Tuesday's Boys Soccer

Four games per the usual in the Patroon Conference on Tuesday. Not much in the way of major upsets or anything like that, so write into the results.

Maple Hill v. Taconic Hills

The Wildcats who have had their fair share of struggles in the early goings this season took care of business on Tuesday going to Craryville and winning 5-0. The Wildcats jumped on top early with three first half goals and added two more in the second half while barely being threatened.

Derek Van Alstyne was forced to make sure 2 saves to earn the win. For Maple Hill five different players were able to find the back of the net including Chris Despart, Adam Fuller, Corey Legge, Will Monty and Jake Yager. In goal for the the Titans was Jake Littman who made 10 stops.

Maple Hill will look to get build upon this win when they face winless Hudson on Thursday while the Titans are off until Monday when they will head to Chatham for a tough match up.

Greenville v. Ichabod Crane

The undefeated Riders survived an early scare on Tuesday and held on for a 4-2 win at home over Greenville. After falling behind 2-0 in the first half the Riders netted one before the half time whistle and added three more in the second half to pull out the win. The two goals allowed by the injury plagued Rider defense were only the second and third allowed this season.

Steve Domino and Alex Mastrianni split time in goal for ICC with both goals being scored on Domino who ended up with six saves while Mastrianni made seven stops in the second half. Their counterpart in goal for Greenville, Tucker Lewis made six saves.

Will Poetzsch continued his strong play for the Riders scoring a pair of goals, while Kyle Kline and Mitchell Niemeyer each scored one. Freshman Tyler Jablanski picked up another assist for ICC while Justin Stall who has quietly been having a vary solid season for the Riders picked up an assist of his own. The Riders will travel to Coxsackie on Thursday in an interesting and potential trap game for ICC.

For Greenville George Harvey and Tim O'Connor each scored a goal. The Spartans head to Catskill on Thursday for interesting contest between two middle of the pack teams.

Coxsackie Athens v. Chatham

In a battle between two teams looking to position themselves in the top three in the league the Panthers got a first half goal by Evan Young off a Ryan Behrens assist and that was enough for the 1-0 win. Other information was tough to come by.

C-A will host ICC in a good match up Thursday as they look to pull the upset while the Panthers will host Cairo Durham in a crucial mid season battle. The Mustangs beat Chatham 3-1 earlier this season.

Hudson v. Cairo Durham

The Mustangs were able to hold onto second place after a hard fought 3-1 win over the Bluehawks. The 'Stangs scored a pair of first half goals before the two teams traded scores in the second half.

Peter Zoellner scored a pair for C-D with Kody Koenig scoring the third. Chris Gagliardi, Dalton Phillips and Stephen Zwoboda each picked up assist. Cory Gransbury made seven stops in goal.

Per their usual this season the Bluehawks struggled with finishing as they remained winless. Their lone goal was a Hector Chavez header off a Zack Barlotta corner. Brett Delamater made 12 saves for the 'Stangs.

Hudson will host Maple Hill on Thursday looking for their first win while the Mustangs will travel to Chatham.

Girl's Soccer: Huge Upset

There were four Patroon Conference girl's soccer games on Monday and the most interesting result was Coxsackie Athens knocking off previously unbeaten Greenville after trailing by two goals. That result puts ICC and MH in the lead now for the league title but being less than half way through the season means a lot can still happen. This loss by Greenville makes their home stand today against ICC even more crucial.

Maple Hill v. Chatham

Maple Hill came out and blew away the Panthers in Chatham on Monday 5-1. The Wildcats scored a pair of goals in the first half before adding three more in the second compared to the Panthers one.

Meeghan Arno scored 4 goals and Taylor Czajkowski added one in the win. Alyssa Keeler scored the Panthers lone goal.

The win keeps the Maple Hill girl's undefeated, with their only blemishes being a pair of draws. On Wednesday they will face Taconic Hills while the Panthers fall to 4-3 with losses to the top 3 teams. On Wednesday they will host Coxsackie Athens in a mach up that should go a long way in deciding who will finish higher in the final standings.

Greenville v. Coxsackie Athens

In by far the biggest upset of this young season the Indians rallied from a 2-0 first half deficit to take a 3-2 halftime lead before extending their lead and holding on for a 6-4 victory. The loss drops Greenville out of their first place tie while it pushes C-A into a tie for fourth place with Chatham who they play Wednesday. The Spartans look to earn back a share of first place on Wednesday as they host ICC in a major early season showdown.

After falling behind 2-0 the Indians rallied back to tie the game and then take the lead just before halftime thanks to a goal by Kelsey West. In the second half the Indians pushed the lead to two on a goal by Dannielle Chiudina. The Spartans fought back but could not close the gap entirely.

The Indians six goals were spread out amongst six different players with West, Chiunda, Brianna Blunck, Allison Brockett, Emily Proper and Elizabeth Salvino. Kelsey Lenney recorded an impressive 5 assists in the win while Blunck added one to go along with her goal. In the net Jenna Morse made 8 saves.

For Greenville Taylor Anne Young netted a hat trick while Michelle Shoenborn had the fourth goal. Abigail McQuillen and Bonnie Harvey split time in goal for the Spartans, combining for nine saves.

Hudson v. Taconic Hills

The Bluehawks earned their third win of the season after a 3-1 win of the Titans in Craryville. Hailey Hollenbeck a player I keyed in on early in the season scored two first half goals for Hudson while the Titans countered with a goal by Kylle Proper on a Hara Aoki-Saffer assist. In the second half Hudson capped their scoring when Elyse Reinckens scored.

The Titans will have a tough game today as they travel to Maple Hill while Hudson has a strong opportunity to get their fourth win when they take on Cairo Durham who comes in with just one win.

Ichabod Crane v. Catskill

The Riders remained undefeated while the Cats are still winless after a 6-0 contest on Monday. Next up for both teams is Greenville as the Riders travel there Wednesday and Catskill will head over on Friday.

Morgan Van Alstyne and Cassidy Lester each netted two goals for the Riders while Hailey Ooms and Shana Barry capped the scoring with one apiece.

FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL

An interesting albeit somewhat tough weekend of football for the local teams. Although we had two match ups where two local teams matched up in the other 3 contests featuring a local team and a non local team the locals fell in two of those battles. Here is a look at the scores and results thanks to the Register Star and Times Union along with a little look at how the teams are fairing thanks to a post by sect2 on the Syracuse.com football forum. Now onto the games....

ICC v. Canajoharie

Not much of a shock here as the Riders got blown out on the road 55-0. Canajoharie improved to 3-1 while the Riders fell to 0-4.

According to the TU website the Riders coughed up the ball 6 times and were held to less than 100 yards of total offense. After scoring 35 first quarter points and 20 in the second quarter Canajoharie put it into cruise control and didn't score another point in the game.

The Riders will host Catholic Central on Friday. The Crusader's aren't a strong team by any means but it will probably be another tough contest for ICC.

Hudson v. Lansingburgh

In a battle of two undefeated teams the Bluehawks playing without star quarterback Talib Barksdale got blown out by a very good 'Burgh team, 56-6. 'Burgh who is considered the early season favorite in Class B put up 43 first half points en route to the easy win.

The Bluehawks lone score came on a 98 yard kick off return for a touchdown by Nevin Sheldon in the second quarter.

The loss drops Hudson into a tie for second place in the Reinfurt Division at 3-1, with two other teams standing at 4-0. Four of the five teams in the division will make the playoffs so Hudson's battle against fellow 3-1 team Cohoes on Friday could go a long way in securing a playoff spot and helping with seeding.

Coxsackie Athens v. Chatham

Another one of those games that went as expected with Chatham crushing the Indians 55-12. The Panthers put up 28 first quarter points and added 14 in the second. In the second half Chatham scored 13 more while the Indians got all 12 of their points in the final quarter.

Josh Keyes scored his 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th touchdowns of the season in this game while rushing for 177 yards. Jordan Brahm and Zack Chrysler each added rushing TD's for Chatham while Nick Logonia and Max Streeter each scored a defensive touchdown.

