VOORHEESVILLE — If Voorheesville Coach Joe Sapienza was displeased with his team’s season-opening win last week, Friday’s win brought a smile to his face.

The Blackbirds controlled the game in all facets and beat host Tamarac, 35-0, under the lights last Friday.
"We played very well," Sapienza said on Monday. "It was significantly better than the first game."

Sapienza said that his team controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in a dominating performance.
"We exectued very well on offense," the coach said, praising quarterback Jay Conde. "Jay had a good game passing the ball. He completed passes to every skill position player. We were very balanced with the run and the pass. Jay was good at taking what the defense was giving us. We were patient on offense."

Conde had an excellent game, completing 10 passes for 112 yards and he threw his first touchdown pass of the season.

The senior connected with classmate Evan Christner from eight yards out in the first quarter for a score. Lee Fenner kicked the extra point to give the Blackbirds a 7-0 lead.

Voorheesville added another touchdown in the opening stanza as senior fullback Adam Duncan scored from one yard out. Fenner made the extra point and Voorheesville led 14-0.

In the second quarter, lineman Dan Flynn sacked the Tamarac quarterback in the end zone for a safety. It was the only score of the quarter for both teams.
"Our defense was really aggressive," Sapienza said. "We were solid. We didn’t let them get into any field position too often."

In the third quarter, Duncan scored his second touchdown of the game. This time, he ran from 11 yards out to give the Birds a 22-0 lead.

Senior running back Pat Jones scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He scored on runs of 17 yards and 56 yards in the frame. Fenner connected on the point after the final touchdown to round out the scoring.

Jones finished the contest with 148 yards rushing on 19 carries. Duncan added 70 yards on 13 carries.

Conde completed passes to Duncan, Chris Massaroni, Christner, Jordan Murphy, Brad Donaldson, and Jimmy Carroll.

Voorheesville forced Tamarac to commit five turnovers in the contest.

"A test of wills"
"We made significant improvement," Sapienza said. "Sean Fitzmaurice and Dan Flynn dominated. Our defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage. We didn’t give their offense anything."

The Birds were also able to move the ball against the Bengals, even though Tamarac stacked the line of scrimmage to prevent the run.
"They had nine guys at the line of scrimmage, keying on Pat and Adam," Sapienza said. "Jay had 141 yards passing. He kept their defense off balance. Every skill player caught a ball. Jay completed passes to both our split ends, fullback, and tailback. That put a lot of pressure on their defense."

It was a hot night on Friday, and Sapienza said that more focus on conditioning helped his team.
"It was a test of wills," Sapienza said. "We worked a lot on conditioning last week, and we will work a lot on it this week. I’m sure we’ll be in better shape as the season goes on. We did a little extra and you could see the difference in the fourth quarter. We were pretty fresh."

The Blackbirds will have to continue to work as they will have a big test on Saturday. The Birds will host fellow unbeaten and long-time rival Watervliet at Thomas Buckley Field in Voorheesville.

Kick-off for the contest is at 1:30.
"There are three teams that are 2-0 in our division," Sapienza said. "Us and Watervliet are two of them. So for positioning, this is a pretty significant game. It is always a rivalry and, with both teams being 2-0, that makes it more special."