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Alvirne football romps to its fourth win

By Chris Pantazis - For The Telegraph | Oct 5, 2019

KINGSTON – Sometimes, first impressions are simply all kinds of wrong.

And first impressions were absolutely not a realistic indication of what was to come when the Alvirne football squad played the struggling Sanborn Indians in Division II play in Kingston on

Saturday afternoon.

The host Indians ran three plays and covered some 71 yards – including 68 of them on a single run – during the first offensive series of the game in collecting a 7-0 lead just a little more than a minute into the Saturday battle. The hosts’ defense then shut down Alvirne’s first two offensive series’ and Sanborn was left feeling like it might just be able to bag its first victory of the 2019 season following four straight

defeats.

But the Indians only collected 55 more offensive yards the rest of the way and watched the now 4-1 Broncos tally more than 40 unanswered points in a 41-7 throttling.

Alvirne co-captains Kyle Gora and a Alex Giuffrida ran for nearly 200 of their squad’s 339 total offensive yards in leading their side to its third consecutive victory.

Senior running back Giuffrida rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown and also scored points on special teams by sprinting back a punt to the end zone.

Junior quarterback Gora ran for 88 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 136 yards and two scores.

“Sanborn was here defending their home field, and they shut us down early,” said Broncos’ coach Tarek Rothe. “But after that we were pretty much able to

accomplish all of our goals.”

The locals bounded into their Saturday contest boasting a 3-1 record and having outscored the opposition by an 82-35 count, with a 42-0 hammering of Con-Val in their most recent game the previous Friday.

The host Sanborn side, however, was still winless at 0-4

entering the weekend and had been outscored by its opponents by a whopping 133-46 margin. So, on paper, it certainly looked as though another lopsided game was in the offing for the two

contingents in Kingston.

The winless Indians began the game by following up an incomplete pass with a 3-yard run followed by a 68-yard sprint to pay-dirt by junior halfback Tavante Thornton. And the successful point-after kick was good to make it 7-0.

Neither of the first two Alvirne offensive possessions got close to points, but the Broncos’ third possession only lasted a single play thanks to Giuffria’s 60-yard run to points with 2:22 left in the first quarter.

Kicker Kory Couilliard then nailed the first of his five extra points on the afternoon to knot the score at 7-7.

And the local crew scored the touchdown which would end up providing it with the winning points with 8:11 left in the second period when quarterback Gora capped off a 12-play drive with a 7-yard toss to senior tight end Paul Manzi.

And over that final 8:11 of the half the Broncos would bag more points on a 50-yard punt return from Giuffrida, a 7-yard keeper from Gora, and a 1-yard end zone push by Gora immediately after an electrifying 59-yard kickoff return by Grady Hudson.

So at the halftime break the Alvirne crew grasped a commanding 34-7 lead after tallying 219 offensive yards (184 on the ground) and holding Sanborn to just 69

offensive yards.

The game’s final points were notched by the Broncos – quite easily – on the first offensive drive of the second half when Gora rifled a 50-yard scoring connection to Manzi as the score moved to 41-7.

The winning squad’s excellent defensive performance – which held the opposition’s offense to just 126 yards and no completed passes – included quarterback sacks by both Manzi and Alec Prescott as the Broncos deepened the Sanborn contingent’s growing senses of frustration and desperation.

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