Section Nine Football

Last week proved to be a disappointing one for our crew of fearless prognosticators. But we'll continue to look foolish, if necessary, because for some reason, fans love this stuff. Then AFTER the games are over, they can tell us that they had correctly picked all the games we had blown. So what! Let's rock 'n' roll again! First up is the Ulster Statman, RICH MICHAELIS (11-8 last week): Here we go - out on the limb again: Wallkill over New Paltz -They probably have their act together after last week. Monroe-Woodbury over FDR - I've seen them both. Chester over Blind Brook - Stick with our new kid. Kingston over Minisink - Even w/o their QB. Pine Bush over Valley Central - This should be a good game. Warwick over Goshen - Warwick smarting over last week's squeaker. Port Jervis over Cornwall - Should be a fun game to watch. O'Neill over Ellenville - My easiest pick--Hope I didn't jinx . Tri Valley over Pine Plains - Valley should have enough. Washingtonvilleville over Saugerties - The Wizards might be in for a good year. Rondout over Marlboro - This could be very interesting. Sullivan West over Burke - Established team vs. new team. Highland over Onteora - This also should be close. Difference could be Highland QB. Spackenkill over Red Hook - Was last week the first game jitters for the Spartans or is Millbrook for real again? Roscoe over Unadilla - We don't know about Roscoe yet but Unadilla was blown out last week. Hancock over Eldred - Please show mercy--Hancock won 79-0 in week one and that was after three quarters. Millbrook over Pawling - Millbrook almost pulled an upset last week. Albany CBA over Middletown - CBA supposed to be good this year. Newburgh over Colonie - Colonie lost big last week. Here’s Radio-Man ROB McLEAN, and he’s pumped (9-10 last week): Wallkill over New Paltz: The Panthers are PO'd. Monroe-Woodbury over FDR: The Crusaders might be the best team in Section 9 right now. Chester over Blind Brook: BB is a Sec 1 school with 234 kids...exactly one fewer than Chester! Go Hambies! Kingston over Minisink Valley: Ever without their star QB, the Tigers should handle the Warriors. Pine Bush over Valley Central: Will the Vikings win a game this season? Warwick over Goshen: Gonna get ugly. REAL ugly if you're a Gladiators fan...or player. Cornwall over Port Jervis: Yes, I know I'm nuts. But PJ might be overconfident after last week's easy win. O'Neill over Ellenville: I guess. Tri-Valley over Pine Plains: Without a doubt. Washingtonville over Saugerties: Long trip, but the Wizards should fly. Rondout Valley over Marlboro: A tight one. Sullivan West over Burke Catholic: Could be a looooong first year for the Eagles. Highland over Onteora: Beats me. Spackenkill over Red Hook: I love saying "Spackenkill"...it sounds vaguely naughty, don't you think? Roscoe over Unadilla Valley: Hey, Roscoe has enough players this week! Hancock over Eldred: ??? Millbrook over Pawling: Dunno. Albany CBA over Middletown: Crunch. Newburgh over Colonie: NFA won't lose two weeks in a row. Rockin’ RICHIE ARNOTT of Radio Fame is now up (11-8 last week): Week 2 is upon us and we'll see if we can improve on our picks. New Paltz over Wallkill...Look for the Huguenots’ defense to be more challenged against the Panthers but Wallkill's defense gave up 33 in week 1. Monroe-Woodbury over FDR...FDR hung tough despite the opening game loss at Rondout, but the odds are "Stacked" against them vs. the Crusaders. Chester over Blind Brook... Chester has the advantage of already having played a game and everyone is psyched for football in Hambletonian country. Minisink Valley over Kingston...Without star QB Andrew Downey Kingston's offense just isn't the same. The Warriors' Brian Freeman could have a good night against a so-so Tigers' defense. Pine Bush over Valley Central...The Bushmen jumped out to a quick 12 point lead against Minisink but let it slip away. Gomolinski could be the "go to guy" but VC's Toth can pass. Warwick over Goshen... Goshen would love to break a 7 year losing streak in this hotly contested "Spirit Trophy Game." The Wildcats can score points, however, and the Gladiator defense will be tested. Port Jervis over Cornwall...The Dragons earned one of the program's biggest victories last week with Piascik hitting paydirt 3 times. Port may have to shift into 2nd gear for this victory. O'Neill over Ellenville...Albert May had a good game against Onteora, but the Raider defense is much tougher and very opportunistic. Tri-Valley over Pine Plains...The Coombe and Knox show will be at it again against poor Pine Plains. Washingtonville over Saugerties...The Wizards get a