N 39-213, O 32-198. Passing: N 8-19,78 yds, TD; O 4-8, 107 yds, TD. Total Yards: N 291, O 305. Punts-avg: N 6-27.0, O 2-14.5. Fumbles-lost: N 0-0, O 2-2. Penalties-yards: N 10-90, O 9-100. Records: N 6-2, O 2-6.

Individual Stats:

Rushing: N, Holden Ryan 26-197 yds, TD; Braden Hagenbuch 3-24 yds, TD; Mason Edwards 5-17 yds, Steven Dowdall 3-0, Team 2 (-25). O, #33 20-119 yds, TD; #1 7-49 yds, #11 2-16 yds, #27 1-15 yds, #7 2- (-1).

Passing: N, Steven Dowdall 8-19, 78 yds, TD. O, #7 4-8, 107 yds, TD.

Receiving (rec-yds): N, Collin Olds 2-29 yds, TD; Richard Fuller 2-18 yds, Mitchell Collins 1-14 yds, Mason Edwards 1-10 yds, Holden Ryan 2-7 yds. O, #33 3-102 yds, TD; #87 1-5yds.