Section Nine Football

First up this week is RICH ARNOTT who is now 53-21 (15-2 last week): MONROE-WOODBURY over NFA...Classic showdown in what could be a harbinger of the AA title game. HIGHLAND over Red Hook...The Huskies will need QB Liam Fay to stay sharp to bring on a 4th consecutive win. KINGSTON over Shaker...The Freeman-Kinard spectacular won't let down in week 5. MILLBROOK over Chester...Still some growing pains for Chester's defense against Jon Shanks' Blazer attack. PINE BUSH over Middletown...Look for guys like Gomolinski, Morstatt, or Novins to hand the Middies loss #5. MINISINK VALLEY over Washingtonville...With either Freeman or Fitzpatrick, the Warriors should have a little bit more in the tank than the ever-so-quickly improving Wizards. PORT JERVIS over Warwick...The 2003 edition of the Wildcats is not quite up to defeating this PJ squad, although no one can say Greg Sirico schedules easy non-league games. PINE PLAINS over Sullivan West...Millius and company to win this struggle. CORNWALL over Goshen...Both teams are great Section 9 stories and both had bubbles burst in week 4. I'll take Auffray over Turi in this classic Class A encounter. LIVINGSTON MANOR over Roscoe...The Wildcats have gotten a claw re-sharpening and plan to win again. TRI-VALLEY over Ellenville..."The Garigliano Kid" marches his Bears into Ellenville, wins the game, and steals the last jar of honey. NEW PALTZ over Rondout Valley...Travis Garcia continues a terrific season along with his Huguenot cohorts. SAUGERTIES over Onteora...The Sawyers return to the winning side of the ledger in week 5 with unsung Justin Kehoe putting forth another quality performance. SPACKENKILL over O'Neill...This will truly be a test of the old adage, "A good defense stops a good offense." VALLEY CENTRAL over FDR... Steve Toth throws enough passes and Jim Drury rushes enough to get the AA-2 decision. BISHOP MAGINN over Burke...Inexperience above all else will keep the Eagles from soaring. WALLKILL over Marlboro...J.J. Maloney is white-hot to the point of going through Iron Dukes. Now for the sage of Ulster, RICH MICHAELIS (51-23, 14-3 last week): Some toss up games this week. Here we go again. MONROE over Newburgh---I'll stay with this winning horse until it trips. HIGHLAND over Red Hook--no reason. KINGSTON over Shaker-Another section two team with a losing record. CHESTER over Millbrook-I literally changed my mind four times on this one. PINE BUSH over Middletown-Should be a close game. WASHINGTONVILLE over Minisink--a very big game. PORT over Warwick--Another good one. PINE PLAINS over Sullivan West-- no reason. GOSHEN over Cornwall--I guess I'm just hoping for a wild scramble in Class A. LIVINGSTON MANOR over Roscoe--Should be an easy pick. TRI VALLEY over Ellenville--Bad year for the Devils. RONDOUT over New Paltz--I think there is a big difference between the A's and B's this year. SAUGERTIES over Onteora--easy one. O'NEILL over Spackenkill--Best team the Spartans have seen. FDR over Valley Central--Coin flip. BISHOP MAGINN over Burke--who scheduled this? Maginn plays a AA schedule in Section 2 against Troy, etc. WALLKILL over Marlboro--But at least the enjoyment of watching Beck. MIKE ZUMMO was our #1 prophet last week going 16-1! He's 40-15 overall. Here are his picks for this week. MONROE-WOODBURY over Newburgh: Monroe-Woodbury plays 11 guys one-way. The Goldbacks do not. This game is going to be decided in the fourth quarter. The Goldbacks could already be without Joe Williams. HIGHLAND over Red Hook: That sounds good. KINGSTON over Shaker: The Tigers aren't about to lose this one. MILLBROOK over Chester: At some point this season, the rookie Hambletonians are going to falter due to inexperience. PINE BUSH over Middletown: Friday night is homecoming and the Bushmen want to win badly against the tapped-out Middies. MINISINK VALLEY over Washingtonville: The Wizards are better than they've been in years but they're not good enough to overtake the Warriors just yet. PORT JERVIS over Warwick: The top non-league game to watch. Port is going to win this war. PINE PLAINS over Sullivan West: Shot in the dark. CORNWALL over Goshen: They've already beaten the top two teams in the league. Who's left? Just Rondout Valley who is without star back Doug Mackenzie. LIVINGSTON MANOR over Roscoe: Thomas