For the Indians quarterback Kyle Humphrey threw a pair of TD passes to Josh DeVinney in the final quarter.

C-A is on the outside looking in at 1-3 in the Class C South Division and will play host to 3-1 Voorheesville this week. While the 4-0 Panthers are in the drivers seat in the South division and will square off with 1-3 Cairo.

Cairo Durham v. Taconic Hills

In a battle of one win teams the Titans put up 30 points in the first half and 16 more in the second en route to a 46-8 victory. Although neither team is in great shape in the Class C South Division, but the win keeps the Titans in the running for a playoff spot.

Nolan Boice finished with an impressive 225 yards and 2 touchdowns while Nick Warren added 172 yards on just four carries including touchdown runs of 99 and 48 yards. Warren also passed to Chris McKay for a TD. Chris Filli added the 6th touchdown for the Titans.

Cairo's lone score came in the fourth quarter on a Kevin Hunt touchdown run.

Cairo faces a tough 3-1 Fonda team on Friday while TH will head to 4-0 Chatham.

Saratoga Catholic v. Rensselaer

The Rams remained undefeated at 4-0 while dropping Spa Catholic to 1-3 after a 50-3 ball game. The Saints got on the board first with an early FG before the Rams took over. Nate Butler and Jashem Hamilton each scored on runs in the first quarter as the Rams took a 14-3 lead.

In the second quarter Mico Perez De Los Santos scored on a pass from Timmy Foust while Hamilton ran for his second TD of the game. In the third quarter Butler ran for his second while De Los Santos ran in for his second score. In the fourth quarter the Rams added one more TD on a Phil Sayers run.

The Rams are in great shape at the top of Class D and until they stumble are the favorites to win the Section II crown.

Boys Soccer Results from Friday & Standings

Four Patroon Conference boy's soccer games on Friday with only one game, the Maple Hill-Chatham game having major implications on the top part of the league.



Later on tonight or tomorrow we'll take a look at the weekend football results.



Taconic Hills v. Hudson



In a battle of two winless teams the Titans squeeked by the Bluehawks in Hudson 2-1 on Friday. Each team scored in the first half and the Titans then scored right out of haltime to take a lead they would never surrender.



Ian Rasweiler scored for TH in the first half before Luis Lopez responded for the Bluehawks. Matthew Hitchen then scored the game winner a minute out of halftime for the Titans. Jake Littman made 8 saves in goal for the Titans while Brett Delamter made 11.

Neither team has set the world on fire offensively this season and that is a major reason these two teams are at the bottom of the pile in the Patroon. After this game, the seventh for each team the Bluehawks had scored just 4 goals while the Titans had scored 6.

Both teams will have tough tests on Tuesday as Hudson will host Cairo and the Titans will host Maple Hill under the lights.

Catskill v. ICC

In a game I attended the Riders remained alone in first place after a 5-0 victory over Catskill. The Riders scored 3 goals in the first half and added 2 in the second including one on a penalty kick.

Kyle Kline powered his way to 2 goals for ICC while Will Poetzsch contributed with a goal and an assist. Steve Domino and Jeremy Shapiro added the other two goals while Phil Basile, Tyler Jablanski and Bernie Watt each added an assist in the win.

In goal Alex Mastrianni made 8 saves for the Riders while Ricky Meyers was forced to make 11 for the Cats.

Since I saw this game I'll shed a little more light on the players I saw that stood out. Kline reminds me a bit of Joe Van Allen from Chatham last year in the sense that the kid is just a grinder. He's not the pure scorer Van Allen was but Kline is always pressuring the defense and making plays happen with his hustle. I really like Poetzsch and Mitchell Niemeyer in the mid for ICC, they can really make things happen I just think both force the issue with their dribbling a little bit. Basile finally stood out to me, he looks quick again and fully recovered from that leg injury, good to see that for ICC. I hated the decision to bench Jablanski who I think is the only freshman on varsity. He's been starting all year round, he doesn't force things and sends some great crosses into the box. He should have had 3 assists in this game but only 1 was finished. He's going to be very good for the Riders eventually and an underrated crucial cog this year.

For the Cats I was really impressed at how they just kept battling. They put a lot of pressure on ICC towards the end of the game and that was with Matel Anasta on the bench. Great fight from the Cats and some of the players seemed to loosen up once the game was out of hand and show a lot more skill than I thought, now for the coach to just get them to play like that the whole time. Anasta showed some great speed and you can see why he gets so many goals for the Cats, he's a work horse. I like Meyers in goal, he's solid and kick and throw. He made all the saves he was supposed to but never came up with that big save on shot and prevented a "guaranteed goal".

Next up for both of these teams is Greenville. The Riders will host them on Tuesday and the Cats host them on Wednesday.

Coxsackie Athens v. Greenville

Two teams in the middle of the pack and the Indians made a serious statement with a 3-0 road victory over the Spartans. Nathan Barbour has played well for C-A this season and his two first half goals were more than enough to earn the win. Justin Bushey added an insurance goal for the Indians in the second.

Greenville heads to ICC on Tuesday then Catskill on Wednesday while the Indians have a big test on Tuesday when they host Chatham in a crucial midway point game.

Chatham v. Maple Hill

Coming into this showdown featuring the past two Patroon Conference champions both teams were on the verge of falling way behind in the race for this year's title with a loss. The Wildcats had already dropped 2 games this season while the Panthers had a loss and a tie.

There are varying reports on what happened after the Maple Hill goal. Although it looks like the Wildcats took control until the final minutes of the first half when the game evened out. According to the Times Union the Panthers struck for 2 goals within a span of 90 seconds at the end of the game while the Register Star says the Panthers scored right before half then again at the end of the game.

What is agreed upon is that Tyler Mashaw finished a Ryan Behrens corner and Will Gauthier then scored the game winner. The once mighty Wildcats seem to have fallen pretty far this year.

Maple Hill travels to Craryville to play Taconic Hills under the lights on Tuesday while Chatham will head to Coxsackie to face the Indians.

BOYS STANDINGS
1) Ichabod Crane (6-0-1)
2) Cairo Durham (5-1)
3) Chatham (5-1-1)
4) Maple Hill (4-3)
5) Coxsackie Athens (3-3)
6) Greenville (3-4)
7) Catskill (2-4)
8) Taconic Hills (1-6)
9) Hudson (0-7)

End of the Week Girl's Results and Standings

The girl's finished up their week of soccer with a trio of games on Thursday then one on Friday. No real shocks along the way so let's get into the results from The Register Star and Times Union as we inch closer and closer to the mid way point of the season.

Maple Hill v. Cairo Durham

As expected Maple Hill was just too much for the 'Stangs to handle on Thursday bringing home a 5-1 win. The Wildcats scored 2 goals in the first half before out scoring C-D 3-1 in the second. The big surprise was 5 different players scoring for Hill.

Meeghan Arno and Erin Mosher each tallied a goal and an assist while Cheryl Bruen, Ashley Cross and Taylor Czajkowski.

For Cairo they got right back into the swing of things Friday against C-A while Maple Hill gets ready for a big contest against Chatham that either team must win if they expect to have a crack at the league crown as the season winds on.

Chatham v. Catskill

Again no shock here, an upper level team (Chatham) easily defeats a team who has really struggled this year (Catskill). The Panthers scored a pair of first half goals before pouring on 4 more in the second half en route to a 6-0 win.

Alyssa Keeler scored 2 goals and added an assist for the Panthers. Although the competition wasn't the best Keeler is one of a handful of players Chatham really needs to step up to help replace all the players they lost, including Keeler's older sister Brittany.

Taylor Wenk netted 2 goals and is looking more comfortable in the field now that she is fully out of goal where she was for the past 1 1/2 seasons. Amanda Taylor and Abby Berninger each added a goal while Regina Behn and Cailey Nieto each had 2 assist.

