Black Horses win 2nd in a row behind 20-2 3rd Quarter over old rival

GREENWICH - Nick Budesheim led the Black Horses with 13 points as the Schuylerville Black Horses won their second game in a row with a 55-44 victory over the Greenwich Witches.

The Black Horses found themselves down 20-12 after the first quarter as Sam Howard used 2 three point shots in a 10 point opening stanza effort for the Greenwich Witches, but slowly chipped away at the lead as Budesheim scored 7 second quarter points in a 13-9 quarter for the Black Horses.

Greenwich came away with the halftime lead 29-25, but saw that lead evaporate as the Black Horses outscored the Witches 20-2 in the third quarter to gain a lead that Schuylerville would not relinquish.   Luke Pemrick would score the lone two points for Greenwich in the third quarter, both from the charity stripe. 

Greenwich would attempt to come back in the fourth quarter, but the Black Horses managed the clock in the closing stages of the fourth quarter to preserve the win. 

It was the second win in a row for Schuylerville, who had dropped four straight against tough Foothills Council teams prior to squeaking past Broadalbin-Perth by two points in their effort last Friday.  The Black Horses next travel to face Joe Girard III and the Glens Falls Indians as they return to Foothills Council action next Friday.

In addition to Budesheim's 13 points, Stranton Sherman scored 12, Caiden Rutland had 3 three point buckets on his way to 11 points, and Paul Harshbarger found himself in double digits for Schuylerville.

For Greenwich, Sam Howard started hot with 15 first half points, but was held silent for much of the second half as the Black Horses defense started focusing on him.   He added a free throw on his way to a total of 16 points for the Witches.   John Walsh, the team's leading scorer, was held to 9 points.

The Witches next face the Wasaren League leading Hoosick Falls Panthers next Friday.

The non-conference meeting was the fifth since Schuylerville left the Wasaren League for the Foothills Council in the fall of 2014.   Since the move, the Black Horses have won five straight against the school that's only six miles away from campus.

Notes & Thoughts - Week #4 in Section 2 Football

Some thoughts from Week #4 in High School Football:

- Hoosic Valley 20, Greenwich 13: You have to wonder how much the rain affected the outcome of this game, as it made things very difficult for the Greenwich Witches.  Tom Madigan was going to run circles around the Witches either way, but did the slickness of the ball lead to the first Hoosic Valley score?

It could become a storyline should these two teams meet again in what will likely be the Semifinals in Week #9, since the Indians are likely heading for the #1 seed now and the Witches will more than likely be the #4 or #5 seed.

- Troy 20, Shaker 13: This battle of the 3-0's was everything it was advertised to be.  And Troy continues to show that they belong in Class AA.  They have a good nucleus, keeping their composure while they were down against Shaker in the 4th Quarter.

And John Germinerio deserves a lot of recognition.  We saw this last year when he helped lead Troy to their come-from-behind win against the Queensbury Spartans in the A Semifinal, launching an amazing 80 yard touchdown with just over a minute left to play.  And we're seeing this again this year, as Germinerio was responsible for all 20 points the Flying Horses put up against Shaker.

- Averill Park 19, Burnt Hills 16: The Averill Park Warriors scored their first win over the Burnt Hills Spartans in 11 years with a nail-biter in Rensselaer County.  The win, coupled with Lansingburgh's loss to Amsterdam, creates a log jam for the top spot in the Southeast Division, one that may not be sorted out until the final whistle of the Week #7 game between Averill Park and Lansingburgh.

Averill Park's only loss of the season so far was a non-divisional game where they forced overtime before falling to the Queensbury Spartans.

- Amsterdam 35, Lansingburgh 0: You give head coach Doug Edick a week to properly prep a quarterback, and this is the result you get.

Arthur Ausfeld's game wasn't clean, as he threw for 55 yards and got picked off once, but it was better than the 2-for-8 for negative yardage against Queensbury.  His pass helped open the playbook, allowing for Dale Stanavich to be the role player he couldn't of been against the Spartans.

And as a result, you have to feel better about the Amsterdam Rams than you did a week ago when Trey Holloway went down for an injury that will sideline the Junior until the playoffs at the earliest.

- Lake George/Hadley-Luzerne 22, Hoosick Falls 19: The War Eagles win their third straight game with a come-from-behind win against the Panthers.  Shane McCabe called his own number for the go-ahead touchdown and gave the War Eagles the field goal padding with his two point conversion toss.

