2004- Intro
The 2004 Chenango Forks football team entered the season
as the defending state champions of class B. Winners of 13 straight games, and
fresh off of its 3rd straight trip to the state finals, the Blue
Devils were one of the most experienced teams in the state in terms of state
playoff experience. The team also hadn’t lost to a section 4 team since the
2000 season, and held a 37-2 record in the past 3 seasons. However, with a 10
team class B in Section 4, the Blue Devils would have to run a literal gauntlet
through every class B team in Section 4 to get back to the state playoffs and
have a chance to repeat as state champions.
The 2004 Chenango Forks Football Team
(All information on this blog is adapted from the fantastic website http://www.forksfootball.com/main.html. The website has information on almost every Chenango Forks game from 2001 to the present, and includes statistics, news articles, pictures and more. All credit goes to the owner of the website for usage of the statistics and pictures and their affiliated sources)
2004- Offense
Tim Batty again returned as the main playmaker for a 2004
team that, to put it succinctly, had an army of players capable of running the
option offense. Junior fullbacks Jim Nicholson and Tyler Spencer ran between
the tackles, with a plethora of halfbacks also carrying the ball; Jason Chier,
Tim O’Branski, Ben Farnham, Drew Hessney, and a large number of reserve players
also carried in the 4th quarter of blowout games. Batty was a much
more efficient passer in his final season as the starter, completing 34 of 63
passes for 743 yards to zero interceptions with 9 touchdowns. The offensive
line was also a large bunch, with Junior Matt Faughnan( 6’3 298) and Sophmore
Josh Cary(6’4 268) heading the group. As
a team, the 2004 squad averaged an eye popping 43 points per game, 342 yards
rushing per game, and 59 yards passing per game , averaging over 400 yards per
game total. They eclipsed a 50 point total 6 times, with a season high of
points in a 63-0 rout of Windsor.
Tim Batty returned at QB and led to Forks to score over 40 points per game.
2004- Defense
On defense, the Blue Devils we’re even stronger. Lead by the heady play of players such as safeties Batty and Kevin Purce, corner Jason Chier, defensive ends Zach Vrendenburgh and Nick Tarnowski, the team allowed 63 points all year, an astounding 4.8 points per game. The first team
defense allowed only 2 touchdowns all season, to a total of 13 points in 13 games, shattering the
marks held by the previous year’s defenses by a mile. Yards wise, the defense
allowed only 170 yards per game, large amounts of which were earned against the
Blue Devils bench players in the 4th quarters of blowout games.
The Chenango Forks defensive front, one of the strongest groups in school history, lines up against Norwich.The defensive line was part of a defense that allowed less than a touchdown per game
2004- Results
It should
come to no shock, given the overwhelming statistical domination of the 2004 team
that this Blue Devils squad would end up repeating as state champions with an
undefeated 13-0 season, their second straight 13-0 campaign. The margins of
victory, however, were the most stunning part. In the state title game, the
Blue Devils would face Rye for the 2nd straight season and
absolutely dismantled them 48-0, their 2nd straight state title game
shutout and the 2nd largest margin of victory in state title game
history at the time. In a stretch of games from October 2nd to
November 5th, the 2004 team defeated its opponents by a 241-13
margin in 5 games. (One being a 1-0 forfeit win over Bainbridge Guilford Afton)
The team won its 3 state playoff games by a combined score of 123-14. The
closest any team got to the Blue Devils was a 15-6 win over a scrappy Norwich
team in the Section 4 class B final, which is a testament to the strength of
the Norwich football team given that the Blue Devils opened the season against
them with a 44-8 win. Overall, the 2004 team has to be regarded as the
strongest team in school history by a wide margin, and could also lay claim to
being one of the best in Section 4 history. As for the next season, there was a
third straight state title to strive towards and a shot at breaking the all
time streak for consecutive wins in Section 4 history.
Chenango Forks head coach Kelsey Green celebrates his 2nd consecutive state title
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