Nieto may be the biggest piece of the puzzle for Chatham to get back to the top of the league standings as she can pass and shoot.

Taconic Hills v. ICC

The Riders got off to a slow start scoring just one first half goal before taking control and winning 4-1. Morgan Van Alstyne scored another goal this season, crucial for the Riders who are looking for someone to step up in that department. Alex Armstrong and Katie Walker also netted goals while Jessica Mink had a goal and an assist. Mariela Jacome and Mandy Lardizabal each had an assist.

Emma Gryner had the lone goal for the Titans. If the Titans hope to climb out of the basement it's going to be on the feet of Gryner and Hara Aoki-Saffer.

C-A v. Cairo Durham

Coxsackie Athens made the Mustangs week a little bit worse thanks to a 3-1 loss. Sam Saputo scored first for C-D before the Indians pulled even right before halftime on a goal by Kelsey Lenney who has been very good for C-A this season.

In the second half the Indians got a pair of goals from Emily Proper to lead them to the victory. The win helps to keep C-A in the upper half of the league.



STANDINGS
T1)Greenville (5-0-1)
T1)ICC (5-0-1)
3) Maple Hill (4-0-2)
T4)Chatham (4-2)
T4)Coxsackie Athens (4-2)
6) Hudson (2-4)
7) Taconic Hills (1-5)
8) Cairo Durham (1-6)
9) Catskill (0-7)

Cairo tops MH and other Boys Soccer Results from Wednesday

Four Patroon Conference boy's soccer match ups on Wednesday with one, the Cairo-MH match up, having major implications on how the league standings may shake out as we continue on towards the midway point of the season.

Cairo Durham v. Maple Hill

The Mustangs took another step on Wednesday in proving they are a serious threat for the the Patroon Conference title this season with a 2-1 overtime victory at Maple Hill. The Wildcats struck first in the opening half before Cairo responded to even things at 1 going into the half. Less than a minute into the second OT the Mustangs netted the game winner.

David Briggs scored the games first goal 10 minutes into the game for MH. Kody Koenig tied the game with a goal from a Andy Fishman pass. The game would remain tied at one all the way until the second overtime. Less than a minute into that final OT Stephen Zwoboda scored the game winner off a pass from Chris Gagliardi.

Cory Gransbury made 6 saves in goal to earn the win for the Mustangs while Derek Van Alstyne made 4 saves for the Wildcats. Next Tuesday the Mustangs will host winless Hudson while on Friday Maple Hill will host Chatham in what should be a tight and good game.

Coxsackie Athens v. Hudson

Behind three first half goals the Indians held on to defeat Hudson 3-1 on Wednesday. Felipe Plotze netted 2 goals for C-A while Kari Ochoa scored the other. Pete Russo made 9 saves in goal for the Indians. For Hudson Ian Hunter scored for the Bluehawks while Brett Delamater had to make 19 saves.

Hudson returns to action on Friday when they host Taconic Hills, where they will have a shot to earn their first win of the year. C-A gets back into the swing of things on Friday when they look to defeat Greenville.

Catskill v. Chatham

The Panthers jumped on the Cats scoring 3 goals in the first half and holding on for a 3-0 win in Chatham on Wednesday. Cody Clifford and Willy McEachern each finished with a goal and an assist while Will Gauthier added a goal and Todd Van Alstyne finished with a pair of assists.

In goal Steve Oleynek made 8 saves for Chatham while Ricky Meyers made 15 saves for the Cats. In my opinion Oleynek is still one of the better keepers in the league and has the chance to keep getting better. Meyers plays on a weak team but continues to put up big time save numbers game in and game out.

The Cats return to action on Friday when they travel to first place ICC while the Panthers head to Maple Hill.

Taconic Hills v. Ichabod Crane

The vaunted ICC defense led by Nick Boardman at sweeper and Steve Domino in goal surrendered their first goal of the season as the Riders fell behind TH 1-0 on Wednesday. ICC responded with 2 goals of their own in the first half and added 2 more in the second to bring home a 4-1 victory.

Mitchell Albrecht scored his 4th goal of the season off a Gage Arcuri assist. Mitchell Niemeyer scored 2 goals for the Riders while Kyle Kline and Kasey Jakiela each netted one of their own. Domino made 3 saves for ICC while Jake Littman made 12 for the Titans.

Soccer Results from Monday & Tuesday

BOYS SOCCER

Greenville v. Cairo Durham

The Mustangs kept up their strong play with a 3-0 victory the Spartans on Monday. The Mustangs scored a pair of goals in the first half with Chris Gagliardi and Stephen Zwoboda. Zach McGrath ended the scoring in the second half. Zwoboda added an assist on the Gagliardi goal in the first.

Hudson v. Chatham

Chatham started out looking like the stronger team netting two first half goals before the Bluehawks pulled with in one with a goal in the second half, however that was as close as Hudson would come falling 2-1.

Cody Clifford and Todd Van Alstyne scored for Chatham with goals being assisted by Ryan Behrens. Hudson's goal came off the foot of Zack Bartolotta on an assist from Luis Lopez.

Brett Delamater was forced to make 15 saves for Hudson while Stephen Oleynek made 10 for Chatham.

Taconic Hills v. Catskill

The Cats scored a pair of goals in each half while allowing just one first half goal to the Titans to secure a 4-1 win. The Cats got strong performances from Nate Bulich and Kyle Sanson who each picked up a goal and an assist. Matel Anasta continued his strong play with a goal of his own while Zack Berzal added a goal too.

For the Titans Mitchell Albrecht scored the teams lone goal as they remain winless in the league this year.

Maple Hill v. Coxsackie Athens

After dominating play in the first half and scoring 3 goals in the first ten minutes of the game Maple Hill came back down to earth but still had enough to hold on for a 5-3 victory over the hard charging Indians.

Steve Sepkowski scored a pair of goals for MH while David Briggs, Corey Legge and Paul Ancin each added one. For the Indians Andrew Baker, Bryan McDonald and Felipe Plotze each scored.

This outcome was either a sign that Maple Hill's defense is much weaker than thought or that the Indians offense after the loss of their leading scorer from last year isn't nearly as far down as thought.

GIRLS SOCCER

Cairo Durham v. Greenville

Greenville remained alone in first place in the Patroon Conference after a 6-1 victory over the Mustangs. The two teams went to the half tied at 1 before the Spartans exploded for five second half goals to earn the win.

Heather Carl scored first for the Spartans off an Alex Van Auken assist before Sarah Daily evened things for C-D.

In the second half Taylor Anne Young and Van Auken each scored twice before Michelle Schoenborn added one more for Greenville. Van Auken ended the game with two assists.

Abigail McQuillen made 5 saves for Greenville while Samantha Lorenz made 18 saves for Cairo.

Coxsackie Athens v. Maple Hill

Maple Hill scored 3 goals in the first half and added 4 more in the second as they racked up 7 goals. The Indians countered with 2 goals of their own in the second half as they fell 7-2.

Meeghan Arno scored 2 goals and added 2 assists for the Wildcats while Sierra Legge added 2 goals of her own and an assist. Ashley Cross and Taylor Czajkowski each tallied a goal and an assist. Alex Perry rounded out the scoring for MH. Anna Racz made 7 saves in goal for the Wildcats.

For the Indians Brianna Blunck and Ellis Becker each scored goals while Jenna Morse made 7 saves for C-A in the loss.

Catskill v. Taconic Hills

The Titans earned their first win of the year with a stirring 1-0 victory over the Cats on Tuesday. With just under 4 minutes left in the game Hara Aoki-Saffer scored the game's lone goal.

As she has done all year long Meghan Baxter kept the Cats in the game with 21 saves but it was not enough. Baxter's counterpart Janine Ham made 4 saves for the win.

Chatham v. Hudson

The Panthers scored a pair of goals in each half as they cruised by the Bluehawks 4-0. Alyssa Keeler scored 2 goals for Chatham while Cailey Nieto added one goal and two assists. Abby Wheeler scored the Panthers other goal while Melissa Sweet added an assist.