The loss now leaves the Panthers with only one win in four divisional games, thus already eliminating them from postseason contention.  It will mark the second straight year the Panthers will miss on the playoffs, a strange state of affairs for a team heading into last year having won 6 straight Section 2 crowns.  But the win now places the War Eagles in a good position to possibly make the playoffs.

- Hudson 64, Ichabod Crane 0: If you needed further proof that the Hudson Blue Hawks are off to an amazing 2016 season, here you go.

Mike Alert had over 200 total yards rushing and receiving to help lead the Blue Hawks to an impressive win over the Ichabod Crane Riders, keeping them undefeated and setting up a very important Weeks 6 and 7 for the Blue Hawks, hoping to make it to their first Super Bowl since 2006 when they lost to Albany Academy in the big game.

The last time Hudson won the sectional championship was when they beat Glens Falls for the Class B title in 2001.

- Mechanicville 42, Watervliet 15: Mechanicville is now the favorite to win the Class C Central Division thanks to their win over previously undefeated Watervliet.

Evan Chapman is a beast, with 450 yards rushing in his last two games.  As his workload has increased over the last two weeks, he has been paying dividends, scoring three touchdowns and helping to drive home the ground and pound philosophy that the Red Raiders are executing.

- Albany 26, Schenectady 12: Albany may not be the best team in Section 2, Class AA.

But they're celebrating something they haven't seen in nearly a decade - two wins over Class AA opponents in the same season.   One look at the past in Albany Falcons football will offer you a reason why this milestone is huge.

The Falcons are not synonymous with winning like other programs in Section 2 are.  Their last Sectional appearance came in 2004.  Their only Sectional Championship came in 1996.  In fact, in 35 years, the Falcons have only made the playoffs six times.

So, in short, the 2-2 Falcons have a lot to be proud of.

- Schalmont 54, Albany Academy 19: Two things come out of this game.

First, the Schalmont Sabres are back.  After their 0-2 start where they faced last year's two teams to play in the Sectional Championship, the Sabres have bounced back with quality wins over Cobleskill-Richmondville and Albany Academy.

Until the Sabres meet up with Hudson coming up in just under three weeks, we'll peg the Sabres as the second best team in the Reinfurt Division, but not by much.

Second, Albany Academy had a great opportunity to prove their 3-0 record was for real and they had a great shot at being the top team in the Reinfurt Division.  But in this crushing 35 point loss, we instead find the Cadets as either the third or fourth best team in the Reinfurt Division,

Power Eight - Week #3

Now until the end of the season, we're going to give you our thoughts who the top 8 teams of each classification is, with one exception.

In Class D, because only four teams will make the playoffs, we will limit that classification to four teams instead of eight.

We will post a new list every Thursday.

Greenwich Pounds To Week 1 Win

GREENWICH - Reese Cristaldi rushed for 197 yards on 18 carries and scored for two touchdowns, and Cole Burgess scored three touchdowns as the Greenwich Witches shut out the Hoosick Falls Panthers 34-0 on Friday night.

The Witches (1-0), winning their 11th straight Section 2 game, opened the scoring on a Cristaldi 34 yard run after Hoosick Falls (0-1) threatened, coming up empty on downs deep in the Red Zone in a series that began with a gift of a Greenwich turnover on a punt return attempt.

Greenwich would add to their lead after a high snap was bobbled by Hoosick Falls quarterback Aaron Tomczak, bouncing into the end zone for a safety.

A pair of Cole Burgess reception touchdowns from the arm of Greenwich quarterback Josh James gave the Witches a 22-0 lead going into halftime.  Burgess electrified the home crowd coming out of the half with a 90 yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start the third quarter.

Cristaldi would find the end zone once more in the third quarter to cap the scoring for the Witches.

After wining 59 straight Section 2 contests, the Hoosick Falls Panthers have now lost two straight season-openers, losing last year to Hoosic Valley at home in Week 1.  They travel to Schaghticoke to face those Indians this Saturday.  The Greenwich Witches will travel to Granville to face the Golden Horde in a Saturday afternoon divisional match.

