Sports Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, September 14, 2006
Brenda Deer Memorial Road Race and Kids Fun Run
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND — Nice weather led to a late boom in participants for the Fourth Annual Brenda Deer Memorial Road Race and Kids Fun Run.
Ninety-nine people came out for the this year’s race on a beautiful late-summer Saturday. The weather was credited for bringing out many late-day registrants, said race official Derrick Raeder.
Kevin Horton of Sunderland, Vt. won the race in 18:19. The 18-year old sprinted up the half-mile hill at the end of the course and brought the race fans to their feet to cheer.
Mary Kogelmann, 41, of Slingerlands finished first in the female division with a time of 22:20.
James Germain, 17, of Porters Corners finished second for the men’s division. He ran the race in 19:43.
Thomas Mortati, 39, of Albany, finished third in 21:06.
Kari Deer, 27, of Albany was the second female to finish the race. She had a time of 22:53.
Kelly Tynan, 33, of Schenectady, a Guilderland YMCA member, rounded out the top three in the women’s division with a time of 23:08.
Raeder was pleased with the support the race got this year. Sponsors included WeatherGuard Roofing, Pine Bush Girls Softball, Levonian Brothers, Robinson’s Ace Hardware, the Guilderland Police Department, and Sun Shine.
The race also had a good group of volunteers.
"We had over 30 people helping us out," Raeder said. "That is huge in being able to do something like this."
The event is named after Brenda Deer who was a Guilderland resident and an avid runner. She was a popular teacher’s aid for six years at the Guilderland Elementary School and a mother of three.
Deer was killed in 2000 when a drunk driver struck her as she was running with her husband, John, on Route 155, near her home. Deer’s morning runs with her husband were a part of her daily routine.
Her 24-year-old son, John Deer, of Albany, ran in the race again this year. He finished first in his age group with a time of 22:23.
Proceeds from the event will be donated to the YMCA Reach Out for Youth Campaign, benefiting the Circle of Champs Program that is dedicated to improving the quality of life for children, aged five to 15, who have a life-threatening illness.
Results
Tim Ross, 14, of Porters Corners was the winner of the 10-to-14 age group. He ran the race in 23:44.
Danielle Koster, 17, of Corinth, was the winner of the 15-to-19 age category. She finished in 25:11.
Zach Cowles, 16, of Corinth topped the 15-to-19 age group in 22:48.
Amy Wright, 28, of Berne finished first in the 25-to-29 age group. She finished in 30:28. Matthew Thorne, 25, of Schenectady was the top male finisher in the 25-to-29 group, clocking a time of 28:03.
Christine Ensslin, 33, of Altamont topped the female 30-to-34 age group, coming in at 23:37. Cory Metler was the top male finisher in the category with a time of 26:06.
Michelle Lee, 38, of Schenectady topped the female 35-to-39 age group. She ran a time of 29:34. Jonathan Bright, 36, of Slingerlands won the male division in 21:48.
Evelyn Deer, 42, of Milford, Mass. Won the 40-to-44 age group in 23:28. Topping the men’s division of the age group was Frank Deer in 22:46.
Kathy Dillinger, 48, of Guilderland, topped the 45-to-49 age group in 25:18. The male 45-to-49 age group was won by Richard Munson, 49, of Prattsville.
Ellen Mueller, 54, of Schenectady was the top female in the 50-to-54 age group. She finished the race in 28:02. John Mounteer, 52, of Altamont, was the male division winner in 22:58.
Mary Collins-Finn, 57, of Menands, won the 55-to-99 age group in 24:52. Greg Rickes, 56, of Latham won the male division in 24:35.
Guilderland boys' soccer team
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND — Though they have gotten off to a good start, the Guilderland boys’ soccer team has some work to do.
The Dutchmen won their first three games before losing to perennial power Shenendehowa High School, 1-0, on Monday night.
"We didn’t play particularly well," Guilderland Coach Mike Kinnally said on Tuesday. "We played well in the back. But I’m putting in a different system and we’ve still got to work on the midfield and the front. We have to be able to finish in our third of the field.
"If we can win tomorrow, we don’t play again until Tuesday," Kinnally added. "That gives us four learning days to improve the middle and the front. Tomorrow is real important."
The Dutchmen on Wednesday faced Saratoga and their all-star goalie, Warren Gross.
"Twenty minutes after the loss, we were talking about Saratoga," Kinnally said.
The Dutch have beaten Scotia and Queensbury in the Foothills Council-Suburban Council Challenge and beat league foe Columbia, 1-0.
"Columbia is pretty good," Kinnally said. "They beat Baldwinsville, which is in the top 10 in the state. It was a good win. A quality win."