In goal for Chatham earning the win was Brittany Lossow who made 10 saves. Jackie Hall also made 10 in the loss for Hudson.

Football Results

Exciting weekend of local football with a lot of teams in action. Let's get right to the games...

Cobleskill v. Hudson

So far in the early season the Bluehawks have looked very good on both sides of the ball and although it wasn't pretty they were able to move to 3-0 on Friday night against the Bulldogs.

After a Nevin Sheldon touchdown scamper in the first quarter the Bluehawks surrendered a score in the second quarter and a score and extra point in the third to find themselves facing a 13-6 deficit heading into the fourth quarter.

Both Sheldon and Hudson quarterback Talib Barksdale went down with injuries in the game but it was junior Tayron Bryant who stepped into the QB role and led the Bluehawks to a come from behind win.

Bryant rushed for a TD and completed a touhdown pass to Brian McSween in the fourth quarter to lead Hudson to the 18-13 win.

This win should help to get Hudson ranked in the Class B state rankings this week with a big time showdown looming next week when they face Lansingburgh. 'Burgh who has dropped to Class B after a few years as an A powerhouse have started off the season hot, going 3-0 while scoring 128 points and giving up just 29.

Hudson will travel to 'Burgh Friday night for a game under the lights.

Taconic Hills v. Catholic Central

The Titans earned their first win of the year and kept CCHS winless with a 26-15 win. The Titans fell behind 8-0 after the first quarter but responded with 12 in the second, 6 in the third and 8 more in the fourth. CCHS only other score came in the fourth.

Nolan Boice ran for a pair of TD's for Taconic Hills while Chris McKay scored 2 of his own, one on a catch, one on the ground. Nick Warren also came through with a big game for TH including over 200 all purpose yards and a touchdown toss.

Up next for the Titans is a home game Friday night against Cairo Durham, another one win team. The Titans have a chance to carry over the momentum from this win against the Mustangs.

Chatham v. Fonda

In a battle of 2-0 teams the Panthers went on the road and knocked off Braves 41-20. The early season win all but assures the Panthers a top 2 seed in their division barring a huge collapse as the season continues.

David Coon got things started in the first quarter with a touchdown run before Fonda responded with a touchdown and extra point to take a 7-6 lead.

Josh Keyes scored the first touchdown of the second quarter with a scamper of over 40 yards but again their conversion failed. Fonda responded with a score of their own but also failed to tack on more points. Before the half Coon scored his second TD and Keyes ran in the 2 point conversion to give Chatham a 20-13 lead.

Coming out of halftime the Panthers potent offensive attack got on track with two more rushing scores. Keyes added a 30 yarder to his list of scores while Coon got into the endzone for the third time.

In the fourth Fonda struck first but Coon ran in for his fourth TD of the game to seal the win. In all Chatham rushed for over 300 yards and only attempted one pass.

Chatham has to "easy" games up next although it seems like the Panthers never take anyone lightly. The next two Fridays Chatham will host Coxsackie and Cairo before a big match up with Watervliet.

ICC v. Watervliet

Everyone knew this would be a long, tough season for the Riders and that was against the easy teams. So when they had to face off with powerhouse 'Vliet it was obvious that things were going to be even more difficult. On Saturday afternoon the Riders were blown out 64-0 giving up 23 first quarter points and 28 in the second before 'Vliet called the dogs off and scored just 7 and 6 in the final two quarters.

The Riders managed less than 50 yards of total offense and coughed up two fumbles and gave away two interceptions.

Next Friday the Riders head to Canajoharie for another difficult contest.

Canajoharie v. Coxsackie Athens

Canajoharie took the early lead 7-0 over the Indians in the first quarter before Kyle Humphrey connected with Lance Palmateer and Humphrey then ran in the two point conversion for an 8-7 lead. Canajoharie scored 12 in the second quarter to take a commanding lead.

In the third Palmatter ran in another score but the conversion failed. Still the Indians pulled with in one sore but that was as close as they could get as Canajoharie added another score in the fourth.

Voorheesville v. Cairo Durham

The Mustangs were blown out 42-12 on Saturday, and scored or 12 of their points in the final quarter. Chris Hoose connected on two touchdown passes for the 'Stangs, finding Keving Hunt and Austin Osborne.

Up next for C-D is a match up with Taconic Hills on Friday.

Rensselaer v. Bishop Gibbons

After a scoreless first quarter the Rams got on the board with two scores. Paul Dominy and Nate Butler each ran in touchdowns in the second. Gibbons struck back with a score of their own to pull to 14-7 at the half.

After the half the Rams were fired up and scored 28 points in the third. Jashem Hamilton took a kickoff to the house and Mico Perez De Los Santos ran in a score before Hamilton got into the endzone for the second time. De Los Santos then scored his second TD of the game on a 50 yard reception off a Tim Foust throw. Gibbons also scored once in the third.

In the fourth Dominy added his second TD to cap a 49-14. On extra point tries De Los Santos had 3 kicks along with running in a two point conversion and passing in another one.

The Rams have looked great so far in their 3-0 start and were ranked #12 in the latest Class D state poll. Up next is a Friday home stand against 1-2 Spa Catholic.

Weekend Soccer Update

I've been away since Friday so it's time to catch up on what has happened on the soccer pitch. Tomorrow we'll take a look at football results which include a surprisingly close Chatham win, the first win of the Titans season and the Bluehawks continuing their impressive start.

BOY'S SOCCER

THURSDAY

Maple Hill v. ICC

I made it over to this game and for the second straight contest against a quality team the Riders thoroughly seemed to outplay them. Mitchel Niemeyer headed home a corner from Nick Boardman early and added another before halftime. Kenny Wengler came in to tally one of his own in the second half for a 3-0 ICC win.

Although play was a bit tighter in the second half the Riders were clearly the better team on the field Thursday night. It is far from a shocking loss for MH who is viewed as slightly "down" compared to last year's team. For the Riders the win is the second this week in a rough 3 game stretch where they look to prove they are the team to beat in the Patroon.

Catskill v. Coxsackie Athens

If I had to make a choice prior to the game I would have taken the Indians 2-1 in this game feeling they are a better overall team, but the Cats Matel Anasta would eventually find the back of the net and Meyers in goal could at least slow C-A down. In the end the game finished as a 1-1 draw.

The Indians struck first before Anasta evened the game finishing off a free kick. This result essentially shows C-A is still a little bit back from those top tier teams they'd like to be mention with while the Cats are on again and off again are a middle to lower of the pack team who can pull out solid performances.

Cairo Durham v. Taconic Hills

As expected undefeated Cairo took care of business with a 5-0 win over the Titans. Andy Fishman netted four of the five goals for the Mustangs.

C-D is known for their defense and showed it off here. They have some players who can score, add Fishman to that list. This win helped to set up a big time showdown against ICC Saturday.

Hudson v. Greenville

The Bluehawks remained winless this season after falling to Greenville 2-0. Mike Sanchez continued his torrid scoring pace with a pair of goals. Interestingly Brett Delamater was not in goal for Hudson, I don't know if he was injured or what but he is a quality keeper. Although at this stage I'm not sure Hudson has the talent for his goal keeping to make a difference.

SATURDAY

ICC v. CD

In a battle of two unbeatens the Riders went into Cairo and came away with a 1-0 victory thanks to a Will Poetszch in the second half. The scoreless win moves ICC to 4-0-1 with their defense having given up 0 goals to this point in the season.

The Riders now stand alone in first place having tied Chatham, and beat MH and C-D in a brutal 3 game stretch this week.

GIRL'S SOCCER

FRIDAY

Greenville v. Hudson

In a game that many people would have thought to be a blowout for the Spartans, Greenville had to scrape an fight to pull out a 3-1 win over the Bluehawks.

Hailey Hollenbeck scored the games first goal for Hudson before Greenville evened things before half on a goal from Erika Hamilton.