second straight win to begin 2003 and Chris Castellano adds to the 254 yards he's already collected. Rondout Valley over Marlboro...The Iron Dukes' level of competition greatly increases in a tough encounter with the Ganders. Sullivan West over Burke...Neither team could muster more than 1 score a week ago. The Bulldogs use a more experienced program to pull out a narrow victory. Highland over Onteora...Not having to deal with the New Paltz defense will work wonders for the Huskies all around game. Onteora could refute this pick if QB Gorbein mixes things up enough. Spackenkill over Red Hook... Ryan Willoughby is a terrific QB and should handle things smoothly enough against the Raiders, who committed several costly turnovers vs. O'Neill. Roscoe over Unadilla Valley...Roscoe will be so delirious they got "game" it could be satisfactory motivation. Hancock over Eldred...Eldred does not appear strong enough to knock off this tough opponent. Millbrook over Pawling... Jon Shanks connected for 4 TD's in an impressive near miss against Spackenkill. Albany CBA over Middletown... The Middies don't stand much of a chance against this program. NFA over Colonie...Newburgh gets its offense in gear in week 2 with the usual suspects helping out QB Nate Holmes. Now for FEARLESS PHIL (11-8 last week): We're all pretty much on the same page this week, I guess. Hopefully, we can recover from a less-than-stellar first week forecast. Here goes: WALLKILL over New Paltz - This is one of the must-see games of the weekend. The speedy Panthers got surprised big time last week by Cornwall. Wallkill edged the Hugies last year and will do so again. MONROE-WOODBURY over FDR - The Crusader defense stops the Presidents' "Hey-Hey-Hey" offense (you old Bill Cosby fans know what I mean) while Back Stack racks up lots more yardage. CHESTER over Blind Brook - Our newbie beats their newbie about whom we confessedly know nothing. KINGSTON over Minisink Valley - I'm not so sure of this one. If the Tiger defense doesn't play improved ball and make up for Downey's absence, MV will win. PINE BUSH over Valley Central - Another injury that went unreported was PB's QB who got hurt in preseason. He'll be back soon. Meanwhile Marsh Canosa's boys should win the battle in the trenches. Close game. WARWICK over Goshen - Like Wallkill, these humbled 'Cats should be hungry. The New Goshen has speed and is on a high. Warwick needs this win for more reasons than just keeping the Spirit Trophy. PORT JERVIS over Cornwall - The Raiders thought they'd open the season with a relatively easy September. Not so. Cornwall surprised Wallkill last week. The Raiders know ahead of time that they have a game on their hands. Their new secondary will be tested by Auffray's arm. O'NEILL over Ellenville - The Raiders defense should contain May. It's the offense which must get going. TRI-VALLEY over Pine Plains - The battle for supremacy in Class C. Tri-Valley is a step ahead of the Bombers. WASHINGTONVILLE over Saugerties - Should be an easy win for the Wizards. They will see some competition next week when Cornwall comes to town. RONDOUT VALLEY over Marlboro - I just can't pick against the Ganders here even though they are not the same team as a year ago. We'll see just how good Marlboro is in this one. SULLIVAN WEST over Burke Catholic - In the preseason scrimmage the 'Dog offense had an easy time against the Burke defense. HIGHLAND over Onteora - Both of these teams let me down last week. Onteora will work hard and plug away on both sides of the ball, but the Huskies should win by a couple of TDs. SPACKENKILL over Red Hook - This week EVERYONE has been asking, "Is Millbrook really that good or is Spackenkill overrated?" Well, I doubt that the Spartans are overrated. This battle against a decent Red Hook team should tell us. ROSCOE over Unadilla Valley - Comeon, we've got to win some more intersectional games! The Blue Devils didn't play last week; UV got clobbered by Sidney, 44-0. After a week of bad press, Roscoe has to give us some redemption. HANCOCK over Eldred - No redemption here. Hancock is very tough this year. MILLBROOK over Pawling - Is Millbrook that good? Will they be in the hunt for the D title again? This game should be an indicator. ALBANY CBA over Middletown - This won't be pretty, to put it mildly. MHS has been on a no-nonsense campaign to make its kids more responsible in the classroom and is sticking to its guns. A lot of Middletown athletes haven't gotten with the program, and the football team is paying the price. NEWBURGH over Colonie - The Goldbacks will rebound from a generally lackluster performance against tough Troy.

