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The Recorder, Amsterdam, N.Y.
Braves
SPORTS
OESJ girls soccer
tops Fort Plain, 3-1
from page 24
“We needed to come out on fire and play —
and, for whatever reason, it didn’t seem like we
did,” Braves head coach Tom Carpenter said.
“I think they maybe overlooked us a bit
early,” said Linnett. “But we’re very physical.”
Braves senior lineman Ben Bogan said the
Greenwich coach had a point.
“I think a lot of [us] got caught up with looking ahead in that first half,” said Bogan. “I
know I did.”
But things started to change for F-F on the
Witches’ final drive of the first half, which
started with Greenwich moving down the field
with ease, getting to the F-F 6-yard line with
less than a minute to go in the half..
Then, the Braves woke up.
On first down, F-F junior lineman Jack Derby
made a tackle for a short loss; second down saw
Scofield make sure a pass went incomplete;
third down left Sinicropi to bat down a throw;
and, Ives sacked Greenwich junior quarterback
Lukas Whitehouse to end the drive.
F-F did not have enough time after the stop to
do anything more than take a knee to move the
contest to halftime, but Linnett said failed redzone trips like that are hard to recover from for
an underdog on the road.
“That comes back to bite you,” he said.
It did, and it was Braves senior running back
Pat Hart that did the chomping. F-F received
the ball to start the third quarter, and Hart
capped a nine-play drive with a 7-yard touchdown rush; he also caught the 2-point conversion pass from Sinicropi to tie up the game.
After a lifeless first half, the Braves were back
in business.
“We were riled up,” Bogan said.
“It was just about toughening up,” said F-F
senior linebacker Zach Nizet. “We had to go
out there and play better in the second half.”
Greenwich temporarily stalled F-F’s momentum on the ensuing drive. With the Witches
lined up to punt after three plays went nowhere,
Whitehouse took the snap and dodged his way
to the end zone for a 55-yard score that put
Greenwich back up, 20-14, early in the third
quarter.
But that was the last time Saturday that the
Witches had a competitive answer for the
Braves. After the Whitehouse score, Sinicropi
found Hart with a 64-yard touchdown pass on
the ensuing drive’s first play from scrimmage;
next, after quickly forcing a Greenwich punt,
Rams
Monday, October 27, 2014 / 19
Michael Kelly/Recorder staff
From left, Fonda-Fultonville football’s Ben Bogan, Anthony Brand, Cam Ives, Jack Derby
and Russ Warner come off the field after Saturday’s game against Greenwich in Fonda.
the Braves put together an 11-play drive that
extended into the fourth quarter and ended with
a 16-yard touchdown rush for Hart.
The game’s next four drives saw the teams
swap punts, the last one resulting in Greenwich
starting with the ball at its own 18-yard line,
trailing 27-20 with just more than three minutes
to play.
On the first play of the drive, Whitehouse
tossed a pass in Scofield’s direction. Playing
with a cast and a heavy wrap on his right hand,
Scofield ignored any pain from the hand’s broken bone to make the leaping interception.
“I just did the fundamentals,” said Scofield. “I
made the diamond and looked it in.”
“He played it perfect and made a great interception,” Carpenter said.
Back in possession of the ball, F-F gained the
one first down it needed on a Sinicropi rush to
move the game’s clock into its favor. After two
kneeldowns, the Braves were able to walk off
the field with the comeback victory.
“We knew we had to step up, and that’s what
we did,” Sinicropi said.
The quarterback finished 9 of 17 passing for
154 yards, plus two first-half interceptions.
Between rushes and receptions, Hart had 199
yards, while Ives caught five passes for 72
yards.
Now, F-F moves on to play the Blackbirds (80), which knocked off No. 6 Mechanicville (62) with a 42-16 win Saturday.
“They’re a good team,” said Carpenter. “I
mean, they’re undefeated, so it’s going to be a
big test for us.”
NOTES: With the victory, Carpenter became
the F-F program’s second-winningest coach.
The win was No. 54 for Carpenter, who passed
John West. Alex Mancini is atop the Braves’
coaching list with 149 wins. ... The Braves outgained the Witches in the second half, 258-131.
... F-F junior Kasey Neff had two receptions for
12 yards. ... Greenwich’s Messina had 212
rushing yards on 18 carries. ... Whitehouse (5 of
16, 72 yards) did not complete a pass in the second half.
Contact MICHAEL KELLY at
[email protected]
from page 24
the regular season, the Huskies
finished the game with 265 yards
on 40 carries — including 132
yards from slotback Quantel
McGee. Friday, the Rams limited
Gloversville to a scant 11 yards
on 20 attempts. It was a phenomenal display in the trenches,
especially when it came to playing proper assignment football.
Gloversville runs a lot of jet
sweeps and read option plays in
its spread offense, and
Amsterdam blew up a ton of
them at or behind the line of
scrimmage. The Huskies had just
one designed run — a McGee
13-yard sweep in the fourth quarter — go for more than 10 yards.
• Yet again, senior Troy
Wyszomirski was at the center
of the action on defense. When
deployed as the nose tackle in
Amsterdam’s five-man front,
Wyszomirski’s speed off the ball
and ability to penetrate the backfield can completely disrupt
opposing offenses, and it did
again Friday night. There was
also a big performance from
linebacker Brady McGillin, who
was involved in a ton of plays
— including a statement-maker
earlier when he cut through the
line to slam Scotty Bruce for a
6-yard loss on a jet sweep.