In the second half the Spartans made sure they'd remain unbeaten netting a pair of goals, one each from Stephanie Boullion and Michelle Schoenborn. Despite not getting a goal for herself Alex Van Auken did pick up a pair of assists.

Coxsackie Athens v. Catskill

The Indians beat up on the Cats en route to a 6-1 win. C-A scored 5 goals in the first while the teams each scored one apiece in the second half. Brianna Blunck and Emily Proper each scored two goals for C-A.

Although the win over Catskill is nothing to write home about the Indians are now 3-1 with their only loss being a tough 7-1 defeat to ICC in the opening game of the year. Their match up with MH on Tuesday should give the Indians a good idea how far they've come since that first game.

Taconic Hills v. Cairo Durham

Cairo picked up their second win of the season while keeping the Titans off the board in terms of wins with a 6-0 contest. Three players each scored 2 goals for the Mustangs, Sarah Daily, Maureen Selner and Nicole Zacchio.

Maple Hill v. ICC

In the biggest game of the evening the Wildcats travelled to ICC and the two undefeated teams walked away with a 1-1 draw. Lacey Powers scored for the Riders right before half and Ashley Cross tied the game up in the second.

This game was a far cry from the 8-8 draw that Maple Hill earned against Greenville last week, although the two teams did pepper the goal with 35 combined shots despite only scoring 2 goals.

The draw keeps these two teams at the top of the heap along with Greenville as the three league unbeatens.

Girl's Soccer from Monday & Wednesday

A number of girl's games from two days earlier this week. We've already highlighted the ICC-Chatham game where the Riders pulled an exciting 4-2 win, scoring 4 unanswered goals including two in overtime.

ICC- The Riders didn't get through their 2 games as easily as expected, but two wins are two wins. They handled Hudson 4-0 on Monday with Lacey Powers netting 2 goals and an assist. As stated the Riders followed that up with a win against Chatham where Morgan Van Alstyne scored 2 goals, her second and third of the week and added an assist. Next up for the Riders is a huge Friday night showdown under the lights at ICC against Maple Hill, who's only blemish this far is a 8-8 draw with Greenville.

Coxsackie Athens- The Indians started their week off right with a 4-2 win over Taconic Hills led by Brianna Blunck who scored 2 goals and added an assist in the win. C-A then notched their second win of the week and the season with a convincing 7-1 win over Cairo. Blunck added 3 more goals in the teams second victory. Up next on Friday is a match up against Catskill, another winable game as the Indians try and prove they are a legit contender for the league title.

Taconic Hills- The Titans dropped both of their contests this week including a 4-2 defeat to Coxsackie followed by a 4-0 loss to Greenville. Against the Indians Hara Aoki-Saffer scored both goals for the Titans. Taconic Hills gets back into action on Friday when they face Cairo with a chance to earn their first win of the year.

Hudson- The Bluehawks have only played one of their two games thus far this week and took a disappointing 4-0 loss to ICC. After holding the Riders to just 1 goal in the first half ICC exploded for three more in the second. On Friday Hudson will another difficult task as they square off with Greenville.

Greenville- The Spartans continued their torrid goal scoring pace with two quality wins this week. First up was a convincing 3-0 win over Chatham followed by a 4-0 win over Taconic Hills. Alexandria Van Auken scored 3 goals, all in the TH game and added an assist. Michelle Schoenborn netted 2 goals while Stephanie Bouillion added a goal and an assist. Greenville will look for their third win of the week when they travel to Hudson on Friday.

Chatham- The Panthers had the unenviable task of having to face off with Greenville and ICC in their first two games this week. First Chatham fell 3-0 to the Spartans with Brittany Lossow making 6 saves in goal, and then the Panthers dropped a 4-2 decision in OT. Lossow recorded another 15 saves in that contest while Cailey Nieto assisted on the games first goal to Taylor Wenk then scored her own goal on a penalty kick. Chatham now has Friday off and returns to action Monday against Hudson.

Cairo Durham- The Mustangs earned their first win of the season on Monday as they topped Catskill 4-1. Brianna Calcavecchia scored 2 goals and added an assist. Nicole Zacchio added a goal and an assist as well. Calcavecchia added another goal on Wednesday against Coxsackie but that would be the Mustangs lone goal in a 7-1 defeat. Cairo now plays Taconic Hills on Friday in what should be a relatively closely contested game.

Catskill- The Cats dropped a pair of games this week starting off with a 4-1 defeat to Cairo. Alli Ray scored the Cats lone goal while Meghan Baxter made 19 saves in the loss. On Wednesday the Cats fell to MH 5-0. Baxter recorded 27 saves in that loss. The Cats get back to action against a determined Coxsackie team Friday.

Maple Hill- After their barn burner 8-8 draw with Greenville the Wildcats had Monday off and returned to action Wednesday with a 5-0 win against Catskill. Meeghan Arno and Ashley Cross each scored 2 goals for the Wildcats. Up next for Maple Hill the big showdown Friday night against ICC.

ICC-Chatham Girls Game

Tomorrow I'll take a look at the Girl's game results from Monday and Wednesday but for now I'll just talk about the game I saw today. I'm sure a lot of you are thinking, you just went to the boys match up last night and so far you've covered nothing but ICC. Well the boys games was an important early season battle and on the girls side it was the same thing. As for being at all these ICC games, well they are very close to where I live and so far there just have not been any other contests that have struck my interest enough to head that way. The closest thing to it was the Chatham-Cairo boys game that I couldn't make. Nothing will change tomorrow either as I'll probably head out to ICC again to watch the boys play Maple Hill under the lights.

Ok so a lot of talking down, now onto the important stuff, the actual game! It was an interesting match up, on paper ICC was much better and Chatham was just too young. Although keep in mind ICC is pretty young too. A lot of the contest seemed sloppy to the naked eye, but I'm not convinced, there were a lot of individual players showing some excellent one on one skill just doing little things. Really shows you how far the girl's game has come even at the local level thanks to youth programs. Both teams attempted to play to feet and control the ball but the midfields for both teams did a nice job.

I couldn't help but feel as though Chatham was outplaying ICC and playing with more urgency but that the Riders had more talent on the field and should win the game. As the game went on more and more I saw that talent on the field doesn't always translate if you aren't giving it your all, which Chatham was.

A missed clearance by ICC, a loose ball and Taylor Wenk netted the first goal for Chatham, a foul in the box later in the game resulted in a PK and a 2-0 lead for the Panthers. As the game continued on the Riders fought back and played with more urgency and was able to draw even and send the game to OT.

In the first OT the Riders scored twice, at least one by Morgan Van Alstyne who I believe scored 2 if my memory serves me.

It was a tough loss for Chatham who were up 2 goals and seemed in command but it's a young squad, if they can take this loss as a positive and build on it they could be really good by the end of the season. Sometimes a loss like this can sink your season as well, let's hope that's not the way things go for this team.

For the Riders, I'm sure it wasn't the way they wanted to win it, but a win is a win so they will take it. With Maple Hill and Greenville both looking very strong a draw or loss her was the last thing the Riders needed.

Both keepers were solid although neither did anything spectacular. Brittany Lossow for Chatham came through with one save when it was still 2-0 that I thought would stop ICC dead in their tracks and end any comeback thoughts. I thought Regina Behn was pretty good in the mid for Chatham but needed to pass one touch earlier to set up her teammates. Their sweeper, sophomore Vicky Bemiss did a nice job keeping their defense out of danger, at least for the most part and had a big foot. It was tough to pick out the top players for the Riders because they just didn't have it today. I know the players to watch out for...Powers, Ooms, Barry, Van Alstyne, Armstrong but other than some nice footwork by Ooms in the first half and Van Alstyne finishing the game well I thought they were sleep walking a little bit. That team has too much talent to play like that and hopefully them pulling out this win doesn't allow them to think they can do that again against the likes of MH or Greenville.

