Section 4 football championship matchups were decided in three classes during Friday semifinal action.
The remaining three finals will be determined Saturday with semifinals in Class B, Class D and 8-man.
Class AA: Defending champion Elmira (5-4) rolled to a 32-0 victory over visiting Ithaca. The Express earned a spot in the final against top-seeded Corning (6-2), to be played at 6 p.m. Nov. 15 at Corning Memorial Stadium.
"This is the game we want," Elmira coach Jimmy McCauley said of reaching the championship game. "We told the kids all week long, you want the medal, you've got to win this one. We did. Now we've got a chance to defend it."
More: Full semifinal schedule for Section 4 football
Class A: Vestal (5-4) downed Union-Endicott, 24-9, in the Class A semifinal and will play at top-seeded Horseheads (7-2) next weekend in the final. The Blue Raiders advanced by forfeit against Binghamton earlier in the week.
Class C: Defending state champion Waverly (9-1), ranked first in New York in Class C, was a 42-0 winner over Windsor in one semifinal. Third-ranked Chenango Forks (9-1) topped Lansing, 42-13, in the other. The final is scheduled for noon Nov. 16 at Johnson City High School.
Class B: Owego Free Academy (8-1) beat Norwich, 34-14, Friday to secure one semifinal spot. Maine-Endwell, the state's top-ranked Class B team, takes on Oneonta at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 9 in the second semifinal. The final is scheduled for 3 p.m. Nov. 16 at Johnson City.
Elmira High's defense held Ithaca without a first down and limited the Little Red to minus-12 yards of offense to earn a shot at back-to-back sectional titles. Total offense for the Express was 330 yards.
"Kudos to those guys who play defense," Elmira coach Jimmy McCauley said.
He added of Elmira's scout team, "If those guys don't give us a great look, our defense isn't getting better during the week."
Julian Colon carried 27 times for 144 yards and two touchdowns for the Express, scoring on second-half runs of 3 yards and 1 yard. He added an interception and a quarterback sack on defense.
"When he puts his mind to it, he does really, really good things for us," McCauley said.
Breyan Brooks scored on a 9-yard run and Daeshaun Harris rushed for a 1-yard TD to help the Express lead 12-0 at halftime. Brooks carried 10 times for 57 yards, and Harris picked up 59 yards on six rushes.
Elmira's final touchdown came on a 21-yard pass from Zach Conklin to Liam Ogden, who outleaped an Ithaca defender in the corner of the end zone. Conklin hit three of four passes for 45 yards.
"My son and his crew here, they're in seventh grade, and we tell them all the time if our line's doing what they're supposed to do, my son as a seventh-grader can run a little bit," McCauley said. "It's the line. If they get the job done, we're going to have a good day."
Corning beat Elmira, 24-12, on Oct. 18 in an outcome that decided which team received a bye into the final. Both Section 4 finalists advance to the state tournament for the first time this year.
"I thought we did a nice job tonight, but everybody's going to be worried about the next one," McCauley said. "This one is kind of done. Our attention and our focus will be on Corning. They're a great team, they're hard to defend, their defense is good, they fly around the football. We're going to have to be at our best here this week."
Cayden Kitchin ran for two touchdowns Friday and Vestal's defense held visiting Union-Endicott out of the end zone until the final play in their Class A semifinal.
Kitchin scored the game's first touchdown on a 5-yard run with 10:14 left in the second quarter. He added a 4-yard TD run with 2:05 remaining.
J.T. Gannon's 13-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the first half helped the Golden Bears take a 12-3 halftime lead. Julian Adams put Vestal up 18-3 with a 5-yard TD run with 6:54 left in the third quarter.
U-E's Joey Gennarelli threw an 11-yard touchdown to Alex Palombaro on the game's final play. The Tigers' other points came on a 31-yard field goal from Donte Sterling.
Waverly quarterback Ben Shaw passed for four touchdowns Friday to help the Wolverines cruise against Windsor in their Class C semifinal.
Shaw lofted touchdowns of 12 and 19 yards to Xavier Watson to help Waverly lead 21-0 at halftime. Those followed a 44-yard TD throw to Kolsen Keathley to open the scoring.
Shaw capped his big night with an 84-yard touchdown throw to Keathley, who scored his third touchdown on a 6-yard run 47 seconds into the final quarter.
Jack Buchsbaum reversed field and scored on an 85-yard punt return to give Owego a two-touchdown lead in the first half on the way to the Class B semifinal victory against Norwich.
Dylan Brace had touchdown runs of 6 and 4 yards for the River Hawks. A 15-yard touchdown toss from Elijah Lewis to Evan English helped Owego lead 21-7 at halftime.
Owego's final touchdown came on a 3-yard run from Stefano Scherrer that made it a 34-7 score late in the third quarter.
In a non-playoff game, Susquehanna Valley piled up 587 yards of total offense Friday in a 50-26 victory over Watkins Glen/Odessa-Montour.
Sabers quarterback Maddox Kopko completed nine of 11 passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns. He added 51 yards and a touchdown on nine rushes.
Jesse Frear had three catches for 149 yards and two TDs, highlighted by a 75-yarder. Sam Miller caught four passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns, the first of which covered 81 yards.
Nick Layton led the SV ground game with 141 yards on 13 carries. Joe Perez (four carries, 59 yards) ran for two touchdowns.
Nick D'Alleva carried 15 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns for the Schuyler Storm. Gavin Lohmeyer added 96 yards and a touchdown on 15 rushes, and Hunter Mowry was 9-for-17 passing for 103 yards, including a 21-yard touchdown to Lohmeyer.