Sports Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, December 15, 2005
Guilderland boys' basketball vs. Niskayuna
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland boys’ basketball team ran into a more experienced foe on Tuesday night.
The Dutchmen were beaten by a senior-laden Niskayuna team, losing 55-34.
Niskayuna brought 10 seniors into Tuesday’s game; some have been starters on the varsity since they were sophomores.
"We have to go back to the drawing board," said Guilderland Coach Ron Osinski. "That is a very good team. They exploited a lot of our weaknesses. Our execution needs to get better."
Niskayuna took the lead early and never relented in the contest.
Guilderland scored first on a fast-break lay-up by Jimmy Googas after a steal by Matt Doherty.
But Niskayuna took the lead on a three-pointer by John Koch. That started an 11-0 run, which included another three-pointer by Koch and one by Larry Ritter.
Doherty ended the run by making a jump shot for Guilderland.
Niskayuna ended the first quarter with a 13-6 lead.
Guilderland cut the lead to four points early in the second quarter. After a drive to the basket by Niskayuna’s Phil Rollins, Guilderland scored six points on two consecutive three-point shots by Nick Zarelli and Googas.
But the Dutch would not get any closer as the Silver Warriors outscored the Dutch in the second period by a 21-10 margin.
Niskayuna led 34-16 at halftime.
"We were off all night and they shot the ball well," Osinski said. "Koch made four or five threes. I don’t think he has ever had a game like that."
The second half was just a formality as the Dutchmen played better but the game was out of reach.
"They had three-year starters," Osinski said. "They were head-and-shoulders above us. We had kids that have never started on the varsity here before."
The Dutchmen struggled on offense for most of the game and relied on the outside shot too much, especially in the early going. The Dutch also struggled rebounding the basketball.
"We have problems with boxing out and rebounding the basketball," Osinski said. "They are basic fundamentals of basketball.
"They still only scored 55 points," Osinski added. "Considering the whole scenario, they did not score a lot of points."
Googas led the Dutchmen with 12 points and sophomore Brett Marfurt added 10. Niskayuna was led by Brian Grastorf’s 12 points. Koch scored 12 and Ritter scored eight. Ten players scored for the Silver Warriors.
Beaten by Bisons
The loss comes after an impressive performance for the Dutchmen against Shaker. Guilderland lost to the Blue Bison by a score of 50-48 last Tuesday. Shaker got some late free throws by Georgia Tech-bound Brad Sheehan to get the win.
"I thought we could build on that game," Osinski said. "We lost the game but we played well. We got some pretty good looks at the basket but we did not knock down the shots."
Googas led the Dutchmen with 16 points. Matt Doherty added 15 points and Luke Pagano chipped in with seven.
Sheehan, who is 6 feet, 10 inches tall, led the Blue Bison with 16 points.
The loss drops the Dutchmen to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the Suburban Council. They host Saratoga on Friday and Burnt Hills on Tuesday. The Dutch then travel to Mohonasen next Thursday before hosting the Dutch Classic on Dec. 27 and 29.
Guilderland wrestling at Niskayuna
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland wrestling team had to move its first home dual meet of the season.
After a few teams canceled from what would have been the first Dutchmen Duals of the season, Guilderland Coach Regan Johnson decided to move the remaining teams to the Niskayuna Duals.
"We got to see some teams that we don’t get to see," Johnson said. "We don’t wrestle Salem. Warrensburg has a good young team and we don’t see them, normally. Suffern of Section I, we never see. We saw some different competition and we didn’t have very far to go."
The Dutchmen went 3-1 on Saturday, but had some tough matches.
Guilderland beat Warrensburg, 48-24; Suffern, 39-34; Salem, 33-31; and lost to Kingston, 39-37.
"The first match we wrestled very well but it came down to the last match," Johnson said. "Ian DeSol had to pin his kid, and he did everything he could. He just couldn’t pin him.
"It was an exciting match," Johnson said. "The first three matches were exciting. We lost by two, won by one, and won by five. Kingston has some good kids. Salem is a small school but they are very good. It’s the first time we’ve wrestled them, at least since I’ve been here. They were the small-school champs last year. They are very competitive and a good team. It was our last match and we were able to pull it out."
"Good tournament"
Johnson saw some good individual performances at the Niskayuna meet.
Matt Cubillos, DeSol, and John D’Ambrosio all went unbeaten on the day, finishing 4-0 in their weight classes.
Josh Sawyer and Eugene Sellie finished the duals with a 3-1 record.
Keith Cole went 2-2 on the day, but had an exciting match against a wrestler from Salem that went down to the wire.
Johnson said that his wrestlers will benefit from facing strong competition.