Boys Soccer Results from Tuesday

We'll start off with a quick note on the girl's side of things. I didn't get around to the results right away but having taken a look there weren't any upsets from Monday. The only true game of note was the Chatham-Greenville game which just showed how strong Greenville is.

After we get the notes from tonight's game we'll take a look at both days results.

Now onto the boys results from Tuesday. I already highlighted the Chatham-ICC game but there were three other games as well.

Coxsackie Athens v. Cairo Durham

The Indians have a solid squad this year, I'd think just beneath the top tier teams, somewhere in the 5th-6th spot in the league while C-D at least in the early goings has the makings of a top 3 team if not first. C-D picked up a first half goal and was able to hold on for a 1-0 lead in a very defensive contest.

The Mustangs are known as a defensive minded club but thus far this season have been putting the ball into the back of the net so this result is a bit surprising. Either C-A is a little better than I thought or maybe Cairo started hot but may be a bit overrated. I don't think we'll get the answer to either question on Thursday when Cairo should easily handle Taconic Hills while C-A plays an average Catskill team.

Taconic Hills v. Greenville

In a battle of lower tier teams the Titans put up a good fight but fell 3-2 to the Spartans. Greenville had more pressure and were up 2-0 at the half. Mitchell Albrecht scored 2 goals for the Titans both assisted by Mike Mierzesewski to even the game. Mike Sanchez who has been on a tear for Greenville scored his second goal of the game to give the Spartans the edge.

Greenville has a chance to notch another early season win on Thursday when they face Hudson while the Titans will have a difficult go of things against Cairo.

Maple Hill v. Catskill

As expected the Wildcats were too much for the Cats as they won 5-0 in Catskill. David Briggs scored 2 goals for Maple Hill while Corey Legge notched another one to his yearly total. Jake Yager has been a pleasant surprise for Maple Hill and scored another goal for them while Steven Sepowski also added a goal for them. I expected Sepowski to have a big year after a very solid freshman campaign. Maybe this goal gets him going.

Catskill will play C-A on Thursday in an interesting match up for a team trying to prove they are a top tier team (Indians) and a team trying to prove they are better than people think (Cats). The Maple Hill-ICC game on Thursday has major early season implications.

ICC-Chatham

The game was hard fought, tough and physical and ended in a 0-0 draw. I said last year Steve Oleynek was primed to become one of the better keepers in the league in a hurry and tonight I think he cemented himself towards the top of the goalkeeping heap. He made 2-4 saves for Chatham that probably should have been goals and kept Chatham in the game for the first 65 minutes where ICC really outplayed them.

ICC put a lot of talent out on the field tonight, it was pretty impressive but their inability to finish was somewhat disappointing. Chatham had a fair share of talent out there as well but the big players didn't seem to stand out as much as I was hoping considering how big of a game this was.Chatham finished the final 15 minutes and the first overtime very well looking like they deserved the draw although ICC played the second OT w/ more urgency. All in all a draw seems about right for the game if not a 1-0 ICC win. So a good fight for Chatham to earn the draw.

Chatham lost about 5 players throughout the course of the game to what looked like cramps which was weird because it was cold out and not a warm night, but the Riders didn't seem to have the same trouble. A few cards handed out, I think ICC had 1 and Chatham had 2 on players, one on the coach. I am not convinced any were truly deserved but I came away feeling the game was well officialed.

I was impressed with Mitchell Niemeyer in the mid for ICC, skilled and smooth with the ball. Nick Boardman did well at sweeper controlling the defense and getting the ball out of danger for ICC. Steve Domino was only challenged once and that was with 2 minutes left and he came through with the save. For Chatham I thought Mike Gilbert showcased a strong foot out of the back and Cody Clifford played really tough in the mid and up front. Will Gauthier's speed was impressive and Francesco Tine is only a freshman, he's going to be very good.

This result only makes the next two games on ICC's schedule even that much more important as they have Maple Hill on Thursday and the postponed match up against Cairo on Saturday. Chatham earning a draw here is good after their opening game loss to Cairo, keeps them in the thick of things.

Weekend Soccer Results

Two more days and a whole lot of interesting results from both the boys and girls side of soccer. On Friday there were 3 local girls soccer match ups and an astonishing 27 goals scored in those contest. In the Maple Hill-Greenville barn burner, 16 of those goals were scored.

On Saturday the Hudson girls earned their first win of the year while a trio of boys teams won thanks to putting 4 goals apiece on the board.

The biggest game of Saturday was expected to be ICC at Cairo boys game but if the game happened the result wasn't reported to any outlets as far as I can tell.

Now onto the results...

GIRLS SOCCER

Maple Hill v. Greenville

In either a really good sign for the offenses or a really really bad sign for the defenses the Wildcats and Spartans ended their battle on Friday in an 8-8 tie. Maple Hill jumped out to a 4-2 lead at the half before Greenville's Alex Van Auken pulled the Spartans within 1. Maple Hill roared back scoring 2 more to seemingly put the game out of reach. Van Auken again came up big for the Spartans scoring 3 goals to send the game to OT.

Goals by Maple Hills' Meeghan Arno and Sierra Legge and another by Van Auken put the Wildcats up 8-7 heading into the second overtime period but Van Auken netted her 6th goal of the game to end the contest in a fitting, hard fought draw.

Arno finished with 4 goals for the Wildcats. These two teams have potent offenses and their defenses aren't as bad as this score would lead some to believe. Along with ICC and possibly Chatham the top of the Patroon looks to provide some fantastic match ups this year.

Taconic Hills v. Chatham

As expected Chatham had no problem in topping the Titans in girls soccer action Friday. Despite some major losses all over the field the Panthers still showcase plenty of young talent and took this game 3-0. The Titans do have some talent but need to continue to put it all together in an attempt to move up the Patroon Conference ladder.

Mondays Chatham-Greenville showdown should give Chatham and excellent barometer as to where they stack up with the top teams in the league.

ICC v. Cairo Durham

Alex Armstrong and Shana Barry each netted 2 goals while Morgan Van Alstyne added 1 goal and 5 assists as the Riders easily defeated Cairo 8-0 on Friday.

So far the Riders have looked very good while facing bottom tier league teams. Can they keep up their torrid offensive pace and stifling defense against the other premier teams? We probably won't find out on Monday as the Riders should easily topple Hudson under the lights at ICC.

Hudson v. Catskill

The Bluehawks got their first win of the year beating up on Catskill 6-1. Four differant Hudson players netted goals while Hailey Hollenbeck added 2, one in each half.

The win is a good one for a young Hudson team looking to add more and more confidence. They can take a major step in the right direction by keeping the ICC game close or even pulling the major upset Monday night.


BOYS SOCCER

Hudson v. Catskill

The Cats earned their first win of the season Saturday while keeping Hudson winless in a 4-0 game. Matel Anasta scored a goal and dished an assist while Brian Larnson netted a pair of goals.

The win doesn't give a huge boost to the Cats but a win is a win and they will try to keep it going. Hudson is struggling to find an offensive weapon and until they find one will continue to lose ball games.

Chatham v. Taconic Hills

After that opening game loss the Panthers continued their good play with a 4-o win. Will Gauthier netted two goals while Cody Clifford added a goal and an assist. As I mentioned in an earlier blog both Gauthier and Clifford will be important pieces to the varsity squad while Todd Van Alstyne gathered another assist and freshman Francisco Tine added another goal in his early varsity career.

Tuesday's showdown under the lights between Chatham and ICC should be a big time game as the teams jockey for position in their first go around against their league opponents.

Greenville v. Maple Hill

Maple Hill scored 2 goals in the first and 2 more in the second en route to beating the Spartans 4-1. Mike Sanchez continues to be the only real sorce of offense for Greenville as he scored his teams lone goal.

David Briggs, Chris Depart, Corey Legge and Jake Yager each scored for the Wildcats as they remained unbeaten.

This game went as expected, although the Wildcats continue to show holes in their defense by giving up goals to lesser teams.