runs all over this depleted squad. TRI-VALLEY over Ellenville: Tri-Valley dispatched Roscoe last week and will do the same to Ellenville this week. NEW PALTZ over Rondout Valley: Without Mackenzie, the Ganders can't keep up with this Class B power. SAUGERTIES over Onteora: You expect anything else? SPACKENKILL over O'Neill: The Raiders just suffered a deflating loss last week to Marlboro. How much do they have left for Spackenkill. VALLEY CENTRAL over FDR: The Presidents are still trying to figure their way around Section 9 and the Vikings should have some renewed confidence after beating Middletown last week. BISHOP MAGINN over Burke: Don't know but I think Bishop has more experience. WALLKILL over Marlboro: The Iron Dukes just played two very tough games. The Panthers have scored about 140 points in the past three games. Need I say more? FEARLESS PHIL (50-24, 14-3) is happy that he and his crew finally had a decent week of forecasting. Now let's see about this week. NEWBURGH F.A. over Monroe-Woodbury -- The last loss the Crusaders suffered was at the hands of NFA. Last season the 'Backs scored 21 fourth quarter points to come from behind and beat M-W, 31-14. The Crusaders deserve the number one ranking coming into this game, but NFA will deserve it going out. The 'Saders may be just a bit too one-dimensional for a fellow high-quality team like the 'Backs. HIGHLAND over Red Hook -- The Huskies should end up in the B playoffs this year. KINGSTON over Shaker -- The Tigers have transitioned relatively smoothly from one QB to another. A Shaker win would be a big upset. MILLBROOK over Chester -- Kearins can run, Shanks can throw, Rogers can catch; and the Blazer defense is rated "R" for rough. Chester has been more than holding its own as a new varsity entry, however, and will make a game of it. PINE BUSH over Middletown -- Somebody's going to finally get a "W". Pine Bush seems to be able to put more points on the board. WASHINGTONVILLE over Minisink Valley -- This is by far the toughest one for me to pick. The Warriors have more than Bryan Freeman, but he's what ignites the Green Machine. This is a must-win game for MV. Meanwhile nobody outside Washingtonville expects much of the Wizards (except me, maybe). Don Clark's kids should be loose and pumped. A win here and Washingtonville could be headed for an AA playoff berth. PORT JERVIS over Warwick -- Even with three starters sidelined last week, Port engineered a do-or-die comeback victory. That teamwork, desire and spirit should have the Raiders on a high. Glennette Field hasn't been much of a "snakepit" lately. Maybe a home win Friday can again cause the Raiders to say, "Not in our house!" PINE PLAINS over Sullivan West -- A very close matchup here. The Bombers get the home field edge. CORNWALL over Goshen -- A loss here by the Dragons would just about undo their great triumphs of weeks one and two. Look for Cornwall to come out breathing fire against a suddenly desperate Goshen team which has to win. NEW PALTZ over Rondout Valley -- Don't think this will be a one-sided game, however. Rondout can still play football. SAUGERTIES over Onteora -- The Sawyers are improving each week. Their win over AA FDR two weeks ago is a measure of their growth. Onteora has a bruising fullback in John Herth, but the poor Indians have been outscored 128-0 over the last three games. SPACKENKILL over O'NEILL -- This will be another very close game. Once-beaten O'Neill lost by a single point last week. Unbeaten Spackenkill often plays 'em close. Maybe it'll come down to a Dave Gruberg PAT. LIVINGSTON MANOR over Roscoe -- The Wildcats' Thomas should be able to do his thing (again) this Saturday and inch Manor closer to another title game. FDR over Valley Central -- The winless Presidents get closer and closer to winning and don't seem to have an ounce of quit in them. The Vikings are up to 2-2 and showing much improvement. But before the home crowd, FDR should get its first Section Nine victory. BISHOP MAGINN over Burke -- Catholic charities at work. Maginn may be winless, but it's out of fledgling Burke's league. TRI-VALLEY over Ellenville -- The Big Bears win their fourth. WALLKILL over Marlboro -- The Panthers show no sign of letting up on their relentless assault on whomever crosses their path, including a decent Marlboro squad.

