Sports Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, October 5, 2006
Bkw girls soccer vs. Ft. Plain
By Tim Matteson
BERNE — Cara Swain has been on a scoring tear this season and Monday afternoon was no different.
The Berne-Knox-Westerlo senior notched a hat trick to lead her soccer team to a 6-1 win over Fort Plain. It was Swain’s sixth three-goal game of the season.
"This is Cara’s third game in a row with a hat trick," said BKW Coach Coriellen Travis. "She is constantly working on getting open. The energy of the team is high and we are always working hard."
Swain scored the first goal of the contest just over a minute into the game. Swain got a pass from Lauren Ford and was able to bury a shot into the corner to give her team the early lead.
Ford added a goal about eight minutes later — with 30:48 left in the half. Ford’s unassisted score was a well-placed shot that found a corner of the goal and gave the Lady Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.
Anna Kusler made the score 3-0 in favor of BKW with a tally that came with 22:34 left in the half. Kusler’s goal was assisted by Ford.
Swain’s second goal came with a bit a of a lucky bounce.
Swain hit a shot that pinballed off a couple of Fort Plain defenders and rolled into the goal. The score gave the Bulldogs a more comfortable three-goal lead just before halftime.
Brittany Crouse scored for the Hilltoppers with 2:47 left in the opening half.
Jennifer Miller scored on a direct kick after a Fort Plain foul.
Miller took the kick from about 20 yards from the goal and blasted a shot into the upper left corner to make the score 5-1.
Swain added her third goal — on another well-placed shot — with 29:53 left in the game. Swain dribbled by a couple of defenders and then had an easy one-on-one with the goalie.
Swain scored those goals while playing all over the field.
"We have to be careful where we place her," Travis said. "We put her outside [on the wing] and teams are double-marking her. We take her from the outside and drop her to center midfield and she can still score from there."
The Bulldogs took 25 shots and forced Hilltoppers’ goalie Emily Douglas to make 14 saves.
Fort Plain took just seven shots and BKW senior Sarah Hannay made four saves for the Bulldogs.
"A solid line"
The win bumped up the Lady Bulldogs’ record to 7-2-1 with the only losses coming against Mayfield and Western Athletic Conference Southern Division rival Schoharie.
"Schoharie was an outstanding game," Travis said. "And Mayfield, they played very well."
The Bulldogs have been using a good defense anchored by Hannay and boosted by the play at sweeper by Stephanie Campbell.
"We have two strong seniors back there," Travis said. "Sarah in goal is doing an outstanding job. She has matured and knows where to place people. Steph at sweeper is very strong. She controls the defense."
"Both of them are our backbone," Swain said. "We have a solid line."
Having a good defense allows the Bulldogs to go on the attack more.
"We’re working hard on passing the ball up the field," Travis said. "We are focusing on moving and getting open."
The strong start has put the Bulldogs in position for a return trip to the sectional playoffs. The Bulldogs lost their first game of the sectionals last year.
But they are looking forward to a rematch with Schoharie.
"We are looking forward to that game," Swain said. "It will be a strong game for us going into sectionals. The defense is working well and the outside offense is working hard to score."
The players have been together for a long time. Most of the seniors have been on the varsity team since their sophomore year. Swain has been on the team since she was a ninth-grader.
"We are having a great time," Swain said. "On and off the field, there is no silly nonsense. And we love our coach."
The Bulldogs have 18 players, eight of them seniors. There are nine juniors and one sophomore.
"It’s good," Swain said. "I like that. It’s perfect."
"A lot of the girls have been playing together since the fifth grade," Travis said. "Some of the juniors — actually all the juniors. And eight of the girls played with me last year. It’s Cara’s fourth year on the varsity and a lot of the seniors have been here for three years.
"We definitely have a lot of experience," Travis added. "I have a feeling that I’ve locked into a strong girls’ program."
Referring to the junior-varsity coach, Bill Dergosits, she went on, "Mr. Dergosits is doing a good job of working on their skills and getting them ready to move up to me. The girls’ program is working well together."
The Bulldogs have goals as they head down the final stretch of the season.
"We lost in the first round of the sectionals last year," Travis said. "We want to go further. We want to win the league and we have to beat Schoharie to do that. Once we get past that, we’re looking to win sectionals, though there are other teams to look at."
Guilderland football vs. Saratoga
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND — Mistakes.
