Bellis Powers Tioga to Class D Glory

SYRACUSE – Logan Bellis scored the last two of his five touchdowns in the final 5:50 on Friday to wrap up Tioga’s 42-31 victory over Tuckahoe in the NYSPHSAA Class D football final at the JMA Wireless Dome.

          The senior running back carried 22 times for 119 yards to earn most valuable player honors as the Tigers, the Section 4 champions, earned their fourth state championship in five years and fifth overall.

          Tioga, ranked No. 1 by the New York State Sportswriters Association, finished the season with a 13-1 record. Tuckahoe, the Section 1 champion and ranked third, finished 10-2.

          Bellis, a 2,000-yard rusher on the season, scored from 23 yards out with 5:50 to play to extend the Tioga lead to 34-23. After Tuckahoe countered with a 47-yard touchdown carry by running back Declan Connolly to finish a four-play, 55-yard drive.

          But Tioga responded with its potent ground game, which finished with 323 yards. Bellis scored his 31^st TD of the season with :58 to go, plowing ahead from 16 yards out.

          Bellis’ heroics offset a big day by Tuckahoe quarterback Connor Brice, who carried 19 times for 214 yards and four scores.

          The squads came into the final each averaging better than 31 points a game, setting the stage for fireworks through the first 24 minutes.

Tuckahoe took the opening kickoff and drove 12 plays to a 6-yard Brice touchdown carry and Logan Bogetti conversion run. Tioga responded with a crisp seven-play drive, concluding with Bellis’ 2-yard run and a failed rushing attempt for the conversion.

Gallery Courtesy of Emily Croisdale/WNYAthletics

Tuckahoe, played in its sixth final overall but first since 2012,  then extended its lead to 15-6 with an eight-play drive highlighted by Brice connecting on throws of 16 yards to Max Reyes and eight yards to James Romeo. Brice found the end zone from six yards out to extend the lead to 15-6 with 10:53 left in the first half.

It was Tioga’s turn again on the subsequent possession. One play after carrying to convert a fourth-and-four, Jackson Bombard connected down the left sideline with Kadin Cole, who fought off a defender for a 33-yard touchdown.

Tioga then made the first stop of the game, hurrying Brice into an incompletion over the middle from the Tioga 26 under heavy pressure.

The Section 4 champions then marched 74 yards in eight plays to a 3-yard scoring run by Bombard. The highlight of the drive was Gavin Albrecht’s 29-yard reception down the left sideline to the 19 while battling a defender. The run attempt for the conversion failed, but Tioga carried an 18-15 lead into the half.

          Tioga extended its lead on the opening possession of the second half, driving 66 yards to a 6-yard scoring run by Bellis.

          Brice countered with an 80-yard scoring scamper one play after a Tioga punt late in the third quarter, but the fourth Bellis TD midway through the fourth restored the two-score lead.