This one also comes from outside Section Nine: "First of all I just wanted to let you know you have an excellent site. Its nice to be able to see what all the other schools are doing from each section. Especially for me since I live in Virginia now. Every section has a nice site accept section II, no site at all, just the Times-Union, but I like to see a lot of pictures with my articles, it kind of puts you in the game. "... I used to play ball for Shenendehowa of Section II. I would always hear about how dominant they both Middletown and Monroe-Woodbury were in Section IX. We used to play Monroe in the late 80's and early 90's. I played on the 95 state finalist team against Jamestown (a 32-18 loss). During the state play-offs I used to try to imagine what the other team's uniforms looked like, to get myself calmed down before the game. I couldn't really tell during the film sessions because I was so focused on what I needed to pay attention to. It's nice to be able to get a picture in your mind of what the teams look like. To be blunt, the Section 9 newspaper coverage of the high schools down there isn't really that impressive. But your website is terrific, keep up the good work. "My friend was at the NFA-Troy game and told me that except for two big plays, NFA didn't look all that impressive. And if you want to beat Troy, this is the year to do it. Troy always starts off slow, and around the 3rd game of the season is usually when they get things going. CBA (Albany) is supposed to be the top Dog in the Big 10 this year, because of QB Datwaan Hemingway. Is NFA a little over-hyped? From what I hear, Monroe looked awesome in their win over Nisky. Anyway good luck to the Section 9 Champs. Section 1's North Rockland looks awesome, and they have a monster at TB. Section 2 is either going to have CBA or Shen, maybe Troy since they got off to a good start. "All the hype is going to Webster Schroeder, and Syr-CBA because of (Paulus), but look out for (VI's) Lockport- they beat perennial power Jamestown 51-0. Jamaal Fluehellin had 220 yds on 16 carries. I think the section winners will look like this. 1-North Rockland 2-Shen 3-Syr-CBA 4-Horseheads 5-Webster-Sch 6-Lockport 9-Monroe-Woodbury "Lockport shocks everyone by beating Webster, CBA, and then destroys North Rockland in the State Championship." --- Josh Stegall Thanks for your sentiments and very informative letter, Josh! Good stuff - just what we want on this site! Yes, Monroe-Woodbury certainly looks to be in the thick of things. Six wins in a row for Pat D'Aliso's crew. But don't write off the NFA Goldbacks quite yet! I know the Crusaders don't. --- Fearless Phil * * * * * * This comes from our cyberfriend lephare: "I told everyone (on the Syracuse.com Forum) that Rondout was barely going to slip by FDR. And I said this will be the year of Matt Stack at QB and NFA QB Nate Holmes. And I also said that Red Hook's glory days are over. The days of guys like Chris Rogers and Shane Burud are over. How could you pick Highland over New Paltz? New Paltz is definitely the heavy favorite for Class B. And how about Spackenkill and Millbrook? 34-28. Either Spackenkill is overrated or Millbrook is underrated. Washingtonville suprised me along with Cornwall. But I'm still not counting Wallkill out. But now I think Port's going to take A. They look really good. And Monroe really suprised me by beating Niskayuna. Monroe should give NFA a good challenge for AA. But this year things are looking interesting overall. Well we'll have to see how things are going to look. Oh and by the way, Onteora should be interesting without J.C. Gonzalez. --- lephare Another good post. We welcome lephare and others to give us their top picks here. Lephare, who's going to win in the matchup of two of your favorites, Wallkill or New Paltz? And what is the real deal with J.C. Gonzalez? We in Orange County never got the story. I've heard about an alleged drug bust - is that fact or rumor? --- FP