"Even if they lose," he said, "having close, tough matches benefits them. The kids don’t always understand this but, if you lose, it doesn’t hurt if you had a tough match with the kid."
Combining the tournaments, Johnson said, will help both Guilderland and Saratoga.
"I think we both helped each other out," the coach said. "We had three good teams go in and add to an already good tournament."
"Banged up"
The Dutchmen are hobbled with injuries at the moment.
Junior Kyle Hussey hasn’t wrestled this season because of a knee injury and will be out for a couple of more weeks.
Senior James Ramson got banged up at the Niskayuna Duals but should be ready to go by this weekend. D’Ambrosio has a skin infection but should also be ready to wrestle soon.
"Injuries happen," Johnson said. "It always happens. Last year, we had three guys out for a couple of weeks. The season’s long and guys get banged up. Small injuries tend to get worse if you don’t take care of them."
The Dutch wrestled Columbia on Wednesday and then travel back to Burnt Hills for the Lee Van Slyke Tournament before taking a break for Christmas.
B-K-W wrestling
By Tim Matteson
BERNE — The Berne-Knox-Westerlo wrestling team is making progress in just its second year.
The team wrestled mostly at the modified level last year but this year its wrestlers are grappling in a mix of varsity and junior varsity meets.
So far this season, the Bulldogs have wrestled in two dual meets and two tournaments.
"The dual meets are the toughest ones I could get," said BKW Coach Jeff Vogel said. "We’re in the Western Athletic Conference, wrestling a varsity schedule which we would do regardless. The five non-league matches are against much bigger schools."
BKW will also have four more junior-varsity tournaments. The Bulldogs will compete in tournaments at Amsterdam, Niskayuna, Ravena, and Burnt Hills. They will also have a non-league varsity dual meet with Rensselaer.
"Our best times have been on the junior-varsity level," Vogel said. "We can compete with anybody at that level."
So far this season, the Bulldogs had a junior-varsity dual meet with Niskayuna and a league match against Duanesburg, which is one of the top small-school teams in Section II.
The Bulldogs had good performances in the two tournaments they have entered so far. BKW took part in the Ravena and Ballston Spa j.v. tournaments.
Keith Domermuth went to the finals in the 275-pound weight class. He also won at the Ravena tournament.
Harold Cameron also did well at both tournaments in the 140-pound weight class.
Josh Glick wrestled well in the Ballston Spa tournament in the 140-pound weight class.
Adam Brinkman was also a finalist at Ballston Spa in the 125-pound weight class.
"Pick and choose"
"We had seven kids wrestle for third place," Vogel said. "The whole plan was to wrestle in j.v. tournaments in December and pick and choose varsity tournaments in January."
BKW is scheduled to wrestle in varsity tournaments in Galway, Fonda, and Hoosick Falls in January.
Between the Dec. 1 start of the season and the school’s Christmas break, BKW will have had eight competitions.
By the end of the season, the Bulldogs will have been in 20 tournmants or meets.
"We’ll have three or four weeks to take everything we have learned," Vogel said. "We should be vastly improved by January. When we face first- or second-year kids we do well. In the Duanesburg match, we faced guys that were in their fifth or sixth year and they put a hurting on us. Our first-time wrestlers were really intimidated. I probably was the only one not scared."
Full line-up
The Bulldogs have a full line-up of wrestlers.
Eighth-grader Tom DellaRocco competes in the 103-pound weight class and was a finalist at Ravena.
Dave Tiernan, a sophomore, wrestles in the 112-pound weight class. He is in his first year and finished fourth at the Ballston Spa tournament.
Tom Bushnell competes in the 125-pound weight class. He is a returner from last year.
Adam Brinkman also grapples in the 125-pound weight class. He is a first-year wrestler and was in the finals at Ballston Spa.
Sophomore Harold Cameron wrestles in the 135-pound weight class and Josh Glick, a freshman, wrestles in the 140-pound class.
"They are two kids that can go very high in this sport," Vogel said.
Najee Stewart, a sophomore, is in his first year wrestling for the Bulldogs in the 145-pound weight class.
"He’s very athletic and has a lot of potential," Vogel said.
Josh Ostrander, a junior, competes in the 160-pound weight class. He is in his first year wrestling.
Freshman Greg Hannay wrestles in the 171-pound weight class and wrestled for BKW last year.
Greg Araldi, a senior, wrestles in the 189-pound class. He wrestled at Christian Brothers Academy before transferring to BKW.
"He’s provided leadership in practice and matches," Vogel said. "He’s been a great addition and helped us a lot."
