2003

Record: 4-5

Key Players: Travis Mahler (QB), Jon Smith (WR/DB), Matt Oliver (FB/DE), Jake Newkirk (FB/LB)

Highlights: Delhi brought a very new group into the 2003 season. A few players had played a part in the previous year, but none were the real primary contributors.

Receivers Jon Smith and Travis Mahler did play a role the year before. Mahler made the move to QB however. Matt Oliver had gotten some carries at FB the year before, while new TB Brenton Hood became the first freshman to start at TB for Delhi. Defensively, Andrew Anderson returned at defensive end, and he and Oliver gave Delhi some strong physical presence.

Delhi spent much of the year with a balance of running and passing. Oliver was the primary rushing weapon, and ran for 763 yards and 10 TD. Hood did a good job in coming on board with 400+ yards and 9 pass receptions. Smith was the primary receiving target, catching 27 balls as Mahler completed better than 54% of his passes. The defense did a great job, with the exception of games against Sidney.

Delhi opened with an encouraging game down in Jeffersonville vs. Sullivan West. After sputtering for a while and giving up a TD pass, Delhi found its footing, and ran up 253 yards rushing, with 4 rushing TD’s. The defense had a great start, holding the “other” Bulldogs to just 117 yards. Delhi came out a 27-6 winner.

Delhi traveled to Whitney Point to take on the team that had beaten them in overtime the year before. The Bulldog defense struggled against Point’s double wing, and 230 lb. Brian Soeffing ripped Delhi for 239 yards on 20 carries and 3 TD’s. Delhi’s offense did show some production, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Soeffing. Delhi lost 27-18.

Delhi found its rushing game and its defense again in a home win against Seton. The defense allowed just 73 rushing yards and 149 total yards, while Delhi was able to rush for 237 yards in the game. Jon Smith caught 5 passes for 84 yards, giving him just under 200 in 2 games.

After a reasonable 2-1 start, the Bulldogs went to Sidney with some confidence. That confidence faded however, as Sidney ran up 40 points in the first half (the most I’ve ever seen scored on Delhi in a half). Sidney constantly got behind the Delhi defense, and the Bulldog offense was able to do very little to answer. Sidney ran up 453 yards on its way to a 48-8 victory.

Delhi’s consolation prize for the Sidney loss was a home game against undefeated Walton. Delhi did an admirable job against Walton, and may have been even more in the game had the rainy weather not caused a couple of dropped deep balls. The defense stifled Walton’s running game for much of the day, but Walton broke a few runs when they needed them most, and the Warriors were 14-0 winners.

Delhi traveled to Union-Endicott to take on Trumansburg, another tough 3-loss team. The game was bitterly fought, and Delhi came within less than 10 yards and a 2-point conversion from tying the game late in the 4^th quarter. T-Burg held the ‘Dogs out however, and took over on downs. A couple plays later, their QB took off on a 72 yard TD run to seal the loss for the ‘Dogs, 22-6.

After a 3 game losing streak and some underachievement, Delhi looked to change the momentum around and try to get a shot at the playoffs. Delhi faced Greene at home, and got the job done with authority. The defense was amazing, giving up a mere 22 yards of offense on 34 plays. The offense was solid with a 300 yard total, including freshman Hood rushing for a season high 90 yards.

Delhi showed how complete the turnaround was the next week, when they faced Moravia in the playoffs. Moravia was undefeated, and had beaten eventual class C champ Unatego by 22 earlier in the season, as well as romping through their division. Delhi gave up 2 early TD’s, but then went to work. Matt Oliver rushed for 225 yards, and the defense held high-scoring Moravia to just 165 total yards, including a meaningless 35 yard TD on the game’s last play. Despite having QB Mahler out with injury, the ‘Dogs came out 40-20 winners after a dominating effort.

Delhi had now won a rematch with Sidney in the semifinals. Delhi faced Sidney with some momentum, and now was at full strength with Smith (who had missed the first Sidney game) and Mahler now healthy. Delhi hit a brick wall, however. The ‘Dogs may have had a chance had the first half not gone so poorly. It wasn’t as bad as the first contest’s 40 points, but almost, as Sidney went into the half up 38-8. Delhi finally started to make it happen on both sides of the ball in the second half however, and would pull to within 14 points. Delhi outgained Sidney 3 to 1 in the second half, but just wasn’t able to make up for the first half disaster, and the season ended with a 46-24 loss.

Similar to the previous season, 4 of Delhi’s 5 losses were to teams that were state-ranked or honorable mention, and of course there was the win over state-ranked Moravia. Trumansburg was the only team not ranked or honorable mention, due to their 3 early season losses, but they were probably worthy of it none-the-less, having come very close to knocking off Section IV Class C champ Unatego.