(Editor's Note: Gib has been in a funk since making an incorrect choice in his sole pick of last week. The High Zen Master of "Tespoo-Voodoo" is now a very mortal 4-2.) By GIB TESPU I'm not despondent. Somewhere within the timeline that balances fate and free-will, there is a fog. It's a greyness wherein lie nothing but shadows. Chester and Livingston Manor entered that fourth-dimensional world of shadows last week, and not even my clear vision of football's ebb and flow could penetrate the turpitude that often awaits within those shadows. Last week I tried to tangle with that fickle phantom. It turned out to be a foolish choice. Only the raw power of a George Thomas could gain control of those forces and use them to his team's benefit. This week I'll rely more on logic, for the Tespu need not always be intuitive. All the false prophets chose Pine Bush to beat Middletown, despite the latter's overtime win last year. Middletown still has within itself the power to rise to its potential. Each of the last few seasons saw that cosmic elevation surface only once or twice. Pine Bush and Middletown are neighbors and even bigger rivals (to this generation of players) than are Port Jervis and Middletown. Don't cry Phearless Pill but your Raiders are not the center of the entire universe. MIDDLETOWN will defeat favored Pine Bush, home field and Homecoming not withstanding. Forget the Lottery - that's for losers. This is a sure bet that will get you good odds. Oops, I'd better say this before Hairless - I mean Fearless - puts on his goody two-shoes: DON'T BET MONEY ON FOOTBALL, KIDDIES!! Just the ranch (ha-ha). (Editor's Note: What Gib Tespu writes are his own froward opinions and do not reflect the beliefs of this web site. As for what he wrote, I say, "Huh?" As for his pick I say, "The Middies agree with you.")

If you're a red-blooded Section Nine football fan, it doesn't get much better. This coming weekend of action starts off with a big bang on Friday night. Warwick at Port Jervis? Normally this would be the marquee match up, and this game should be a dandy. Washingtonville at Minisink? A critical AA-ll contest. But the grand firework display should take place over at Monroe-Woodbury where the unbeaten Crusaders, now riding a nine game winning streak, take on the defending AA champs from Newburgh Free Academy. NFA and Monroe-Woodbury have dominated Class AA for the past six seasons. Newburgh won the title in '97, '99, '01 and '02. M-W grabbed the crown in '98 and '00. Friday night's showdown is what we've all come to expect in AA. "They believe they're going to win. We believe we're going to win," says NFA coach C. T. Chatham. "One or two plays usually make the difference. It could be a turnover or a bad call. All we can do is to get ourselves prepared." Chatham reflects the concerns of the AA-l coaches about the Class AA playoff setup for this season and hence the extreme importance of this game. "Our conference has the best three teams in AA, and it's a shame that one of us won't make it to the playoffs," he says. The AA playoffs will pit cross-over games between the top two teams in each AA conference. "We (Newburgh, M-W and Kingston) could even end up in some kind of a tie, and one of us would lose out because of a tie-breaker when the playoff comes. We want our best representatives in that title game. It would be a shame if that didn't happen, but that's the way they've structured the playoffs." Hence the importance of this game. Look for lots of scoring. With ace option QB Matt Stack following the pulling blocks of his powerful offensive line, the Crusaders are averaging almost 39 points per game. Newburgh is averaging 28. The big question mark going into this battle is whether or not all-state running back Joe Williams will suit up for the Goldbacks. Right now he is listed as "questionable." The senior did not play last week against Pine Bush. * * * * * * They're no longer in the same league, so a whole lot of the usual pressure accompanying the Warwick-Port Jervis game won’t be present. But this old and often bitter rivalry is bound to heat up once the whistle sounds. Warwick finally won a game last week, and it was huge since it was the 'Cats' AA-ll opener against tough Minisink. Meanwhile