Livingston Manor and Liberty will each be forfeiting this weekend. Manor will not have its rematch of last year's regional title game against eventual Class D state champ Dobbs Ferry. DF coach Skip Violante is hot, especially after Roscoe forfeited against his team last weekend. Go to the links and check out the Record's story. The Section One fans are worried about their sophisticated power ratings which determine entry and seeding in their sectional playoffs. Dobbs Ferry just wants to play football. Of course, so do the Manor players, especially seniors like All-State RB/LB George Thomas who remember their one-point loss to the Dobbers last November. But Manor Coach Scott Branning is without QB Josh Mendel, and he doesn't want to risk throwing in a sophomore against now Class C Dobbs Ferry. Liberty just can't get the bodies to field a team against Section Four's Unatego. The Indians lost two players via injury in last week's loss to Tri-Valley. When a B school can't get 16 healthy kids out for football, it may be time to go back to the drawing board. The Syracuse Football Forum is abuzz (see "links"). One writer sums it up: "Liberty is in Section 9? Livingston Manor is in Section 9 and so is Roscoe. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Hey, why don't Unatego and Dobbs Ferry play? Unatego would gets its game and Dobbs Ferry its victory. Meanwhile some of us in Section Nine need to get our acts together, whether it be in scheduling or recruiting. With Section 1 down to 9 Class C schools and 4 Class D schools (5, if you include Gould, which dropped out last week), maybe Section 1 and 9 should merge on those levels? Phil * * * * * * Section Two football guru Steve Grandin e-mailed me to say this: You know what's really sad? There are less than TWENTY Class D schools in the East half of the state -- Section 1 has 4 (Gould dropped out), you (Section Nine) have 5, we've got 8, and Section 7/10 has 2; thank goodness that Chester and Blind Brook (Sect. 1) started playing football and Bishop Gibbons (2) dropped to D, or there would have been only 16 teams. It's amazing we in the East are even competitive (2 championships in the last 4 years) in the state finals in Class D!

By FEARLESS PHIL As I reflect back over the opening weekend of Section Nine football, these words come to mind: OFFENSE, INJURIES and LONG-DISTANCE KICKERS. Oh, yeah. Let's not forget the great weather! There were some points scored this past weekend, that's for sure. The Kingston-Warwick and Cornwall-Wallkill games really got things going on Friday night. Whew. If Kingston's Andrew Downey hadn't gotten hurt, the Dietz Stadium scoreboard might have blown up! Between those two games there must have been 1,300 yards gained by the four offenses. Washingtonville netted 429 yards against Middletown while Port Jervis rang up 37 points and 350 yards without working up much of a sweat against outmanned Saugerties. On Saturday Spackenkill and Millbrook got involved in a wild 34-28 shootout. Goshen showed offensive firepower that the county seat hasn't seen in a few years while Marlboro, piling up 45 points, bullied Pine Plains. Tri-Valley scored 33 against depleted Liberty before mercifully shutting down its engines in the third quarter. Saturday night Monroe-Woodbury workhorse QB (how often do you hear that!) Matt Stack ran around and over Niskayuna. The Stack attack led the Crusaders to a 27-14 win for which all of us in Section Nine are JOYFUL!! Section Nine AA opponents won't be so joyful when they have to try and stop him in future games, but for now we can all celebrate our lone victory in Week One intersectional games. May there be a few more of those!! Check out some of these individual offensive efforts: Stack (three TDs, 173 yards), Washingtonville RB Chris Castellano (254 yards), Washingtonville QB Sean McGrath (four TDs), Cornwall QB Kyle Auffray (14x21x273 yards), Cornwall's punishing fullback John Piascik (three TDs, 83 tough yards), Wallkill's rushing tandem of Tom Young and J.J. Maloney (30 x 227 yards),Ellenville RB Albert Mays (197 yards), Port Jervis RB Steven Stellato (192 yards and two TDs), NFA QB Nate Holmes (189 yards, two TDs), Millbrook QB Jon Shanks (four TD passes), Marlboro RB Matt Molinelli (183 yards, two TDs), Marlboro's Jeff Beck (three TDs), Spackenkill QB Ryan Willoughby (three TD passes all to Dave Corcoran), New Paltz RB Kevin Murphy (186 