Friday's Football Results

Four games involving Patroon Conference teams on Friday, with Chatham-Taconic Hills and Coxsackie-ICC facing off with each other and Cairo having the night off.

Just an FYI, I know technically there is no Patroon Conference for football but everyone knows the 10 squads in the league and for all other sports those teams are associated with the league, so I will continue to mention the ones that play football in here.

Hudson v. Broadalbin Perth

In an early showdown of two of the better looking Class B schools Hudson rallied from a deficit to pick up a 40-32 win. Down 26-14 at the half the Bluehawks put up 19 in the third quarter to take the lead. A late Patriots score pulled them within one, but the Bluehawks would add another score to put the game away.

Talib Barksdale continued his outstanding play with 2 rushing touchdowns and 2 passing touchdowns. Remember that wide receivers name we mentioned in the last football recap as a name to remember? It was Nevin Sheldon and he hauled in two touchdown grabs.

The first win was expected, the second win everybody thought would be tight, but they got it. Starting off the season 2-0, especially with one victory over another playoff caliber team is exactly how I'm sure Hudson had hoped to start.

Coxsackie Athens v. ICC

The Indians as expected roughed up the Riders on Friday night rushing the ball 41 times for 357 yards according to the Register Star. With the pouring rain it made sense the Indians would rush the ball and they did so prolifically on Friday scoring all their touchdowns on the ground en route to a 44-12 win.

Good news for the Riders despite the large number of points given up the Riders can look positively towards the 12 points they scored. One a Bryan Smith quarterback run, the other a long score on a pass from Smith to Ricky Pallozzi.

Coxsackie isn't exactly a power house but anytime you can get a win like this it's a good confidence builder. For ICC, you take any positive you can get and two scores is an encouraging size.

Taconic Hills v. Chatham

As expected Chatham beat up on Taconic Hills Friday night, winning 46-8. The Panthers put up 19 points in the first quarter, 13 in the second and added 14 in the third. Taconic Hills scored the only points of the fourth.

Chatham scored 5 touchdowns on the ground and added another on defense. Josh Keyes added 3 more rushing TD's to his early season total.

The lone score for the Titans came in the final stanza where Nick Warren rushed it in.

Taconic Hills needs to keep battling but it seems like they could be in for a long season, while the Panthers yet again are starting off hot, the question is can they continue to carry this momentum and keep their young quarterback out of trouble to make a deep sectional run?


Warrensburg v. Rennselaer

The Rams kept rolling Friday night with another impressive win, this time 38-14 over the Burgers. Rennselaer put up 32 points in the first quarter and added 6 in the second. Warrensburg scored all 14 of their points in the final quarter.

Mico Perez De Los Santos scored 3 times, once on the ground, once on a kickoff return and another on an interception return. Very impressive for the speedster.

All in all the Rams have looked very good as they continue their quest for a sectional title.



Later in the week we will take a look at next weekends football games and coming Monday will be a look at the Boys and Girls Soccer results from this weekend.

Boys Soccer Results from Thursday

Thursday saw 8 of the 9 Patroon Conference boys teams in action, minus Maple Hill. None of the match ups were looked upon to be super close, Cairo looks strong early while Catskill is a lower half team. ICC a top notch squad against Hudson who's looking to get into the top half. Taconic Hills who is down against C-A who are looking to remain in the upper half and Chatham looking to bounce back from a Day 1 loss and take out Greenville who is trying to re-load. Now onto the results.

Cairo Durham v. Catskill

C-D notched it's second win on the season defeating Catskill 3-0. All three goals came in the second half, with the first being an own goal by Catskill. Peter Zoellner added his second goal of the season as Cairo pulled away.

Catskill has some talent but overall not enough skills to match up with the top teams. This game featured a pairing of two of the leagues top two keepers in Cairo's Cory Gransbury who made 3 saves in the win and Ricky Meyers who made 5 in the loss.

ICC v. Hudson

I made the trip to Hudson and came away very impressed with ICC. The Riders talent level looked very high all over the field. Their keeper wasn't tested much by Hudson so I didn't get a great feel there, but the rest of the group seems very good. Mitchell Niemeyer scored 2 goals for ICC and Kyle Kline scored the third en route to a 3-0 win.

Hudson has some speed which could be good and a bit of skill but needs to put it all together. The Riders looked very sharp and could be the team to beat this year. Saturday's match up at 11 am in Cairo should be big time for both squads.

Taconic Hills v. Coxsackie Athens

C-A scored 3 of their 4 goals in the first half as they won 4-0. Not a good sign for the Titans as Coxsackie is solid but by no means a top tier team. Could be a very long season for the Titans.

Good bounce back for the Indians picking up this win and gaining some momentum.

Greenville v. Chatham

Chatham got back on track after their loss to Cairo and scored a 3-0 home victory over the Spartans. Steve Oleynek made 5 saves for Chatham, and should be one of the better young keepers in the league.

Willie McEachran, Cody Clifford and Charlie Hughes each netted goals for Chatham. Clifford who saw limited time last year is strong and skilled and should provide a nice boost for the Panthers. The three players picking up assists on the goals are also big pieces for Chatham. Todd Van Alstyne should take over the playmaker role vacated by Andrew Knight while Tyler Mashaw is a part of a very good defensive core. Francesico Tine a freshman is moving to varsity after a year on JV. He's undersized right now but fast and blessed with a ton of skill. Certainly a name to watch out for.


Some big games on tap for Saturday, the biggest clearly being ICC heading to Cairo. We'll take a look at those games later on this weekend.

Girls Soccer Results from Wednesday

Four big match ups in Girls Soccer on Wednesday and I've heard results from three of them. One of the more interesting match ups, the Chatham-Cairo game has not been reported to any outlets, at least not that I've seen, so for now we'll skip that game.

Coxsackie Athens v. Ichabod Crane

After watching ICC in an early season scrimmage last week I made it back for the first half of this game. C-A despite falling behind 3-0 at the half had more talent than I thought they would. They lacked a natural goal scorer and their team speed wasn't great, but all in all they moved the ball decently and held possession for at least some of the half.

The Riders looked much better in this game than I had seen earlier. The overall talent level seemed to really shine at all three levels. It was an overall impressive display that makes me feel a bit more confident in naming that my early season pick to win the Patroon.

Haley Ooms is adjusting well to sweeper, Lacey Powers looks very calm and collected at center mid and the rest of the squad seemed to be getting comfortable in their spots. Alex Armstrong's 5 goals seems to make her the early candidate to be the goal scorer the Riders sorely need.

Maple Hill v. Hudson

Maple Hill went to Hudson and came away with a 5-1 win. The Wildcats have a young team this year but still have a lot of talent, led by Meeghan Arno who netted 3 goals in this game. Ashley Cross and Sierra Legge each added a goal and an assist and should be counted on heavily this year.

Hudson is still trying to put together a total team effort, a struggle that has been going on for a number of years. Jackie Hall in goal should help to keep the Bluehawks in some game. Hailey Hollenbeck scored Hudson's lone goal in this game and will need to score a lot more this season to keep Hudson in some games. Her older sister Korin was a former All Conference player the younger Hollenbeck will have to continue in that line if Hudson hopes to climb from the league basement this year, they have a shot.

Greenville v. Catskill

The Cats are expected to struggle this year and if this game was any indication they should be in for a very long season after a 7-1 loss. Catskill struck first with a goal in the third minute but things got ugly after that. Taylor Anne Young netted three goals for Greenville in the first half and she's expected to have a very big year.

Greenville has been right on the cusp for the past few years, the question is if they can put everything together consistently enough to knock off the top teams. I'm interested to see them play some of the other top tier teams to see how they match up.


If I get ahold of the results early enough tonight I will go overFriday's Girls Results tonight as well, other keep your eyes out on Sunday when we'll take a look at Week 1 and what it might show us for the rest of the season.

Chatham-CD Boys Soccer

Finally got ahold of the results thanks to someone from C-D and some stats thanks to the Register Star. Cairo beat Chatham 3-1 which is a very impressive win for the Mustangs.