Class A Port Jervis awoke from a first half lethargy last weekend to storm from behind in the second half and upend previously unbeaten Goshen. It was a must-win situation for the Raiders. "We're happy to have Warwick and Minisink back on our schedule," says Port coach Bob Corvino. "We can't get better if we don't play good teams." Those Minisink Warriors will be in a must-win game of their own Friday night when rejuvenated Washingtonville comes to South Centerville. MV lost the services of star QB Bryan Freeman early in last week's Warwick game via an injury. Sean FitzPatrick made a nice effort off the bench, but Freeman is Minisink's "straw that stirs." Reportedly, he has just been cleared to practice but his status for Friday is "questionable" at best. Meanwhile this is the big test for Washingtonville. A win here would put the Wizards in a good position to make it to the AA playoffs. Under the direction of new head coach Don Clark, Washingtonville is more apt to be a contender rather than a pretender in AA-ll. In Class D Friday night, Millbrook has the opportunity to establish itself as the top dog. Led by HB-DB Mike Kearins, QB Jon Shanks, WR-DB Eli Rogers and an aggressive defense, the Blazers registered a convincing win over Eldred last Saturday while Chester has lost its last two games. Eldred had beaten the Hambletonians by two points two weeks ago while Livingston Manor beat them by three last weekend. Incidentally, Chester's loss to Manor was not a league loss - their second meeting on October 24th will count toward the Class D standings. * * * * * * * The Saturday festival gives us Cornwall at Goshen for starters. Goshen had its bubble burst by Port last week while Cornwall surprisingly got shut out by Mohonasen, a Section Two team the Dragons were expected to handle fairly easily. Both Goshen and Cornwall are anxious to get back in the grooves that had each of them going into last week's action with 3-0 slates. For Goshen this is a must game. At the risk of repeating myself, two wins in a six-team league usually spells disaster. Some Gladiator fans are rationalizing the loss to Port, saying that the absence of star kicker Bobby Collette, who was off playing for the soccer team, made a big difference. "If he had been kicking, that blocked punt (which Port recovered in the end zone for a TD) never would have been happened ... and the other punts would have each gone another 15 yards," a Goshen loyalist told me. "But when Collette came onto the team, the stipulation was that soccer had top priority, so we knew what we were getting." Of course Port was missing its booming kicker, Kevin Butler, for most of the game. He went out before the end of the first quarter having trouble breathing. Butler wasn't available to punt, kick off or kick some extra points which were vital at the time. Everyone has his own perspective. Goshen will need Collette and a lot more to beat Cornwall. That's assuming that the Dragons come back from their mini-vacation. Cornwall hasn't seen much football success over the last couple of decades, but second-year coach Dave Coates has put his crew in a position to win a title. Now the players have to reach that dream by playing consistently good football throughout the rest of the season. NFA's Chatham says of building his successful program (and it relates to rising programs like Cornwall's), "You've got to get over that initial hump and make it through a season. Every week's a new week. Then you must maintain that championship level." Cornwall's 16 starters are talented, tough and well-coached. If they stay healthy and focused, Class A is theirs. For now they'll have to prove themselves to a very good Goshen team with its back to the wall. If you're looking for a good game on Saturday, head for the County Seat of Orange. If you feel like driving Poughkeepsie way, go up to Spackenkill where the state-ranked and unbeaten Spartans of B-ll will entertain B-l's O'Neill. The Raiders suffered their first loss last week at the hands of Marlboro, 20-19. O'Neill had only allowed six points in its first three games before the Dukes dissed the Raider 'D'. Offensively, each team features a fine QB. Spackenkill's Ryan Willoughby and O'Neill's Kyle Harris can each cause