Kinnally is looking forward to seeing the new offense work once it’s fully implemented.
"I drew up something that I think will work," he said. "We have to execute it."
He added of Saratoga, "On paper, we’re probably a little better. But Gross is good. He grabs crossing passes with a giggle. We have to put hard balls on the ground and get one by him early. That will change the way they’ll have to play."
"Still learning"
The Dutchmen have accomplished some things in the first four games of the season.
"We found our organization in the back," Kinnally said. "We’ve turned the corner in the back. We continue to do repetition drills but I’m not too concerned with that. We need to organize the midfield and up front"But in the back we’re fine. We’ve given up one goal in four games."
Kinnally said that not everyone is playing up to his capabilities.
"We don’t have kids playing up to their potential," the coach said. "That’s good and bad. They have it and can play better, but they aren’t playing like they can and might not. At least I know it’s there."
Kinnally feels the offense has not reached its potential, even though the Dutch won their first game, 2-0, against Scotia and scored 10 goals in a shutout of Queensbury.
"We’re at 60 percent of what we’re capable of," he said. "You couldn’t tell by looking at our games. Against Queensbury, we had nine different guys score and, against Columbia, we could have had two or three goals. Hopefully, we’ll keep working and getting better over the next two or three days."
Against Shen, the Dutchmen were outshot but defense held the Plainsmen to one goal.
"We were on our heels a little bit," Kinnally said. "We didn’t have the firepower. Defensively, we matched up well. Offensively, we were not organized.
"We need an identity in the middle," Kinnally added. "We have to focus on who should go where. Halfway through the season, we’ll get how to play it. We’re kind of still learning."
After Wednesday’s game, the Dutchmen will play Tuesday at Burnt Hills and Thursday at home against Colonie.
Guilderland High School football
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND — Pop, bang, crash.
Those were the sounds that were heard as Guilderland High School’s football team announced its presence as a team to watch on Friday night.
The Dutchmen beat Troy, 13-0, in front of a large home crowd on Pop Warner Night at Guilderland High School.
The Dutch are 2-0 for the first time since 1999.
"This is the biggest win the program has had," said Guilderland Head Coach Dan Penna. "I hate to compare to other programs. Coach [Pete] Schwan brought this team from one or two wins to the .500 mark. I want to take the program to the next step. I am happy with the win. It definitely puts us where we want to be as a program."
The Dutchmen beat traditional power Troy at its own game — hard hitting.
"It was a great football game," Penna said. "It’s a lot of fun to be in a football game like that. We had some mistakes and we turned the ball over. We a lot of opportunities to give them the knockout punch. But we’re a young team; we are learning how to win."
"It was a rough game," said Guilderland’s Kyle Hussey. "It was a very physical game."
"They had some big guys out there," added teammate Nick Zanotta. "But we did know what to expect."
Guilderland’s defense was stout throughout, holding Troy scoreless and containing Mike Krogh, one of Section II’s best running backs. The Dutchmen held Krogh to 63 yards but he was the main offense for the Flying Horses. Troy only got 72 yards of total offense.
Guilderland moved the ball only slightly better and had a couple of turnovers that might have caused them some early points.
Dutch quarterback Greg Barcomb threw an interception on his team’s first possession. Anthony Testo made the pick at the Guilderland 48-yard line and returned it to the 44.
But to the Dutch’s credit, the defense held, sparked by a big quarterback sack by Kyle Hussey.
The first quarter ended in a 0-0 tie and it remained that way early in the second quarter after Guilderland’s Nick Zanotta missed a 40-yard field goal.
Touchdown
The Dutchmen got on the scoreboard later in the second frame.
After a Troy punt, the Dutchmen got the ball on their own 46-yard line.
On the next play, junior Paul Booker took a handoff from Drew Smith. He ran to the left side, busted through the line and then fended off the attempts of would-be Troy tacklers for a 54-yard touchdown run.
Zanotta kicked the extra point to give the Dutchmen a 7-0 lead with 7:04 left in the second stanza.
The Dutch scored their second touchdown with 1:25 left in the third quarter.
Smith made a spectacular run after appearing he was going to get sacked. Smith broke a couple of tackles and ran to his right. Then he ran down the right side toward the end zone and near the goal line; he hurdled a couple of Troy defenders to reach the end zone.
The extra-point kick missed but the Dutch had a 13-0 lead.
"It was the whole team," Hussey said. "We kept it together. We had all the pieces working and the runs we got from Smith and Booker were key."
"They came out and they wanted to punch us in the mouth," Zanotta said of Troy’s physical style of play. "We took some shots and we gave them some shots. We went back and forth all game."
