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,

NYSPHSAA Schedule for our Section 2 Baseball/Softball teams

This weekend, eight teams from Section 2 will attempt to win a state title in baseball or softball.  While it has been a great year already for Section 2, hopefully one or more of our local teams can join teams like Niskayuna (Lacrosse), Lake George, Scotia and Shenendehowa (Basketball) on the wall of NYSPHSAA Champions for the 2014-15 school year.

Here's the schedule for all of our local teams, and where they will be playing.

SECTION 2 TEAMS ARE IN BOLD

NYSPHSAA SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

All games are on Saturday, June 13^th at Moreau Recreation Park in Moreau.

CLASS A

AVERILL PARK VS. Pearl River - 9AM

Starpoint vs. W.T. Clarke - 9AM

Championship – 1:30PM

CLASS B

ICHABOD CRANE vs. Alden - 9AM

Solvay vs. Marlboro - 9AM

Championship – 1:30PM

CLASS C

HOOSIC VALLEY vs. Addison - 11:30AM

Chester vs. Elmira-Notre Dame - 11:30AM

Championship -  4PM

CLASS D

FORT ANN vs. Hamilton - 11:30AM

Andover vs. Deposit - 11:30AM

Championship - 4PM

NYSPHSAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

All games are on Saturday, June 13^th at various venues in the Binghamton area.

CLASS AA

At Union-Endicott High School

SARATOGA SPRINGS vs. Orchard Park – 1PM
Mamaroneck vs. Connetquot - 10AM

Championship – 4PM

CLASS A

At Maine-Endwell High School

QUEENSBURY vs. Hamburg – 1PM

Levittown Division vs. Byram Hills – 10AM

Championship – 4PM

CLASS C

At Binghamton University

HOOSIC VALLEY vs. Southold – 10AM

Tioga vs. Geneseo – 1PM

Championship – 4PM

CLASS D

At Conlon Field, Binghamton

FORT ANN vs. Smithtown Christian - 10AM

Oriskany vs. Westfield – 1PM

Championship - 4PM

Good luck to all our local teams from FOX Sports Radio 1230!

Wincowski drops 24 as Warriors advance to Class C Championship

WATERVLIET - Joel Wincowski scored 24 points and fetched 12 rebounds as the Lake George Warriors defeated the Hoosic Valley Indians 56-47 to advance to the Section 2 Class C Championship.

The Warriors will face Waterford, who defeated Greenwich 49-32 earlier in the evening.

The Warriors started off quiet, going down early before a Joel Wincowski three put the Warriors up 15-14.  The Indians stormed back, scoring the next 12 points as they built a 26-15 lead with the help of John Rooney's nine 2nd quarter points.

Lake George would storm back to close to within two at the half, and then continued the warm streak by outscoring Hoosic Valley 20-11 in the third quarter with the help of Wincowski's 8 points in that pivotal quarter.

He would finish with 24 points as he would pass Robert Phelps for 11th all-time scoring in New York State.  His career total now sits at 2,479 points, 7 points behind Felipe Lopez for 10th.

Kyle Jones became the Warriors key contributor behind the arch, scoring 15 points on 5 threes.  Dylan Hubbard was also a threat from long range, scoring 9 points.

For John Rooney, he finished his high school basketball career with 15 points, scoring only two during the second half.  The 2014 NYS Small School Player of the Year finishes with 624 points during the 2014-15 season.  Dan Joslin gave the Indians scored 17 points, and Matt Epsey scored 10 points.

The game was moved to Watervliet after exterior structure damage at the Glens Falls Civic Center forced the move.  All games that were scheduled for the Civic Center have been moved, including Saturday's Sectional Championship.

The time and location for the Class C Sectional Championship is not official at this time, and will be announced at a later time.

Almost: Spa Catholic's Comeback Comes Up Short

GLENS FALLS - Like against Lake George, the Spa Catholic Saints went to the half down by double-digits.

Like against Lake George, they were the first team back out on the court during the break.

But this time, their comeback came up short.  

The Saints outscored the Hoosic Valley Indians 32-24 in the game's final half, but found themselves short by three as Hoosic Valley completed the boys-girls double with their 57-54 win over the Saints for the Class C Sectional Championship.  The girls had won earlier in the day, beating Greenwich 51-40 at Hudson Valley Community College for their championship.

Several times the Saints came within one, but was unable to bury the bucket they needed in order to take the lead.  On one occasion, the Saints were whistled for an offensive charge that gave the ball, and the momentum back to the Indians.

In the end, Ryan Czarnecki teed up a three point attempt, but was heavily contested and the season came to an end as the ball bounced off the front of the rim.

Luke Spicer scored 16 points for the Saints, and Evan Pescetti added 16 of his own points.  For Hoosic Valley, their scoring rested upon the shoulders of two - John Rooney and Mike Pierre, who both added dunks that dazzled the fans at the Glens Falls Civic Center.  Pierre scored a game-high 31 points, and Rooney contributed with 22 for a combined 53 of the Indians 57 points.

The Indians now await to see who their next opponent is, as they get a bye into the Regional finals next Saturday at Hudson Valley Community College.

SPA CATHOLIC SAINTS     7 15 13 19 - 54
HOOSIC VALLEY INDIANS  16 17 10 14 - 57

SPA CATHOLIC SAINTS
 3 Luke Spicer          2  6  4  4 - 16 -  2
15 Brian Hall           2  0  0  0 -  2 -  0
22 Ryan Czarnecki       0  0  0  3 -  3 -  1
34 Evan Pescetti        0  4  7  5 - 16 -  0
44 Mike Naughton        2  5  0  2 -  9 -  0
55 Keegan Murphy        1  0  2  5 -  8 -  0
TOTAL                   7 15 13 19 - 54 -  3

HOOSIC VALLEY INDIANS
10 J.T. Sawyer          2  0  0  0 -  2 -  0
20 Conway Gillespie     0  0  2  0 -  2 -  0
22 John Rooney          9  5  2  6 - 22 -  1
30 Mike Pierre          5 12  6  8 - 31 -  1
TOTAL                  16 17 10 14 - 57 -  2