VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville football team came into the season confident in its defense. It looks like the Blackbirds can be confident in their offense as well.

The Blackbirds put up 34 points against a tough Catholic Central High School team on Saturday and the defense pitched a shutout in the second half for a 34-20 win.
"We distributed the ball," Sapienza said. "We ran, we passed. It was Jay’s first game, and he showed a lot of poise out there."

Jay Conde made his first varsity start and had a great day. He completed nine of 17 passes for 172 yards and had a touchdown pass. He also ran in for two touchdowns.

The Birds also got 127 yards on the ground on 16 carries from Pat Jones.
"We know what we are capable of," Sapienza said. "We’ve been at team camps and had scrimmages and we always executed. We went a quarter-and-a-half without making any mistakes. We made a couple when we got tired."

The Blackbirds — in their new classic throwback white helmets and purple jerseys — got on the board first. After punting on their first possession, a fumble snap recovered by Jeff Connors gave the Birds the ball back at the CCHS 33-yard line.

Four plays later, Adam Duncan capped the drive — which featured a 22-yard run by Jones — with a two-yard touchdown run.
"He played a great first varsity football game," Sapienza said of Jones. "He showed what he is capable of. He’s only going to get better."

Matt Miller kicked the extra point and the Blackbirds had a 7-0 lead with 7:51 in the first quarter.

But Catholic Central scored on its next possession on a long run by NyQuan McGirt. McGirt took the handoff from Chris Bouchard and ran down the right sideline for a 84-yard touchdown.

The extra point was no good and Voorheesville held a 7-6 lead.

The Birds came back and tacked on six points to their lead.

Conde scored the first of his two touchdowns. This one was on a 13-yard run that capped a drive that included a 10-yard pass to Tim Robinson and a pass from Robinson to Chris Massaroni.

Catholic Central came back and pulled within one point with 1:19 left in the first frame. Bouchard scored on a five-yard run for the Crusaders. The extra point was blocked to keep the Blackbirds ahead.

Voorheesville scored on its next possession.

The Blackbirds started at their own 19-yard line and marched down the field using a big 54-yard pass play from Conde to Curt Hoffart that put the ball on the five yard line.

Conde capped the drive on the next play and Miller added the extra point to give Voorheesville an eight-point lead, 20-12.

The Birds got the ball back after the Crusaders punted. Voorheesville got the ball at the 50-yard line and scored two plays later on a 41-yard pass play from Conde to Hoffart.

The Birds had a 26-12 lead. Hoffart finished the game with 95 receiving yards on just two catches.

But Catholic Central wouldn’t go away as the Crusaders scored on their next possession.

McGirt scored on an 11-yard run and Bouchard ran in for the two-point conversion to make the score 26-20 with 5:53 left in the first half.

The half ended with that score after the Blackbirds defense had its best stand of the first 24 minutes.

Rob Selby’s sack of Bouchard late in the half kept the Birds in the lead at the intermission.

Defensive struggle

The third quarter was a defensive struggle as neither team scored and neither got much offense.

The Birds started a drive late in the third quarter and ended with a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Duncan scored his second touchdown of the game, on a one-yard run. Conde hooked up with Robinson for the two-point conversion.

The Voorheesville team held off the Crusaders by getting an interception by Jones.
"We said at halftime that defense had to step up," Sapienza said. "The defense had to win the game. We didn’t want to turn the ball over and make any mistakes. We shut them down in the the second half and that’s a team with a lot of offensive firepower. I thought that was impressive."

A big difference was that McGirt appeared tired and banged up in the second half.
"They had McGirt at linebacker," Sapienza said. "We ran at him all day. We knew it would be tough to stop McGirt on offense. We wanted to get after him and see what he would do."

The offensive line also controlled the line of scrimmage for the Blackbirds. Tackles Charlie McGrail and Connors, center Sean Hognestad, and guards Steve Cardinal and Dan Flynn opened holes for Jones and gave Conde protection.
"The offensive line did a phenomenal job of controlling the line of scrimmage," Sapienza said. "They also did a great job of picking things up. Catholic Central is a team that jumps around and shows you different fronts. We never got rattled and I’m proud of that."

The Blacbirds will savor Saturday’s win as they prepare for a trip to Schuylerville.
"It was a good opener," Sapienza said. "I feel we beat one of the better teams in Class C. It’s not like we beat an easy team. We beat a team that is very talented and very prepared.
"We’re going up to Schuylerville," Sapienza added. "They are the defending C champs. I’m looking forward to it."