yards, two TDs), Minisink Valley RB Ben Becker (167 yards), Goshen FB Joe Dembeck (170 yards and three TDs), Livingston Manor's George Thomas (163 yards) and Chester's first-ever 100-plus rusher, Anthony Basile (115 yards). If you want good-looking receiving performances, check out Kingston's Joe Kinard, NFA's Sean Bergin, Cornwall's Quron Simmons, Port's Chris Smith and the above-mentioned Dave Corcoran of Spackenkill. My apologoies to those other sterling performances I may have left out. Let's not forget defense. Yes, there was some. The Port Jervis front five (ends Ryan Cunningham and Adam Decker, tackles Chuck Buck and Chris Conklin plus NG Bryan Shauger) was devastating. This week's big contest with Cornwall will be a better test for them than Saugerties was, however. Speaking of front walls, New Paltz's is a wrecking crew, too. It features Ben Babcock, Joe Judge, Matt Crawford, Tim Freer and Antoine Dumas. It was no accident that Port and Paltz got the weekend's only shutouts. O'Neill's D also put forth a notable effort, turning three big takeaways into TDs against Red Hook. Individually, Rondout Valley DB Doug Mackenzie is a defensive force all unto himself. The Gander D cannot be overlooked so long as Mackenzie patrols the secondary and commands the troops in front of him. Another DB who had a good showing was Goshen's Brett Smith who had two interceptions. At the top we mentioned injuries. The head of the injury list belongs to Kingston's Andrew Downey. After tossing a pair of first quarter TD passes against Warwick, he suffered a broken collarbone in the second. Fellow junior QB Brett Wrixson has some big shoes to fill for the next month or more... Injuries to TB Derek Blum (knee) and J.J. Espinosa (broken arm) may help lead to an early end to Liberty's season. The Indians are scrapping just to get the minimum 16 players on the field. Liberty is supposed to host Section Four's Unatego this Saturday... Livingston Manor suffered a serious blow when junior QB Josh Mendel broke an ankle playing defense in the final minute of the Deposit game... Saugerties lost lineman Gary Sullivan and WR/DB Brandon Peterson, both starters... Eldred will have to go without starting RB Kyle Schneider this weekend against tough Hancock, another Section Four opponent. The other starting RB, Vinny Reilly (bruised back) is questionable. Now for the long-ball kickers. We saw three this weekend and know there are more out there. Port's Kevin Butler (speaking of injuries) has been kept from contact, so he's had the time to work on his kicking game. His kickoffs made it inside the five, he just missed on a 40-yard FG attempt (which had enough distance to be a 55-yarder had it been on target) before nailing a 30-yarder. Valley Central's Joe Sollecito can bang it for distance, too. Another inside-the-five guy. But the real launching pad is the foot Goshen's Bobby Collett. On Saturday he blasted one kickoff through the endzone with no wind to aid him. Three others went to the goal line. His PATs and FGs will be automatics when his snapper and holder get things together. ODDS 'N' ENDS ... Just how big is FDR RB (or Bulldozer) Keith McCray? One estimate is 290 pounds. Talk about a refrigerator. McCray scored all of the Presidents' points (14) against Rondout ... Goshen hasn't seen the Spirit Trophy in seven years. The Spirit Trophy stays in the Trophy case of the Warwick-Goshen winner. Dean Ouderkirk, then Goshen's athletic director, came up with the idea of having a tangible symbol of the section's oldest rivalry (dating back to 1896). This year a good-looking Goshen team looks like it's going to give perennial power Warwick a little competition. To stir the fire even more is the presence of assistant coach Matt Buddenhagen on the Goshen sideline. Buddenhagen had coached at Warwick and reportedly did not depart on the best of terms. Goshen insiders are already saying that Buddenhagen's coming to Goshen has given that program a big lift. "He's gonna be somebody's head coach one of these days," I was told... I think this will be one heck of an interesting season... Root hard for your team - and cheer on Section Nine teams in the intersectionals!

