CORTLAND, N.Y.- Dyquann Barlow provided instant offense in the first quarter for the Cortland Purple Tigers, and they cruised to a 21-6 win over the Fulton Red Raiders Friday night, Sept. 19.
Barlow ran the opening kickoff back 96 yards for a touchdown. He also scored on a 52-yard reverse on a 3rd-and-14, which put Cortland up 14-0 just 10 minutes into the game.

The Tigers were able to hang on to their lead with a steady rushing attack that outplayed the Raiders’ defense and beat them physically. Fullback Josh Morehouse moved the pile forward on multiple rushing plays; he gained 61 yards on 10 carries. Fulton coach Mike Conners bemoaned his team’s lack of physicality, “Hindsight’s a great thing. We didn’t do a lot of lifting in the off-season; physically, I think we’re wearing down. We’re not able to run with these guys for 48 minutes.”

Fulton got on the scoreboard halfway through the second quarter when Vinnie Martinez scored his first touchdown of the season on a 27-yard dash into the end zone. Ed Marsh’s extra point was no good.

The first of two major turning points in the game came when Fulton started its next possession on the Cortland 17-yard line after a botched snap on a punt. The Raiders turned the ball over on downs after losing 17 yards on that drive.

Fulton really shot itself in the foot in the third quarter with a costly roughing the passer penalty. On a 3rd-and-22 from Fulton’s 34-yard line, Cortland quarterback Matt Porter’s pass was intercepted by John Strong. However, the interception was nullified by a roughing the passer penalty, which gave the Tigers an automatic first down and led to an 8-yard touchdown run by Corby Reynolds, his fourth rushing TD of the season. Reynolds finished the game with 10 carries for 54 yards.

Neither team would score again after Reynolds’ 8-yard run, as the remainder of the game featured sloppy play and multiple turnovers.

Junior quarterback Jeff Crofoot saw his first action of the season for the Raiders after missing the first two games with a knee injury, but he fumbled multiple exchanges with the center and threw two interceptions. He did not complete a pass but got little help from his receivers, who dropped a couple of Crofoot’s passes.

With the loss, Fulton is a disappointing 1-2 on the season and faces an uphill battle to make it back to the league playoffs. The Raiders travel to Carthage next week for a rematch of a sectional playoff game last year that Fulton lost 42-7. When asked about Carthage, Conners said “I think we’re going to see more of the same. We’re going to see a big, physical football team.”

Cortland improves to 3-0 (2-0 in league play) with its 21-6 win over Fulton.

Next week, Ryan Bergman and I will provide a live webcast from Oswego High School as the Oswego Buccaneers host the Fowler Falcons at 7 p.m. Tune in to Oswego County Today a few minutes before kickoff as Ryan and I will bring you all the action as Oswego will look to win its third consecutive game.

Oswego Harborfest has announced that the popular 50-50 Raffle to benefit Harborfest will return in 2009.

Farnham Family Services, an Oswego-based substance abuse treatment and prevention center, is now selling tickets for its 2009 Changing Lives Raffle.

As this column goes to press the 152nd Oswego County Fair should be in full swing at Sandy Creek. During the previous week the Heritage building was stocked full with many new and unique exhibits. We even brought down a piano for some live music!