Every football team makes them during the course of a game, but last Friday, the Guilderland football team made too many against a very good Saratoga team and paid the price. Two fumbles inside the Guilderland 30-yard line led to two touchdowns that made up the difference in an otherwise close game and gave the Blue Steaks a 26-6 win over the Dutchmen at home.
"We need to hold onto the ball better," said Guilderland Coach Dan Penna after the game. "We do security drills just like everyone else. We just didn’t have a handle on it. It’s a lack of discipline and it’s nothing we can’t work on. I credit Saratoga; they are a good team. It could’ve been a game in the fourth. We could’ve been there if we didn’t get in a hole. It was tough to keep our offense in synch."
The Dutchmen took advantage of a Saratoga mistake for their score in the contest.
Guilderland got the opening kick-off and drove and marched down the field fueled by big runs by Drew Smith and Kevin Forbes and a pass play from quarterback Greg Barcomb to Paul Malamood.
But a fumble on the Saratoga 24-yard line turned the ball over to Saratoga. Three plays later, Saratoga quarterback Dan McLaughlin threw a pass that was intercepted at the 30-yard line by Dutchman Nick Ranalli. Ranalli ran down the visiting team’s sideline for a touchdown and got the Guilderland team and the homecoming crowd fired up.
Guilderland used great defense in the first quarter to maintain its lead and a great punt on the first play of the second quarter by Nick Zanotta pinned the Blue Streaks at the one-yard line.
Saratoga was able to move the ball up the field, though it ended up punting from its own 39-yard line. The punt was down at the Guilderland 27.
Next came the first big mistake.
Mistakes
A fumble on the first play from scrimmage was recovered by Saratoga at the 27-yard line.
Five plays later, James Deloatch punched in from the one-yard line and the extra-point kick gave Saratoga the lead, 7-6.
Guilderland punted on its next possession and Saratoga marched down the field, using its stable of running backs.
Zorry Williams capped the drive with a nine-yard run into the end zone. The extra-point kick was good and the Blue Streaks led by a 14-6 score.
When Guilderland got the ball back, big mistake number-two happened and put the Dutchmen in a tough predicament.
Another fumble — this at the Guilderland 13-yard line — was recovered by Saratoga and the Blue Streaks took advantage.
It took just three plays for Saratoga to take advantage of the extreme short field. McLaughlin ran the ball into the end zone from the one-yard line with 57 seconds left until halftime to give his team a 20-6 lead and to leave the Dutchmen and their fans shell shocked.
The third quarter was scoreless as the defense on each team did a great job of shutting down the others offense.
Dutchman Jarrell Gatterson intercepted a pass early in the third quarter and returned it to the Saratoga 39-yard line, but the Dutch offense couldn’t take advantage.
The Blue Streaks were driving at the end of the third quarter and added to their lead six seconds into the final frame.
Vonzel Legall scored on a 23-yard run to make the score 26-6.
The Dutchmen pressed and were forced to try and make a big play and pass the ball. But Barcomb was intercepted and the game was essentially over as both teams played their second strings.
The Dutchmen had problems moving the ball from the first quarter on against the Saratoga defense.
"They got some speed on that side of the ball," Penna said. "They get overlooked because of their offense. But it was an uphill battle for us in the second half. We were too far in the hole to get out."
Guilderland had just 143 yards of total offense while Saratoga had 226 yards running the football. The Blue Streaks added 62 passing yards.
But the turnovers were the killers.
"We knew coming in we had to play mistake free football," Penna said. "They’re the best team in the AA’s. We came out on fire and then got the interception. We kind of stumbled from there and the fumbles hurt. The defense locked down on their backfield early."
"Big game"
The loss drops the Dutch’s record to 3-2 overall but to just 2-1 in Division I Class AA play. The Dutch still have a shot at the playoffs as the second-place team in the division and can clinch the automatic spot if they win at Queensbury on Saturday.
The Spartans lost by two points against Saratoga a couple of weeks ago but got pounded by Class A team Burnt Hills last Saturday.
"We’ve got a big one next week," Penna said. "We have to clean up our mistakes and have more discipline. The winner of next week’s game is in the playoffs. It is our first playoff game."
Game time will be a 1:30 at the school located in Warren County.
