The Wolfpack aren’t getting one.

Instead, Coach Ty Harper’s team will meet Section III’s Dolgeville in Friday’s 3 p.m. West Semifinal at Vestal High School.

That doesn’t mean the game means anything less or that the Wolfpack won’t be up for the challenge.

“I think we probably felt like we would play Tioga at some point. We’ve played them three times, we’ve developed a healthy rivalry with them,” Harper said Tuesday evening. “The way last year went, we would’ve liked to have another shot at them. Dolgeville is undefeated and has had a great season. We need to get ourselves ready to play Dolgeville.”

Clymer/Sherman/Panama running back Travis Owens ran 11 times for 64 yards in last Friday’s NYSPHSAA Class D Far West Regional win over Avon. P-J photo by Tim Frank

Dolgeville enters the game in suburban Binghamton with an unblemished record of 11-0, having outscored opponents 569-138 this season on its way to Section III Class D South, sectional and regional titles.

In last Friday’s 28-16 regional win over Section IV champion Delaware Academy, Dolgeville jumped out to a 16-0 halftime lead before Delaware Academy made it a 22-16 game late in the third quarter. The one-score game didn’t last long as the Blue Devils’ Bryce Mosher scored on a 22-yard run with 33 seconds left in the quarter.

Dolgeville senior Trevor Borst ran 23 times for 264 yards and three touchdowns in the regional victory to push his season totals to 134 carries, 1,850 yards and 32 touchdowns.

It’s no secret that the Blue Devils like to run the ball. Between Borst, Mosher and senior Grayson Eggleston, Dolgeville has run 241 times for 3,066 yards and 53 touchdowns on the season.

Dolgeville’s passing game, by comparison, has accounted for just 20 completions, 371 yards and six touchdowns in its 11 games.

“They don’t run a lot of offensive plays, but what they do run, they are proficient at. The Borst kid is a very talented running back,” Harper said. “With Avon, they were more of a spread team that ran the ball out of three and four wide receiver sets. Dolgeville, a lot of the time they have two tight ends with a wing and a fullback. It’s a lot more condensed.”

While Clymer/Sherman/Panama won back-to-back state titles in 2018 and 2019, and reached the state semifinals last season, the Blue Devils will be playing in their first state semifinal in 22 years despite winning sectional titles the past three seasons.

In fact, Dolgeville’s last appearance in a state semifinal came in 2002 when the Blue Devils beat the Jehuu Caulcrick-led Clymer Pirates 29-22 in the semifinals before losing to Dobbs Ferry 38-35 in the state championship game.

Clymer/Sherman/Panama enters Friday’s game after playing arguably its most complete game of the season last week in a 48-14 Far West Regional win over Avon at SUNY Brockport’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver Stadium.

In that game, senior quarterback Tate Catanese completed 17 of 24 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing 17 times for 66 yards and three touchdowns. Both of Catanese’s touchdown passes went to Carter Brink, while senior wide receiver Bryce Hinsdale caught eight passes for 112 yards. Hinsdale is now eight receptions shy of passing Bruce Williams’ all-time New York state record of 227 receptions in his career.

“Tate’s a great distributor of the ball. He’s going to throw it to whoever is open. He’s really good about not focusing on one guy,” Harper said. “Bryce is exceptional at finding space. When we are playing against a team that typically pays more zone coverage, that lends itself to Bryce having a big game.”

A welcome surprise for the Wolfpack offense was the contribution of senior running back Travis Owens, who rushed 11 times for 64 yards and a score.

“I thought Travis got better as the game went on. When you have a big, physical running back, sometimes that can help wear down a defense,” Harper said. “We know we have to be multi-dimensional. We can’t just get in four-receiver sets and throw it around. We’ll lean on Tate, but having Travis back there is huge.”

Defensively, Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s front-seven played one of its best games of the season considering the opponent. Avon senior Wesley Farley was held to 85 yards on 12 carries before leaving due to an injury. Entering that game at Bob Boozer Field, Farley had 1,590 yards and 23 touchdowns on 178 carries.

“The nice thing about this team, we have multiple guys who are willing to step up in big moments. Dalton Richter might be our most underrecognized player on the team. He’s an excellent leader out there for us as well. Dalton played a great game,” Harper said. “The defensive line did a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage. We’ll need that again on Friday.”

The winner of Friday’s game will play in the state title game next Friday, Dec. 6, at 3 p.m. inside the JMA Wireless Dome at Syracuse University. Section II champion Greenwich and Section IX champion Burke Catholic will play in the East Semifinal at the same time this Friday at Middletown High School for the other spot in the final.