CORNWALL STUNS WALLKILL, 33-25. Cornwall 7 Wallkill 0 (65 yard pass Auffray to Simmons on the opening play. Kick good.) Cornwall 13 Wallkill 0 (9-play drive; Piascik scores from 5 yards out; kick wide left) Cornwall 13 Wallkill 6 (9-play drive; one pass completion, 8 runs. Wallkill scores from one yard out. Run for 2 points failed) Cornwall 13 Wallkill 12 (Wallkill recovered a short kick -- possibly an onside attempt -- and then completed a 45-yard pass for a touchdown. A pass for 2 pts. was incomplete.) Cornwall 19 Wallkill 12 (10-play drive, including three pass completions; Piascik ran in from the 2. Kick was wide left.) Cornwall 26 Wallkill 12 (B.J. DePasquale tackled the Wallkill punter on the 3. Piascik scored on the next play. Kick was good.) Cornwall 26 Wallkill 19 (Wallkill ran two plays for a first down. On the next series, a long run on second and nine was good for a touchdown.) Cornwall 33 Wallkill 19 (Seven-play drive, roughly 70 yards, three completions. DePasquale scored from 1.) Cornwall 33 Wallkill 25 (Wallkill intercepted an Auffray pass and threw a touchdown pass on the next play. The extra point was wide.) In the closing minutes, Wallkill drove to the Cornwall 10-yard line. Two runs netted them three yards. A third-down pass attempt was incomplete, and a fourth-down pass was knocked down by DePasquale. Cornwall took over with one minute to play and ran out the clock. Kyle Auffray completed 14-of-21 passes for 273 yards. Sorry, the Wallkill names were unavailable. Score by quarters Wallkill 12 0 13 0 - 25 Cornwall 13 13 7 0 - 33 Ken Cashman - The Cornwall Local TROY EDGES NEWBURGH, 18-12 The Troy defense scored the game-winning touchdown after recovering a Nate Holmes fumble on a fourth-and-two with 4:12 remaining in the fourth quarter. NFA TDs were by Sean Bergin (a 78-yard TD pass from Nate Holmes); and Mike Robinson (a 44-yard TD pass from Nate Holmes). Mike Zummo - Wallkill Valley Times NEW PALTZ SHUTS OUT HIGHLAND, 21-0 Highland 0 0 0 0 - 0 New Paltz 7 7 0 7 - 21 1st Kevin Murphy 3 yd run (Dan Goldman kick) 2nd Travis Garcia 76 yd run (Goldman kick) 4th Kevin Murphy 13 yd run (Goldman kick) Kevin Murphy rushed for 136 yards With 30 seconds to go in 1st quarter there was a blackout from an accident which had slowly spread throughout the area Rich Michaelis WARWICK ATTEMPT FOR TWO FAILS - KINGSTON WINS Kingston jumped ahead, 12-0, on its first two possessions of the game and then held on to pull out a narrow one point victory in a close opener. Kingston QB Andrew Downey looked brilliant in the first quarter connecting on a TD pass to Joe Kinard and smoothly handling all the running plays. Warwick's Steven Prescod scored the first of his 3 TD's on Warwick's 3rd possession, cutting the Tigers' lead to 12-7, but Kingston quickly took control of the momentum on a Willis Freeman run, making it 18-7. Warwick answered back with another Prescod score, but again gave up 6 before halftime to trail the Tigers, 24-14 at the midway point. Andrew Downey hurt himself on the last 2-point conversion attempt and did not return for the rest of the night as Junior Brett Wrixon took over. Warwick sacked Wrixon in the endzone for a safety early in the 3rd quarter and then 2 possessions later tied it with a TD and 2pt. conversion. Warwick's TJ Sala fumbled inside his own 20 yard line and Freeman picked it up to run it in for a score. This time Kingston finally converted an extra point of some kind on a Dave Null PAT, which ultimately proved to be the difference. Warwick scored again and coach Sirico elected to go for 2, but Kingston made the biggest defensive stop of the game, keeping a one point lead. Warwick got the ball back with 3 and a half minutes to go, but could not muster a good drive, with a penalty and botched play slowing them down. Kingston committed a pass interference which kept the Wildcats' hopes alive on a fourth and long, but Warwick's Chris Radon threw several incomplete passes to end the game. This loss shows some of Warwick's vulnerabilities, namely their secondary and lack of a passing attack. Kingston, however, may