"More fresh bodies"
The Dutch shut down Troy in the final quarter to hold onto the lead.
The Guilderland players looked to have more energy in the final quarter and Troy players were looking tired.
"We had more fresh bodies," Penna said. "We were able to wear them down in the fourth quarter."
"We’re a fourth-quarter team," Zanotta said. "That is how we play."
Donovan Lloyd recovered a fumble after a hit by Jarrell Gatterson deep in Troy’s territory in the second quarter. But the Dutch couldn’t take advantage and turned the ball over on downs four plays later.
Penna added that his players had to overcome a lot during the week.
"We were able to maintain our focus," he said. "We had a lot of distractions. This was the WTEN game of the week, it was the first week of school, and it was Pop Warner Night and we had a good crowd."
Penna credited Zanotta’s punting in the second half as being important to winning the game.
"Zanotta was the player of the game," Penna said. "His punting was a lot of the difference. It was a field-position game."
Next up for Guilderland will be a trip to East Greenbush to take on Columbia High School, which also won its first two games.
"Troy’s over," Hussey said. "We are now looking toward Columbia. We won’t be satisfied until we are 9-0."
We are gaining respect," Zanotta added. "We’ve got some work to do to prepare for Columbia."
Voorheesville boys’ soccer
By Tim Matteson
VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville boys’ soccer team has a target on its back and coach Mike Young hopes that his players know that.
The Blackbirds came out slowly in Monday’s game against Ravena and only a good second half propelled them to a 3-1 win.
The win was the second for the Birds as they beat Chatham in the first round of the Mayfield Tournament on Saturday.
"We played a good Ravena team," Young said the day after Monday’s game. "They are a very tough team at home. They gave us all they could. We came out flat and they were prepared. We were down a goal yesterday."
Young was pleased that his team fought through the slow start and was able to come home with a win.
"One of the things a good team does is win ugly games," Young said. "We played well in the second half to pull out the victory."
Matt Miller evened the scoring on a penalty kick in the early minutes of the second half. Kevin VanDerWende gave the Birds the lead after a free kick by Dominic Venditti.
Venditti scored the final goal with a feed off a free kick by Joey Klembczyk.
Checking Chatham
The Blackbirds came out with fire in Saturday’s game against Chatham.
Voorheesville lost to the Panthers in last year’s Class B Section II final.
"Kids on the Voorheesville team last year were excited to play them again," Young said. "We scored in the first 24 seconds."
Miller scored after receiving a pass from Venditti. Venditti then assisted on the second goal. He dropped a pass back to Josh Handen who blasted a shot from the 18-yard line that beat the goalkeeper in the upper part of the goal for the final 2-0 margin.
It’s a good start for the Blackbirds.
"I’m happy to be winning games," Young said. "We’re still pretty young. We’re looking for the group to come together. We have all the potential in the world. There are high expectations for Voorheesville, but our team finally got together and performs on a consistent basis."
The Blackbirds hosted Cobleskill-Richmondville on Wednesday and travel to Mechanicville on Friday. Voorheesville will then play in the championship game of the Mayfield Tournament against the host school on Saturday night.
The Blackbirds will then host Cohoes on Tuesday.
"We have a few games in a row," Young said. "Our fitness is good, we have a rigorous fitness regimen. This group of guys really understands the importance of it. We will not have a lot of time to train"I’m not seeing a lot of fatigue."
But the best thing for the younger players is to get out on the field against tough competition.
"Luckily, the younger players have stepped up," Young said. "They have contributed right away. That is not a knock on the seniors, they have logged a lot of minutes to be successful."
Voorheesville girls’ soccer
By Tim Matteson
VOORHEESVILLE — The young players on the Voorheesville girls’ soccer team are in an adjustment period and it showed in their first games of the season.
The Lady Blackbirds lost to Colonial Council foe Ravena, 7-1, on Tuesday afternoon.
"Today was not a good day," Voorheesville Coach Joe Santos said after the game. "We are a work in progress. We have a lot of new faces that have to understand what they need to learn on the field. Offense and defense, we need to know what to do on the field. We don’t know how to play defense when the other team has the ball. We’re lacking in all aspects."
The Blackbirds have 20 players on the roster and 13 are newcomers.
"They have to learn that playing junior varsity is a different level than playing varsity," Santos said. "So it’s an uphill battle. We can get this team there, but, before that, we have to continue the learning curve."
Santos said that his players are having trouble marking their opponents.
"We have new players on the varsity and they need to understand that they are playing much better players," Santos said. "They continue to give room to people. We continue to play soft and let people run all over the place.