2016 - WEEK 1: Hoosick Falls Panthers at Greenwich Witches
Friday, September 2nd, 2016
Greenwich Junior-Senior High School, Greenwich, NY

Hoosick Falls   0   0   0   0   0
Greenwich       9  13  12   0  34

1st Quarter:
 4:05 GRE - Cristaldi 34 yard run
 2:45 GRE - Tomczak (HF) Safety
2nd Quarter:
 6:32 GRE - Burgess 88 yard reception from James
 1:01 GRE - Burgess 14 yard reception from James
3rd Quarter:
11:40 GRE - Burgess 90 yard kick-off return
 1:32 GRE - Cristaldi 1 yard run

Raw Feed: Hoosick Falls at Greenwich

Looking for a raw feed from tonight's Hoosick Falls/Greewich game? Click the "MORE" button and you will be able to find it! Enjoy the broadcast.


Please note as this is a raw feed, there will be no commercial breaks or produced elements during the course of the game.  We will do our best to keep this feed going throughout the entire broadcast but cannot be responsible for any outages that occur.   FOX Sports Radio 1230 - WMML-AM is on Mixlr

Some Thoughts: Hoosick Falls at Greenwich

Tonight we head over to Washington County as the Greenwich Witches host the Hoosick Falls Panthers in the kickoff to the 2016 High School Sports season for us.

It will be a fun match between two teams with different agendas this upcoming season.

Greenwich is coming off a spectacular season which they made it to the state championship game, but came up short against a very difficult and perennial strong team in the Chenango Forks Blue Devils.

They would love nothing more than to get back to Syracuse for another crack at the state championship.

Hoosick Falls lost three straight games, two to Syracuse-bound teams, but wrapped up their season with a crossover win against Rensselaer to give the Panthers a winning season.  But the losses added up, including a loss in Week 1 against Hoosic Valley that ended the Panthers dominance over Section 2 opponents over the course of the past 6 seasons.

It resulted in the Panthers missing the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades.

They want to get back in.

But if you're looking to see which desire is greater, you have to think Hoosick Falls's want to get back to Sectionals is better.  Ron Jones wants to show the Section, as well as New York State, that last year was a fluke year, and that the Panthers are back.

Tonight is a stepping stone for showing that.  Likewise, for Greenwich, tonight will present the opportunity to show Section 2 they are just as strong as they were last year.

It will make for a great game.  The first of hopefully 13 great weeks of football here in Section 2.

High School Recap: Barnes breaks down the barn door on way to four TD's

John Barnes ran for over 200 yards and found the end zone four times as the Greenwich Witches used their magic in a 42-7 win over the Whitehall Railroaders.

The win gives the Witches sole possession of first place in Class D North.

The Witches scored on their first two possessions of the game as John Barnes rushed his way in from four yards out for a score, and Lukas Whitehouse connected with Alex Messina for a six yard score, as the Witches led 12-0 after the first quarter.

But Justin Hoagland helped get the Railroaders back within a possession with his three yard run to score early in the second quarter.

However, that would be all the offense the Railroaders would have.  Down 20-7 after the half, the Railroaders had some momentum, bringing the ball all the way to the Greenwich 40 yard line, but John Barnes picked off Hoagland and ran the entire distance for the touchdown.

John Barnes would score one last time on a 71 yard rush that made the score 35-7.  The run, with 52 seconds left to play in the third quarter, pushed Barnes past the 1,000 yard mark for the season.

The Witches would cap the scoring on a Lukas Whitehouse to Glenn Taylor five yard touchdown pass that would make the score 42-7.

The Railroaders fall to 3-2 with the loss, suffering their first divisional loss this season.  The loss places them second in the Northern Division with two games still to play.  Justin Hoagland threw for 39 yards, but found trouble as he completed only three of his 10 passes, getting picked off twice in the second half.

On the ground, Hoagland scored a touchdown on his way to 139 yards of rushing.  Brad Hanna rushed for 58 yards.

Lukas Whitehouse passed for 64 yards on 5-for-10 passing.  He threw two touchdowns and was picked off once.  John Barnes finished with 222 yards and four touchdowns.  He also had 28 receiving yards.  Brandon DiSanto also crossed the century mark, with 100 yards of rushing.

The Witches now travel to Warrensburg to face the Burghers before wrapping up their regular season at home against the Fort Edward Flying Forts.  The Railroaders will return home to face Salem next week.

