Frank Speziale Photo

NORWICH – Homecoming 2016 for the Norwich Purple Tornado, down 16-0 at the half, a 23-point comeback in the third quarter, and a missed two-point conversion for the possible win – that is the roller coaster ride that the the Tornado fans endured on Friday night, when the Sabers came to town.

“It's one of those games where whoever loses is going to be extremely disappointed,” said Norwich head coach Mike Chrystie.

The Susquehanna Valley Sabers, a class B division rival for Norwich and in a must win game on Homecoming, the Sabers proceeded to slice their way through the struggling Tornado team in the first half, eventually earning the 30-29 win over Norwich on Oct. 7.

SV would lead 16-0 at the half following a pair of one yard touchdown runs from Jarred Freije and Brandon Vosbury, and a 23 yard field goal kick from Timothy Hawley as time expired in the half.

“It really was was a tale of two halves. The first half we just didn’t come out and execute, we couldn’t get anything started on offense. We couldn’t really establish the run like we'd hoped to,” said Norwich head coach Mike Chrystie.