"We had all this to overcome and we open the season with one of the better opponents," Santos added. "It was not very good. A lot of the goals were easy. They were silly goals, mental lapses."
The Blackbirds got called for a penalty early in the game that led to a score.
"At the beginning of the game, we had an unfortunate call," Santos said. "They got a penalty kick in the first two minutes and things unraveled after that. Our goalie, who is a returning player, it was not one of her best performances. Last year, she did very well. But she did not have a good day."
"Learning under fire"
The Blackbirds will have to try and get better during the season.
"The girls will be learning under fire," Santos said. "They need to realize we are not where we need to be. We were in the same situation a couple of years ago; they realized that, and it was a big awakening. There’s the same hope. As we get better, the youngsters get better, game to game, practice to practice."
Voorheesville does have a couple of returning players in Hayley George and Lindsay Dembo.
George is in her fifth year on the varsity and scored the lone goal for the Blackbirds on Tuesday. Dembo is playing sweeper and is the anchor on defense.
"She is one of the better players in the league," Santos said.
Santos said that his players do have talent.
"There’s potential for the girls that start and the ones that will come off the bench," he said. "Actually, some of the girls on the bench are playing better than the ones that are starting. We had four games last week and I missed three because I was in the hospital. It wasn’t a good start."
Santos said that it shouldn’t have affected the work the team did before its first games.
"We got a lot of work done in the pre-season," he said. "Being on the field and knowing where to stand and who to mark are things that need to be done. We want that going on in other games."
Santos believes the team can catch on and change its fortunes.
"I have hope we can get turned around," the coach said. "Today’s game was tremendously difficult. But I know they can play much better. They need to see where we need to go. It’ll be a challenge for each individual."
Voorheesville High School football
By Tim Matteson
VOORHEESVILLE — Pat Jones’s touchdown with about six minutes left in the fourth quarter propelled the Voorheesville football team to a win on Friday night.
The Blackbirds beat Class C rival and nemesis Schuylerville, 7-3, in the Saratoga County town and avenged a loss from last year’s Class C sectional semifinals.
"It was really a time-consuming drive," Voorheesville Coach Joseph Sapienza said at practice on Tuesday. "It was all run. Our backs — quarterback, tailback, and fullback — all averaged seven yards per carry. We were very effective on the ground."
Though it was a low-scoring game, Sapienza said both teams moved the ball fairly well.
"Both teams produced offense," the coach said. "The defenses clamped down in the red zone. There were times when they threatened and there were times when we threatened."
The Birds were trailing, 3-0, when Jones scored his touchdown to cap a drive that actually started at the end of the third quarter.
"We were pretty deep in our own territory," Sapienza said. "They had a nice punt. We were at our own 25-yard line. We had a nice defensive stand and their punter boomed one."
"Good drives"
Voorheesville was able to move the ball for the entire game.
"We had good drives going," Sapienza said. "Then they would catch us with a stunt or a defensive front or we would have a penalty or a mistake killed the drive."
The Blackbirds had a chance to take the lead earlier in the game when their lone turnover put an end to the opportunity.
"We threatened to score at the end of the first half," Sapienza said. "We were inside the four and we threw an interception. We got the ball in the second half and moved it. We were never concerned."
Jones finished the game with 127 yards rushing on 20 carries. Adam Duncan rushed for 66 yards for the Blackbirds. The Birds as a team averaged over six yards per carry.
Steve Cardinal was big on the defensive side of the ball. He led the Birds with 10 tackles.
"We weren’t as good as we could’ve been," Sapienza said. "But I feel we are doing a lot of good things on offense."
The Blackbirds defense did a good job of containing Schuylerville’s top runner Mike DeGregory.
"We held him to under 100 yards," Sapienza said. "He is still dangerous on special teams; on offense we did well against him."
The win is a big one for the Blackbirds as they were able to beat a team that has given them trouble in the past.
"It definitely got the monkey off our back," Sapienza said. "Schuylerville’s 0-2, but they are a good team. It’s a good win."
"Pretty confident"
The win puts the Blackbirds at 2-0 as they won their two non-divisional games. They will play their first South Division game against Watervliet on Saturday at home.
"We feel pretty confident," Sapienza said. "We feel our defense will keep us in any game we play"
The Blackbirds will host the Canoneers at 1:30 p.m. at Thomas Buckley Field.
"They are a rival," Sapienza said. "They have gone back to their traditional offense. They’re in the ‘I’ [formation] and they run the ball and control the ball. It will be two teams that have the same philosophies. It’ll be who does it better."
Sapienza said his players will be ready.
"The kids are excited," he said. "It’s really our first game of the year. It’s the first that counts toward your season and the conference. Now it really matters."