opponents trouble two ways: via the pass or the run. Willoughby has thrown seven TD passes (six of them to Dave Corcoran) and run for three TDs. Harris has passed for six TDs and run for two. Mike Tedesco of Spackenkill and Matt Zielinski of O'Neill are each solid running backs. In close games Coach Paul Valli's Spartans usually find a way to win. This weekend we'll look for a big defensive play to be the key to victory in this matchup between teams which may meet again come playoff time. On Saturday, Class D will see underdog Roscoe travel to Livingston Manor in a rematch of last year's title game. Neither of these teams looks to be as good as their predecessors; neither can afford a league loss. The defending champs from Manor will be favored here. On Saturday night tough B-l Marlboro will step up and face the score-crazy and heavily favored Class A Wallkill at Dietz. Led by running back J. J. Maloney, the Panthers come in averaging 41 points per game. Wallkill is hell-bent for its last two league games with Goshen and Port Jervis which come on the final two weeks of the regular season. The Panthers' mission is to claw past those two roadblocks and take another swipe at Cornwall in the A title game. It's gonna be a great weekend. Be a part of it! YELLOW FLAG OF THE WEEK: Inaccurate rosters!! Coaches (and you know which ones you are), please give us all a break and let us have game programs with the correct numbers for each player! A couple of schools must throw jerseys in a pile each week and tell players to grab any which one at random before they run out onto the field. People pay money to see these games. Let them know who's who! ... And while we're on the subject of rosters (a vital necessity to us media guys) - couldn't you (and you know who you are) give us rosters in numerical order?! Alphabetical order doesn't help us. Listing by grades doesn't help us. When a play is made we look for the number. If the roster is in numerical order, the player's name is a breeze to find! Besides how are those poor play-by-play PA announcers I railed about last week going to know who's who so they can keep jabbering?

LARGE SCHOOLS (AA/A) 1. Monroe-Woodbury (4-0) 2. Newburgh F. A. (3-1) 3. Kingston (4-0) 4. Cornwall (3-1) 5. Wallkill (3-1) 6. Port Jervis (3-1) 7. Washingtonville (3-1) 8. Goshen (3-1) 9. Warwick (1-3) 10. Minisink Valley (2-2) SMALL SCHOOLS (B/C/D) 1. Spackenkill (4-0) 2. New Paltz (3-1) 3. Marlboro (3-1) 4. O'Neill (3-1) 5. Highland (3-1) 6. Millbrook (2-2) 7. Pine Plains (2-2) 8. Sullivan West (2-2) 9. Tri-Valley (3-1) 10. (tie) Livingston Manor (1-2) Red Hook (2-2)

MILLBROOK DEFEATS ELDRED, FLAGS AND LIGHTNING ELDRED - In a game marred by penalties and temporarily halted because of lightning, visiting Millbrook led the whole way and beat Class D foe Eldred, 26-15. Millbrook came out fired up after its very long road trip from Dutchess to Sullivan. The Blazers started their first drive from their own one, thanks to a beautiful 46-yard punt by Eldred's Kyle Jasper. Millbrook then drove to the Yellowjacket 15 before Vinny Reilly intercepted a Jon Shanks pass. Eldred couldn't celebrate for long as Millbrook recovered Matt Counts' fumble at the 'Jacket 29. It took the Blazers just two plays to get on the scoreboard. Shanks and Bill Angione hooked up for an 18-yard pass play to the 11. Then Shanks found Dan Quick open in the endzone. Quick's diving catch was good for six. John D'Angelo added the PAT at the 5:04 mark. 7-0. On the second play of the second quarter Eldred freshman QB Nick McCormick fumbled the snap at the 'Jacket 36. Jeff Picard recovered for the Blazers. Two plays later Shanks flipped a short pass to Mike Kearins who broke a tackle at the 20, got a nice block at the 10, and scored on the 33-yard pass and run. D'Angelo again converted. 