• Amsterdam’s pass defense left
a little to be desired, as Taylor
McCredie finished with 294
yards and three touchdowns
through the air, but there’s a couple caveats to that. First, a large
chunk of the yardage came in the
final 18 minutes with the Rams
liberally substituting against
Gloversville’s starters. Second,
98 of the yards came on a pair of
gimmick plays. The Huskies
opened the game with a reverse
flea-flicker that netted 39 yards
to McGee, and they went back to
the play later for a 59-yard score
in the fourth quarter on a broken
play that saw McCredie bobble
the pitch from Anthony Bravo,
only to recover and find McGee.
• Only other defensive issue
was a third kickoff return for a
touchdown the Rams allowed
this season. McGee raced 92
yards for a score after taking a
toss from Bravo, who initially
fielded Marcus Pritchard’s kick.
• Other than that, special teams
were a bright spot Friday night.
Bryan Stanavich returned a punt
68 yards for a touchdown, David
Crawford had long returns on a
kickoff and a punt and Marcus
Pritchard went 7-for-7 on extra
points — including the 100th
PAT of his career — and added a
21-yard field goal.
• To the offense we go, and
we’ll start with a trend I’ve been
spotting. Teams are so concerned
with Stanavich on the perimeter
as a rusher and receiver that some
have left the middle of the field
completely open. Gloversville did
it repeatedly Friday night and
Amsterdam quarterback Tony
Isabel exploited it by finding
tight end Keenan Holloway down
the seam three times for 99 yards
and a touchdown. Isabel was just
4-of-13 passing — a couple
drops and slight overthrows hurt
his completion percentage — but
racked up 116 yards and tossed
touchdowns to Holloway and
Brian Swank.
• Stanavich was finished for
the night after scoring his fourth
touchdown of the game less than
two minutes into the third quarter. He only carried the ball 11
times, but picked up 162 yards
to bring his total to 1,410 for the
season, while his 170 points are
a single-season AHS record.
• A big weapon for the Rams of
late has been the inside zone run
out of the pistol formation.
Stanavich and Luigi Iorio both
picked up big chunks out of that
set, while backup quarterback
David Crawford tucked and ran
for 47 yards on a read option
play after entering the game. The
zone run is a great fit for
Amsterdam’s smaller, but very
athletic offensive line.
Contact ADAM SHINDER at
[email protected].
AREA HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
BOYS SOCCER
Class B
Coxsackie-Athens at Broadalbin-Perth,
3 p.m.
Class C
Fort Plain at Greenville, 3 p.m.
TUESDAY
BOYS SOCCER
Class D
Northville vs. North Warren, at
Queensbury High School, 3 p.m.
GIRLS SOCCER
Lake George at Canajoharie, 3 p.m.
Berlin at OESJ, 3 p.m.
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Class C
Mechanicville at Broadalbin-Perth, 5 p.m.
Voorheesville at Fonda-Fultonville, 5
p.m.
Class D
Argyle at Galway, 5 p.m.
Mayfield at Lake George, 5 p.m.
FRIDAY
CROSS COUNTRY
Area teams, at Section II championships, at Saratoga Spa State Park, 11
a.m.
FOOTBALL
Class A
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake at
Amsterdam, 7 p.m.
Class B
Broadalbin-Perth at Schalmont, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY
FOOTBALL
Class C
Fonda-Fultonville vs. Voorheesville, at
Stillwater High School, 7 p.m.
Class D
Canajoharie vs. Whitehall, at
Schuylerville High School, 7 p.m.
HERKIMER — Rylie Smith
scored a pair of goals and
Addie Brundage had the goahead tally in the 50th minute
to send the OppenheimEphratah-St. Johnsville girls
soccer team to a 3-1 win
over Fort Plain in a Section II
Class C playoff game
Saturday at Herkimer County
Community College.
Smith’s first goal have
OESJ (12-5) a 1-0 lead midway through the first half, but
Fort Plain’s Bri Florian tied
the match with nine minutes
left in the half when she converted a penalty kick.
Brundage gave OESJ the
lead for good early in the
second half, and Smith
sealed the game on a direct
kick in the final five seconds.
BOYS SOCCER
Class D
Northville 2, Argyle 0
Danny Reidell assisted on
Dan Ryan’s first-half goal and
scored one of his own in the
second half to send the thirdseeded Falcons into the
semifinals.
Wolgang Reinke added an
assist on Reidell’s goal, while
Dylan Moore needed just one
save to record the shutout.
Lady Rams 2nd at
Harvest Classic
SCHODACK LANDING —
The Amsterdam High School
girls cross country squad finished in second place
Saturday at its Harvest Classic
at Schodack Island State Park.
Haldane won the girls’ team
event on the 2.7-mile course
with 32 points, while AHS
accrued 63.
Gloversville scored a 66 to
take third place, while the
school’s Alex Bielli took first
place in the race with a time
of 15 minutes, 49 seconds.
Amsterdam’s Olivia Lazarou
finished in second place with
a time of 16 minutes, 26 seconds, while teammate Chantel
Dopp took 19 minutes, 24
seconds to finish 12th.
In the boys’ race, CBA took
first place with 20 points,
Gloversville’s 67 netted it
second, and Amsterdam finished in sixth with 143.
CBA’s Kevin LaFleche won
with a time of 14 minutes, 22
seconds.
Gloversville’s Jacob Perez
led his team with a time of 15
minutes, 21 second, putting
him in 12th place; AHS
received a 20th-place finish
from Will Weinheimer, who
took 15 minutes, 49 seconds.
Tartan Invitational
Competing at Indian
Meadows Park in Glenville,
the Fort Plain/Canajoharie
girls finished in third place
and the FP/C boys took fifth.
In the girls’ race, Cheyenne
Munson led FP/C with a ninthplace finish. Munson needed
21 minutes, 58.81 seconds for
the 3.1-mile course.
For the FP/C boys, Michael
Thomas took 20 minutes,
45.42 seconds to come in
25th place to lead the squad
Queensbury’s boys and
girls won both races