Stephen Gered, a junior, also wrestes at 189 pounds and is in his first year on the team.
Sophomore Dominic Penk, senior Kevin Sherman, and freshman Ryan Twardy all wrestle in the 215-pound weight class. Penk is a returning wrestler while Sherman and Twardy are in their first year.
Dan McCullough, a freshman, is injured but will join Domermuth in the 275-pound weight class.
There are over 30 kids from grades seven to 12 wrestling in the program. The modified program has about 14 kids.
The Pee-Wee program will be starting in January.
"I told the kids at the pep rally," Vogel said, "that we are the only program that goes from K to 12 in the school. The high-school wrestlers are a big part of that as well."
"Voice of wisdom"
David Funk is the modified coach. He will also assist Vogel with the varsity this season.
"He’s a gift to me," Vogel said. "He ran his own program in Norwich for over 30 years. He’s a voice of wisdom in my ear. He’s forgotten more than I’ll ever know."
Anthony Musciatello will also help out the program.
"He’s a former official and he works in the school district," Vogel said. "He gives us clinics to help us with our mat sets."
The wrestlers are putting more into the sport as a few wrestle in clubs. Domermuth joined the TNT club in Schenectady this summer.
With a young team, the Bulldogs could have a bright future.
"We are loaded with ninth- and 10th-graders," Vogel said. "The key is picking our spots. I don’t believe in throwing the kids to the lions. That is the key over the next year. Something I believe in is going with ability. The kids give everything when they go out there."
The Bulldogs wrestled at Amsterdam on Wednesday in a junior-varsity match. They then will wrestle in the Niskayuna junior varsity tournament on Saturday.
B-K-W girls' basketball
By Tim Matteson
BERNE — The Berne-Knox-Westerlo girls’ basketball team bounced back from a tough season-opening tournament to win its first game in league play.
The Lady Bulldogs beat Western Athletic Conference rival Canajoharie, 60-52, last Wednesday night to get an early lead in the Southern Division standings.
The Bulldogs played Schenectady Christian on Tuesday, falling by a score of 61-56.
"It was a back-and-forth game," BKW Coach Tom Galvin said on Wednesday. "We played well and they played well. We didn’t get breaks and we were running out of time. My hats off to Schenectady Christian. They hit the shots they had to."
Andrea Van Dyke led the Bulldogs with 23 points. Christine Sikule scored 14 points, 12 on three three-point baskets.
BKW got good defensive performances by Cara Swain and Brittany Krimsky. They guarded Schenectady Christian’s top two players.
"Cara did a good job on Katie Kaidas," Galvin said. "She scored 25 points but a lot of those were on free throws."
Getting a win
Against Canajoharie, four BKW players reached double figures.
C.J. Vincent and Ashley Slaver each scored 13 points to lead the Bulldogs. Sikule scored 12 points and Andrea Van Dyke also scored 12. Swain added eight points for BKW.
"I’m happy that we got that much scoring balance," said BKW Coach Tom Galvin. "If we get that much balance, we can dominate. In our two losses, we struggled offensively.
"We started to finish," Galvin added. "We do that, we’ll be tough to stop. We had four in double figures led by C.J. and Ashley, we played the way we are capable of playing."
The Bulldogs lost both of their games in the Rusty Grestini Tournament in Cohoes. BKW lost to the host school in the opening game of the tournament and then lost to Ichabod Crane in the consolation contest.
"We Always want to play up," Galvin said of playing two larger schools in the tournament. "We were the smallest fish in the pond. But we were terrible and we didn’t execute. I don’t want to make any excuses about playing up, but the way we played, we could not beat a CYO team from Cohoes."
Galvin said that some things can be gained from playing in the tournament against Cohoes, a Class B school, and Ichabod Crane, a Class A school. BKW is a smaller Class C school, which is determined by its enrollment.
"I would rather have two losses in a tougher tournament than win two in a smaller tournament that we dominate," Galvin said.
The Bulldogs’ players are young this season with just two seniors and four juniors, two sophomores and one ninth-grader.
"They had not come together like I thought they would," Galvin said. "The Canajoharie game was one step up from the tournament ."
The win over Canajoharie should boost the confidence of the BKW players.
"The win was a big one after the tournament," Galvin said. "I think the girls were questioning themselves. The first one should give them more confidence," he said of the win.
The Lady Bulldogs will try to bounce back with a home game against Schoharie on Tuesday. At the Christmas holiday, the Bulldogs will participate in the Greenwich Tournament.
"It’s a long season," Galvin said. "This was our second league game. The Schenectady Christian coach said that they will have a hard time going undefeated before meeting us again. I said we will to. This league is tough."