Stats reported are unofficial and should not be used for official record purposes.

Week 4: High School Recap

One big win.  One big step forward for a local program.
Four miles away, one big loss.

Week 4 in review... after the jump.

BONUS COVERAGE: Whitehall @ Greenwich

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1230 FOX Sports Radio is adding one game to their 2013 High School Football Coverage.

We will be live at Greenwich Central School as the Greenwich Witches face the Whitehall Railroaders in a Class D match.

The match features John Barnes, who has made headlines because of his ability to run through defensive lines, leading to his Section II leading 801 yards through four games.  He's on pace to crack the all-time Top 25 in rushing yards for Section II.  For Whitehall, Justin Hoagland has shown he can rush and pass, but distribute the ball too as Brad Hanna has been picking up some good yardage for the Railroaders.

With both teams at 3-1, 2-0 in the division, the winner of the contest will have the upper path towards the Northern Division's #1 seed come the first round of Sectionals in Week 8.

Broadcast will begin on 1230 FOX Sports Radio at 6:45PM with the pregame, featuring comments from both head coaches.  Kickoff is scheduled for 7PM.

As usual, the broadcast is brought to you by Jerry Brown's Auto Parts, located on Lower Warren Street in Queensbury.  You can find them online at JBAP.com.

Note: This game is in addition to our regular scheduled Saturday Afternoon game, when the Glens Falls Indians host the Broadalbin-Perth Patriots at 1:30PM.  2:00PM.

UPCOMING HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL BROADCASTS
FRIDAY 10/4: Whitehall Railroaders (3-1) at Greenwich Witches (3-1) - 6:45PM
SATURDAY 10/5: Broadalbin-Perth Patriots (3-1) at Glens Falls Indians (2-2) - 1:45PM - SAT Examinations have pushed this game's start time back, as well as several others.
SATURDAY 10/12: Lake George Warriors (1-3) at Fort Edward Flying Forts (0-4) - 12:45PM
SATURDAY 10/19: TO BE ANNOUNCED DURING SATURDAY 10/5 BROADCAST
SATURDAY 10/26: SECTIONAL QUARTERFINALS: TEAMS TBA

Be sure to like 1230 FOX Sports Radio on Facebook for more High School Sports coverage, and follow 1230 FOX Sports Radio on Twitter during game day for live tweeting, game recaps and more.

High School Sports: Week 3 Recap: What have we learned?

Three weeks down, four to go in the regular season of the High School Football season.

So what have we learned?

We’ve learned that although some things have changed, some things have remained the same.  New faces in new places haven’t brought an end to old success. A lot of the same teams we had our eyes on last year are still in the top spots this year.

Ultimately … what we’ve learned is that this could be another exciting year for Section 2.  More after the jump.

High School Football: Week 1 Preview

Are you ready for some local football?
It's the dawn of a new High School Football season tonight as teams across the entire North Country and Capital District meet on the gridiron, trying to emulate the success that Shaker, Burnt Hills, Glens Falls, Hoosick Falls and Rensselaer had last year. 

So how will the local teams fare?  Let's take a look:

Troy @ Queensbury - 1:30PM Saturday
Radio Coverage: 1230 FOX Sports Radio

It’s a fresh new season for both teams, and time to put the past behind them and look forward to the future.

For Queensbury, that future rests on the legs of Phil Wettersten, who was the Spartans number two rusher behind Alston Moses last year.  Now with Moses gone, Wettersten looks to be that go-to guy, churning 690 total yards for an average of 7.0 yards per carry last year.

But he won’t be the only one churning up yards of offense, as Tim Voorhis, Kalen Minott, Eric Wettersten and more gives John Irion a lot of different options behind the line.  Plus Aidan Switzer will also be available to generate offense through his arm.  Now, Queensbury is not a pass-friendly team, but can do so when needed as Switzer last year went 11 for 23 for 169 yards, including two touchdowns.

Troy, too, has a lot of experience in the backfield in the form of their primary running backs, Rayshawn Johnson and Maurice Jones. And with a experience line returning with three captains, those two could easily find the holes needed to churn up a lot of offense.

So the task for both defenses is to close those holes and to make sure that the running backs have to work extra hard to gain offense.  Both teams have the benefit of a thick roster, coupled with some veteran coaching.  Both John Irion of the Spartans and Jack Burger of the Flying Horses have a combined 36 years of coaching experience in high school football.

