VOORHEESVILLE — It wasn’t a top-notch performance, but the Voorheesville football team will take it for now.

The Blackbirds moved the ball at will on offense but struggled at times on defense and with special teams in a 50-34 win over Catholic Central High School of Troy on a hot, humid Saturday afternoon.

The weather was strange for October, and so was the game as Voorheesville, which prides itself on tough defense, could not stop winless Catholic Central from moving the ball. The Blackbirds, however, flew all over the field on offense, rolling up 50 points.
"Every week, we have spots that we look brilliant," said Voorheesville Coach Joe Sapienza. "Then, at times, it looks like we have no idea what we are doing. We worked on the things that we talked about [pass defense, kickoff coverage]. We made improvements in execution. The mistakes are something that is emotion. We are flat and we have to be emotional and concentrate on every play. We are not there yet and we are still learning that."
"We have to work on some things," said senior running back Pat Jones. "[Pass coverage] is one thing we need to work on. They should not be completing passes. If we, including me, stopped that, they would not have had half as many points."

Back and forth

Catholic Central scored first in Saturday’s contest, after a good kickoff return put the ball on the Voorheesville 40-yard line.

The Crusaders moved the ball down the field. The drive was capped by Zay Quan’s one-yard run.

The extra-point kick was blocked by Jordan Murphy, but Catholic Central led, 6-0.

It didn’t take Voorheesville long after that to take the lead.

Senior Pat Jones took the kickoff and ran the ball 41 yards to the Catholic Central 39-yard line.

Four plays later, sophomore fullback Dan Whiteley scored on a 28-yard run up the middle. Lee Fenner’s extra-point kick gave the Birds a 7-6 lead with 4:47 left in the first quarter.

After forcing the Crusaders to punt on the ensuing possession, Voorheesville got the ball back on its own 48-yard line.

Jones took the hand-off from quarterback Jay Conde and burst through the line. He ran untouched the rest of the way for a 52-yard touchdown run. Fenner’s kick made it 14-6 in favor of the Blackbirds with 2:04 left in the opening stanza.

Voorheesville went up 21-6 early in the second quarter.

The Birds got runs from Whiteley, Jones, and a pass play from Conde to Evan Christner to move the ball down the field.

The drive ended when Jones ran into the end zone from six yards out. Fenner, again, was good on his kick and the Blackbirds led, 21-6, with 7:02 left in the second stanza.

Chris Bouchard pulled Catholic Central within seven points on a screen pass to Quan. Quan ran the 10 yards he needed to get into the end zone for the touchdown.

Bouchard ran in for the two-point conversion and the score was 21-14 with 2:02 left until halftime.

Fenner connected on a 30-yard field-goal attempt to give the Blackbirds a 24-14 lead with 45 seconds before halftime.

Good offense

Voorheesville quickly added to that lead to begin the second half.

Murphy took the second-half kickoff and returned it 81 yards for a touchdown.

The extra point was blocked, but Voorheesville led, 30-14.

Bouchard and the Crusaders responded later in the frame. The quarterback ran in from one yard out to cut the lead to 10 points. The two-point attempt pass failed and it was 30-20 with 3:57 left in the third quarter.

The Blackbirds got the ball back and moved it down the field.

Conde went to the air and hit passes to Murphy and Jimmy Carroll to move the ball. The drive was capped with a Conde-to-Murphy 12-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The extra point was blocked and the score was 36-20 with 11:54 left in the final frame.

Bouchard connected with a pass to Patrick Janssen to bring the Crusaders right back into the game. Bouchard threw to Janssen, who made a great catch in the middle of the field and was able to break a couple of tackles and race down the field for the touchdown.

Murphy broke up the two-point pass attempt to keep his Blackbirds ahead, 36-26.

Voorheesville scored again with 5:52 left in the game.

Whiteley ran in from five yards out to cap another long Voorheesville drive.

The big play of the drive was a 13-yard run by Conde on fourth down and eight.

Catholic Central answered with 3:10 left in the contest. Bouchard ran in from 13 yards out for another touchdown. He then added the two-point conversion on a run and the score was 43-34.

Voorheesville finished the scoring, getting another seven points with 16 seconds left in the game.

Whiteley scored his third touchdown of the game, this time on a six-yard run. Fenner’s kick made it 50-34 and sealed the win for the Blackbirds.

"A lot of positives"
"The offense was good but the defense did not have its best day," Sapienza said. "And we have to get better on special teams, especially on kick coverage. Murphy broke one. There were a lot of positives. Pat Jones had his best rushing day this season."

Jones ran for 216 yards on the day.
"I have to credit the line," Jones said of his offensive blockers. "They came into this game with a different mentality. They said they would rather cut off a finger than miss a block. We came ready to play, pretty much.
"Dan Whiteley stepped up," Jones added. "He was hitting the holes. He is one of the biggest hitters on the team. And we started an eighth-grader on the line and he stepped up."

Sapienza gave his team a few days off to help them rest, recover, and not think about football.
"We need to find our heart again," the coach said. "When Chatham beat us, we took it hard and the kids started thinking that we are the third-best team. We have to start believing that we are the best team again."

The Blackbirds are 5-1 on the season and tied with Chatham and Watervliet for first place in the South Division of Class C. Chatham beat Voorheesville, but lost to Watervliet. Voorheesville beat Watervliet.

The Blackbirds travel to Coxsackie to take on the 4-2 Indians in their homecoming game on Saturday night.

The Birds will try to get better as they close out the regular season and get ready for the playoffs.
"We’re not bad," Jones said. "Some things are looking pretty good. We have to open our eyes a little bit at the next practice. We have to critique everything and strive to be perfect. We just have to get re-focused and get playing like we should."