14-0 at the 11:05 mark. In the third quarter Eldred scored on a 75-yard drive aided by three unsportsman-like conduct penalties against Millbrook. Soph Jonathan Counts rushed for 31 yards on five carries for Eldred, but it was McCormick who scored on a three-yard run after grabbing the snap from center which had popped straight up in the air. Taylor Duiguid booted the conversion to make it 14-7 with 1:44 left in the third quarter. Eldred then tried an onside kick, but Millbrook covered it and was awarded an extra 15 penalty yards for unnecessary roughness by the 'Jackets. Now the Blazers would stick to the ground. Kearins carried on all four plays of the 38-yard drive. He scored on a 10-yard run on which he carried a tackler into the endzone as well as the ball. A bad center snap caused the PAT to fail. 20-7 as the quarter ended one play later. On the next series Eldred picked up one first down. Then on a third and 13 from the 'Jacket 32, McCormick threw downfield only to have Millbrook's Eli Rogers step in front of the receiver for the interception and a 53-yard return for the TD. The kick failed. 26-7 with 9:03 left in the fourth quarter. With 6:18 left, the officials stopped the game for some 20 minutes because of lightning. When the teams resumed play, the lightning had passed, but there was still a downpour to contend with. Big boys play in the rain, however. With 2:53 left on the clock Jonathan Counts rambled 50 yards for Eldred's second TD. McCormick's pass to Reilly added two more. 26-15. While Eldred was hurt by its four turnovers, Millbrook was shooting itself in the foot by being flagged 10 times for 98 yards in walk-offs. One of them in the second quarter caused the ejection of Millbrook's Mike Spagnola. Millbrook plans to protest since Spagnola would be forced to sit out the next game. Meanwhile Eldred was hit with six flags for 49 yards. Shanks completed seven-of-14 passes for 136 yards and the two TDs. Workhorse Kearins rushed 17 times for 85 yards. Jonathan Counts rushed for 106 yards on 19 carries for Eldred. The blitzing Blazers sacked McCormick four times. Millbrook is now 1-0 in Class D and 2-2 overall. Next Friday night the Blazers travel to Chester for another big Class D game. Eldred is now 1-1 in Class D and 1-3 overall. The Yellowjackets will have next weekend off, receiving a forfeit from Liberty. ---FEARLESS PHIL PANTHERS POUNCE ON SAUGERTIES, 37-0 KINGSTON - Saugerties made a game of it for about 2 1/2 quarters in this Class A matchup, but the Panthers finally wore them down with a 20 point 3rd period. It's not easy to follow a team with a losing record but Saugerties pretty much filled the visitor bleachers. Hats off to them!! Here's the scoring summary: 1st 5:48 Jared Peliterri to Steve Poser 11 yd pass -- Adolfo Rivera kick 2nd 6:42 J.J. Maloney 9 yd run -- Rivera kick 0:00 Rivera 41 yd FG - Hit upright and caromed through. 3rd 5:18 Maloney 47 yd run -- Rivera kick 3:57 Craig Decicco blocked punt and recovered in end zone by Kevin Gagliano -- kick failed. 2:54 Greg Drobot 51 yd run -- Rivera kick 4th no scoring Wallkill is now 3-1 (1-1 in A); Saugerties is 1-3 (0-2). --- RICH MICHAELIS CORNWALL FALLS TO MOHONASEN, 14-0 Cornwall 0 0 0 0 - 0 Mohonasen 0 7 7 0 - 14 Mohanasen scored on two short drives -- one in the second quarter and one in the third quarter to defeat Cornwall, 14-0. In the second quarter, Mohanasen drove 46 yards in 12 plays and scored on a two-yard run by Ben Cooke. Mohanasen had twice converted on fourth down and fairly long yardage. Phil Morgan kicked the PAT. Their other touchdown was scored on a 31-yard pass from Dan Patrigani to Brad Carlton. The score was set up by a successful fake punt. Morgan again converted. Cornwall had a slight advantage in yards gained and first downs, but had poor field position throughout the night. At least three times, Cornwall started from inside its own 10-yard line -- twice on rolling punts and once on a fourth-down interception near the goal line. Cornwall intercepted three passes and had a successful goal line stand on a Mohanasen first down on the 2, following an interception. Mohonasen and Cornwall now have identical 3-1 records. NOTES: Sean Sparaza recorded 13 tackles and an interception to lead the Mohonasen defense...Here are some unofficial stats. Mohanasen possessions began on M45, M47, C32, C47, C12, M19 (2nd half kickoff), C38, C41, C16, C23... Mohanasen's good field position in the second and fourth quarter resulted from Cornwall's punting into the wind... Mohanasen completed 3 of 13 passes; Cornwall 5 of 13... John Piascik carried 9 times and gained 40 yards, including four first downs, for the Dragons. ---KEN CASHMAN of the Cornwall Local