Class A only has 9 teams, and with a 8-team playoff system, all but one team will make it past Week 7.  But that doesn’t mean teams have nothing to play for in Class A, being able to play in front of your home crowd in Weeks 8 and 9 is better than being the road team.

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Schalmont @ Glens Falls - 1:30PM SaturdayMeanwhile, the past may have been rich to the Glens Falls Indians, but they will have to move on.  With the core group that brought Glens Falls to their first sectional title since 1993 and their first ever Carrier Dome appearance now gone, the Indians will have to rely on the new talent to carry the torch.

How good that new talent will be will immediately be put up to the test when they host the Schalmont Sabres on Saturday.  The Schalmont Sabres fell to the Indians in the Class B Super Bowl, but maintain Devon Willis, who churned up a good piece of real estate last year, and is in the top 30 career rushers in Section 2 already, hoping to move up the list as the season progresses.

The Indians were very good at stopping Willis’s run attack for the most part during the Super Bowl last year, but will need new components to work together to do the same this year.  Willis’s performance may not exactly determine an outcome for the game, but it will definitely set the tone.

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Hudson Falls @ Schuylerville - 7:00PM Friday

The team that the Indians beat in the semifinals to move onto the Super Bowl is hosting the Hudson Falls Tigers.  The Schuylerville Black Horses have a new look, from the head coach to the players on the field.  John Bowen takes over the duties for retired coach Greg O’Connor, and now will face a new lineup now that Shane Lyon is graduated.

Shane Lyon was a dangerous threat when holding onto the football, and what made him more of a threat was not knowing what he was going to do with the ball.  Although his passing wasn’t crisp – going 24 for 72 for a 33% completion percentage, it made defenses worry as he ran a lot of quarterback options, accumulating 1200 yards of offense to lead all rushers, nearly doubling the efforts of Dan Waldron, their second biggest rusher at 680 yards. 

Both those players are not with the team, leaving the Black Horses with underclassmen running the show.  Skyler Bateman has experience touching the ball, accumulating 105 rushing yards and crossing the endzone 3 times during his season last year.  He looks to be a bigger threat this year, and so too does Josh Thomas.

The opposite is true in Hudson Falls, where they have plenty of returning talent on both ends of the ball, including junior Geno Brancati.  Last year Brancati was responsible for 8 touchdowns, running 746 yards.  But Brancati wants more, as he told Laura Owens of the Glens Falls Post-Star that he wants to break the millennium mark this season, scoring more than 20 touchdowns.  He also wants to be Section II’s leading rusher, which will be a tough task for the junior with Devon Willis still carrying the ball over in Schalmont.

On the other side of the ball, Hudson Falls is returning back to the defense that brought the Tigers to Dietz Stadium for the State Semifinals in Kingston back in 2008, a 3-5 formation. 
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Greenwich @ Cambridge - 1:00PM Saturday

Also in Week 1, it’s the battle of Route 372 as cross-highway rivals square off at Cambridge Saturday afternoons as the Greenwich Witches take on the Cambridge Indians.  Last year’s matchup turned out to be one of the best games of the year, as the Indians and Witches went to overtime before the Indians would go on to win.

The loss for Greenwich was key as it put them behind both Rensselaer and Cambridge in a division where only two teams make the playoffs.  Two things benefit Greenwich this year over last year without even playing a game – the fact that Class D has gone to a 8 team playoff system, and also the fact that Greenwich is now in Class D North, apart  from Cambridge and Rensselaer.

On the field, Josh Barnes has earned a lot of preseason attention, and with good reasons.  He was one of the top rushers in Section II last year, devouring 1480 yards of turf on his way to 17 touchdowns.  His return gives Brandon Linett some options with his Multiple-I offense.

With a return of 3 of their 5 offensive linemen, Greenwich should be a top candidate to win Class D North.

Cambridge wants to return to the Class D Sectionals, where their time last year came to a surprising end when they lost 27-26 to the Salem Generals in the semifinals at Schuylerville.  It will be tough with a younger squad, notably without Matt Parmeter, who led the team with over 1200 yards of offense. 

Even though Saturday’s cross-highway rivalry will not count towards towards playoff seeding, both teams will want to start off well, and, of course, there is that presence of wanting to be the better team.