have paid the ultimate price for this win as their stellar QB Downey suffered a broken collarbone. Kingston Coach Tom Loughlin said after the game that Downey would be out indefinitely. Downey said he thought he'd be out four to six weeks. Rich Arnott - WTBQ PORT JERVIS OPENS WITH EASY WIN PORT JERVIS - Junior Steven Stellato rushed for 192 yards and two TDs while senior QB Matt Semerano tossed a pair of TD passes to lead Port Jervis to an easy 37-0 win over Saugerties in a Class A contest. Stellato's first TD run came in the first quarter and covered 41 yards. His second tally, a dazzling 82-yard run, came in the third stanza. Asked after the game if he could describe that second TD, Stellato said, "I don't know what all happened once I got past the line. I know I had some great blocking. I guess I'll just have to see the tape for the rest of it." The speedy Stellato has been bothered by painful foot blisters and was used sparingly in last week's scrimmage. As for Semerano, nothing seems to be bothering his strong right arm. He tossed his first TD pass to junior flanker Chris Smith in the first quarter to start the scoring. The 26-yard TD bomb came in over Smith's left shoulder as he outraced the cornerback down the right sideline. Smith caught caught it at the five and cruised in for the score. In the third quarter Semerano fired an 11-yard TD bullet to junior Mike Ashcraft. "It all happened so fast that I didn't even know Mike had caught it until I heard the crowd cheer," the veteran QB said. Junior running back Lucas Non scored Port's other TD on a nifty 22-yard run in the second quarter. Non started in place of veteran senior running back Kevin Butler whose playing time was limited to kicking. Butler connected on four-of-five PAT attempts and booted a 30-yard field goal. Butler has a couple of small broken bones in his hand. "I don't know if Kevin will be able to play in the backfield next week (against Cornwall)," said Coach Bob Corvino after the game. "I can't wait to see what we look like when he's in there. Meanwhile our other backs like Lucas have been doing a fine job." Non rushed for 70 yards. One player Corvino doesn't want to see running around, however, is Semerano who has suddenly found some extra speed and fancy footwork. "Yeah, I've got to stop that," the QB said, "or Coach says I'm going to end up standing on the sidelines with him." Saugerties lost two players via injuries during the contest. Starting offensive lineman Gary Sullivan limped off the field in the first quarter. Split end/defensive back Brandon Peterson was taken off in an ambulance in the third quarter. For Port, All-State lineman Chuck Buck rolled an ankle in the third quarter and was taken out of the game for precautionary reasons. Senior tailback Justin Kehoe was the thrust of the Sawyers' offense, rushing for 71 yards. Next Friday night Port Jervis will play host to Cornwall, upset winner over Wallkill, in a surprise early season showdown. (Fearless) Phil Dusenbury - Fox 96.7 FM and website editor OTHER FRIDAY NIGHT NOTES Middletown QB Donald Roth toughed it out and played against Washingtonville despite suffering a hyperextended wrist last week. The Wizards won handily, however, smashing Middletown, 42-13, to give new coach Don Clark a victory. Chris Castellano rushed for 254 yards and a TD while QB Sean McGrath tossed four TD passes... Minisink Valley overcame a 13-0 defecit to beat Pine Bush, 27-13. RB Ben Becker rushed for 167 yards and a TD. Warrior QB Bryan Freeman passed for one TD and rushed for another... Three big takeaways by O'Neill, which turned into 22 points, paved the way for the Highland Falls crew to top Red Hook, 28-6. Luke Zeile retuned one of his two interceptions 96 yards for a score... In a battle of new teams, Chester topped Burke Catholic, 16-8. A 50 yard Bryan VanDemark-to-Brian Clifford TD pass opened the scoring for Chester. In the third quarter the Hambletonians' Anthony Basile rushed for the second TD. Basile rushed for 115 yards on the night. Burke's Billy Montopoli later scored on a 66-yard gallop.