VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville Blackbirds were flying in the second half of Saturday’s game against Chatham.

The Voorheesville football team broke a scoreless tie in the third quarter and added two more touchdowns to beat Chatham, 21-7.
"We felt pretty good," said Voorheesville Coach Joe Sapienza. "We didn’t adjust in the first series; it took until the second series to adjust."

The Blackbirds scored on their second possession of the third quarter, taking advantage of a Chatham mistake.

The Panthers attempted to punt the ball, but the punter mishandled the snap and was tackled by Voorheesville’s Eric Dickson at the eight-yard line before he could get rid of the ball.

After two runs by P.J. Hogenstad and an incomplete pass, quarterback Andy Catellier scored on a run from the one-yard line. Matt Miller kicked the extra point and the Blackbirds led, 7-0, with 4:40 left in the third quarter.

Chatham responded with a touchdown on its next possession.

A little screen pass on third down and 25 yards to go from Zach Kraham to Aaron Demars went for a long touchdown and tied the game with 1:46 left in the third quarter.

But Voorheesville took the lead for good on its next possession.

The Blackbirds got the ball on their own 35-yard line to start their drive. On the first play of the quarter, Catellier connected on a long pass to Nick Duncan that went for 45 yards and moved the ball to the Chatham 20-yard line.

More score

Hognestad picked up five yards on a run and then two plays later, Catellier and Duncan hooked up again — this time for 12 yards — to move the ball to the three-yard line.

After the teams switched ends of the field for the fourth quarter, it took Voorheesville three plays to score.

Hognestad bowled over from the one-yard line for the score to give the Birds the lead.

Miller added the extra point and the score was 14-7 with 11:08 left in the final stanza.

After forcing Chatham to punt on its next possession, Voorheesville got the ball back and scored again for added insurance.

Kurt Hoffart returned the kick to the 37-yard line to give the Birds good field position.

Catellier completed a pass to Duncan for seven yards and Catellier, on the next play, ran to the Chatham 48-yard line.

Catellier found his favorite receiver, Duncan, on the next play and this time the Birds got six points out of it.

Duncan made the catch over the defender and sprinted down the home-team’s sideline to the end zone for the touchdown.

Again, Miller kicked the extra point and the Blackbirds led 21-7 with just over seven minutes left in the contest.

"Executed nicely"

Offensive balance led to Catellier being able to get the ball to Duncan.
"P.J. running the ball for four or five yards a clip is really what set that up," Sapienza said. "They felt they had to put another defender on the run and that let us get the ball to Nick Duncan."

Duncan finished the game with six catches for 154 yards and the one touchdown. Catellier finished with 183 passing yards after completing eight passes out of 20 attempts. He did throw two interceptions, though the second one was on the Birds’ last possession of the game with just seconds remaining.

Hognestad ran for 70 yards on 19 attempts to help the offense.
"We started to move the chains," Sapienza said. "We adjusted and we’ve done that all season. We get sloppy at times, but I’m really proud of the kids. We settled in and executed nicely."

The Blackbirds’ defense allowed the team to stay close in the game until the adjustments could be made.
"Our defense was settled in," Sapienza said. "Their one big play was a screen. Our defensive front four wore them down all day.
"We put a lot of pressure on them," Sapienza added. "Sam Pelham must have had two or three sacks."

Pelham, a defensive end, had two sacks on the day for the Blackbirds.

Catellier also made a big play on defense. Chatham had the ball inside Voorheesville’s 10-yard line when Catellier caused a fumble and recovered the ball himself to put a halt to the drive.
"That was one of the plays of the game," Sapienza said. "It was just a great aggressive play."

The win bumps Voorheesville’s record to 2-1 in the Southern Division of Class C. The Birds bounced back from a tough 21-20 loss to Catholic Central.

Next week will bring homecoming and with it comes Voorheesville’s long-time rival Watervliet. Both teams will be battling for first place in the division.
"Watervliet has one loss and it’s non-divisional," Sapienza said. "That puts them up top. Everyone else has one loss in the division. We are playing for a share of first next week."