"We’ll find out this week if we are a good football team. It’s about reacting and responding. We’ve got the kind of people that respond when confronted with adversity. I’m proud of the kids; they fought. They’ll be up for another big game."
V’ville football vs. Coxsackie
By Tim Matteson
VOORHEESVILLE — The Blackbirds scored early, late, and often in Saturday’s homecoming victory.
Voorheesville’s football team put up 61 points and did not allow Coxsackie-Athens any positive yards, posting a shutout win, 61-0.
"I don’t think we gave up a first down," Voorheesville Coach Joe Sapienza said after the game. "It was a very special win because everyone contributed. It’s special and based on the quarter-points system for tie breakers and seedings, you don’t want people to score. And kids came off the bench and helped us.
"Every single player came up with a play that we needed," Sapienza added. "Whether it was stopping a first down or making a block down field on a touchdown, everyone contributed."
The day got off to a bad start for Coxsackie on its first play from scrimmage.
Indians’ quarterback Adam Cole tried for a pass but was sacked by Voorheesville’s Charlie McGrail and lost the football. Stephen Cardinal recovered the ball at the Coxsackie 41-yard line.
It took the Blackbirds three plays to score. Quarterback Jay Conde hit Tim Robinson for an 11-yard pass play; Adam Duncan picked up nine yards on a run and Pat Jones finished off the short drive with a 20-yard touchdown run.
Matt Miller kicked the extra point and the Birds led, 7-0.
Voorheesville scored on its next possession after forcing Coxsackie to punt.
After Jones returned the punt to the Coxsackie 37-yard line, it took Voorheesville just three plays to score. A 21-yard run by Conde set up a one-yard touchdown run by Duncan and the extra point gave the Birds a 14-0 lead.
The Blackbirds scored with 8:27 left in the second quarter. This time, Conde scored from eight yards out and Miller’s extra point made it 21-0.
The score turned to 27-0 on Jones’s 40-yard touchdown run with 4:52 left until halftime.
The Blackbirds struck for one more touchdown in the half.
Another sack and forced fumble by McGrail gave the Birds the ball back. Sam Pelham recovered the fumble at the Coxsackie 12-yard line.
Brendan O’Keefe scored on a nine-yard run for his first career touchdown. Miller’s extra-point kick made the score 34-0.
"Took care of business"
Robinson intercepted a pass early in the third quarter that set up the Blackbirds’ next touchdown.
Coxsackie tried a trick play with a throw from the halfback, but Robinson was in the right position and picked off the pass and ran the ball to the Indians’ 13-yard line.
Duncan capped the drive with a one-yard run and the extra-point kick made the score 41-0.
Jones made the score 47-0 with a 51-yard touchdown run with 3:35 left in the third quarter.
O’Keefe scored his second touchdown on a 12-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
The final Voorheesville points came on a 51-yard run by Alex Zvinosky late in the fourth and final frame.
Jones finished the game with 228 yards rushing on 13 carries. Zvinosky added 69 yards and O’Keefe rushed for 36.
Conde only threw six passes and completed four of them, all to Robinson for a combined 37 yards.
"I can’t say enough about the offensive line," Sapienza said. "They pick everything up and make calls. The backs run low and hard and protect the ball. We like to run the ball and control the ball. We also have a quarterback that runs with the ball well."
The win was also a boost of confidence after a close loss to South Division front runner Chatham.
"The loss last week was difficult emotionally," Sapienza said. "Bouncing back was important and we did that today. We come to play every week regardless if we play a 3-0 or 1-3 team. We came to play and took care of business."
The Birds put the Chatham loss behind them but it took a couple of days.
"I felt like the first couple of days of practice weren’t as good as I wanted them to be," Sapienza said. "The loss affected us. But Wednesday and Thursday, we picked it up. Offense, defense, and special teams, everything clicked. We did the things that we wanted to do."
Next up for the Blackbirds is a Friday-night contest against Tamarac. The Birds need to win to keep pace in the division.
"It’s a great possibility that the seniors played their last game on this field today," Sapienza said. "Hopefully not. Tamarac is 1-3 and beat a D school. We need to win our last two games to finish second. And Canajoharie is a tough, tough team."
The Blackbirds will wrap up the regular season with Canajoharie, which is unbeaten in league play so far this season.
"The kids know what is at stake if we want to secure an automatic spot," Sapienza said. "We control our own destiny, if we win the next two games."