Will Gauthier got Chatham on the board first off a breakaway. Gauthier excelled at scoring off the break at the modified level but didn't play soccer last year, his return to the pitch should give the Panthers a much needed boost up front.

C-D evened the game and took the lead thanks to two very key players returning from last year, Stephen Zwoboda and Peter Zoellner. Chris Gagliardi added the third.

This early win positions the Mustangs well at the top of the pack along with ICC and Maple Hill. The setback is a tough one for for Chatham but I'd expect them to bounce back and get stronger and more dangerous as the season goes on.

Boys Soccer- Day 1 Results

On Tuesday the Patroon Conference Boys soccer season got underway with a few interesting match ups.

Catskill at Greenville is at match up of two teams from across the river who were average at best last year. Greenville lost Andrew Clark in goal, a huge loss but return Harvey their top goal scorer from an 8-8 team. I don't think Catskill will compete for the league title but I'm a big fan of Matel Anasta up front and Ricky Meyers in goal.

C-A at ICC is interesting because the Indians are trying to turn their program into something and coach Curt Wilkinson has them believing. The Riders are considered by many to be the class of the league this year along with MH, although I wouldn't look past Chatham or C-D either. The Riders return a lot of talent all over the field.

Hudson at MH seems like a blowout on paper. Hudson has put one or two really talented players on the field the past few years but overall as a team lack chemistry and enough talent throughout and now with a lack of bodies things won't be any easier. Maple Hill lost a lot too but they always reload and I'd expect nothing less this season if they find a competant keeper.

Chatham at C-D is by far the most interesting match up. Chatham are the defending co-champions but lost their top defender, top midfielder and top forward, but I still think they return more talent than people are giving them credit for. C-D returns a lot of very good players and are being looked at by many as the dark horse title contender.


RESULTS

Catskill at Greenville
Greenville jumped out to a two goal lead at the half but a goal by Anasta and an own goal sent the contest into OT. In the second OT period Mike Sanchez scored his second goal of the game to get the win for the Spartans.
The contest shows the inconsistency of both teams but also the potential in scoring. This could be a very interesting season for both teams.

C-A at ICC
The Riders got their quest for a league title started off on the right foot Tuesday with a 2-0 win over the Indians. Phil Basile scored both goals as he looks fully recovered from the knee injury that kept him sidelined last year. This is a good start for a team who wants to prove they belong in the top tier of the league.
For the Indians the loss is disappointing but it just shows they need to find a goal scorere to replace the departed De Schultz.

HUDSON at MH
Hudson put a score into the Wildcats with an early goal by Roodley Dorce but MH was able to respond in the first half with a goal by Jake Yager. Yager added another in the second half and Eric Bureau added the third goal for a 3-1 win.
Hudson put one in on MH and have a very good keeper in Brett Delamater who made nearly 15 saves. They need to keep up their effort to beat the big boys though.
For MH the resulting W was expected but the way that they had to do it was not. MH still has a lot of talent and the best coach around, but the air of invincibility they once had may be wearing ever so slightly.

CHATHAM at C-D
Despite my best efforts I cannot seem to find anyone who knows the result of this game. Neither the Register Star or Times Union has anything and I've talked to people from both schools and cannot find out. My best bet is Chatham came away with a win because generally the home team will send in results and if you can't find the results, it's normally because the home team lost. This was the most important game on Day 1 in terms of figuring out and early season pecking order so finding out the result will be big.

Football: Look back & forward

Although I am doing this blog on the entire Patroon Conference the bulk of my experience is in Columbia and Rennselaer county and because of where I live it is also easiest for me to cover Columbia County. I'll try to keep up to date on the entire conference as much as possible, but a lot of my focus will be on the Columbia County teams.


ICC-
The Riders opened their season and had a tough go of things as expected in their first varsity contest. Defensively they only gave up 14 points to an underwhelming Cairo team but the real struggle was on the offensive side of the ball where the Riders had countless turnovers. If the Riders can't hold onto the ball it's going to be a long season, even if they do hold onto the ball it could still be a long season. It's a learning experience in your first season and this should help the Riders in the long run.

ICC gets back into action next week against C-A who should be even stronger than C-D was. I expect the Riders to struggle again.

HUDSON-
The Bluehawks who being considered highly by many this offseason got things kicked off on the right foot by defeating Johnstown 28-13. Talib Barksdale is primed to have a monster season and showcased his talents with a 50 yard pass, an 11 yard pass and a 43 yard run for a touchdown. Barksdale is big, strong and can run and pass, he's one of the more dangerous and underrated players in Class B. A name to know if you don't already is Nevin Sheldon. He doesn't have the greatest size but the speedster is a big time receiving threat for Hudson.

Up next for Hudson is a home game against Broadalbin-Perth, another team with high expectations this year. The Patriots come in after a 31-14 win over Ravena and the winner of this game should position themselves nicely after 2 weeks. I like Hudson in the long run, but for some reason I see them stumbling a little bit this week.

TACONIC HILLS-
The Titans who have struggled lately continued those struggles last week with a 45-3 trouncing by the hands of Canajoharie. It's tough to find positives from a loss when you give up 45 and score in single digits, but if there is a positive it's Matt Gilard's 30 yard first quarter FG.

Things could be tough again this week for the Titans as they travel to face Chatham, who's riding high off a first week blowout.

CHATHAM-
The Panthers started this season the same way they've played the past few seasons, with another blowout win behind a potent running attack. Voorheesville, a solid team hosted the Panthers but could not slow them down falling 35-14. The Panthers rolled up over 200yards on the ground. Josh Keyes accounted for for close to 190 yards and 3 rushing TD's to go along with a receiving TD.

How in the world Keyes, a junior, wasn't listed in Times Union's small school players to watch has to be one of the most absurd ommissions I've seen on a list such as that in a while. Keyes was as close to exceptional as a sophomore tailback could be last year, and now a year older, stronger and faster and with an offense even more geared towards him he could run his way to a Class C MVP and take the Panthers to that next step.


OTHERS-
Coxsackie Athens got blown out by powerhouse Fonda in their first game but should have a very good chance of earning their first win on Friday against ICC.

Rennselaer, considered by many as one of the two Class D favorites coming into this season along with Lake George started their season off right with a 20-7 win over Greenwich. This week the Rams will host Warrensburg who could be primed for an upset after having just defeated Fort Edwards, but I'd take the Rams.


Up tomorrow will be a look at Day 1 of the Patroon Conference Boys Soccer results.

Local Football

Tomorrow I'll be taking a look at the local football results from this past weekend along with taking a look towards next weeks match ups.

Also Patroon Conference soccer gets underway tomorrow, always an exciting time.

ICC Girls Soccer Scrimmage

I caught most of the ICC-Red Hook girl's soccer scrimmage today minus about 10 minutes in the third period. Unless there was a goal during that time the final was 1-0 ICC.

All in all it was a pretty physical contest with some sloppy play at times, but overall solid action. The finishing in the final third of the field was a struggle for both teams. As I said earlier, finding natural goal scorers is always the hardest thing to do.

I figured ICC would have pretty good team speed as they have in the past, whether it was lack of conditioning, the fact that it was early season, or maybe Red Hook was just a pretty quick team the Riders didn't blow me away with their speed. Although their toughness was a pleasant surprise.

Haley Ooms was quick, active and skilled at sweeper which is always good to see from the leader of your defense. I like Shana Barry too. She's got good size and a great foot, reminds me a little of former Chatham player Emily Brown. If Barry can get a tough mean streak in her like Brown had, watch out!

The team at this stage, and it is still a very early stage, seems to lack an identity. Are they a long ball team? A team who methodically moves the ball up the field with quality passes? A tough minded defensive squad? They need someone to step up and take control of a game like Watt has done so many times over the past few years. The player doesn't have to be as skilled or saavy as Watt, just someone needs to take control and make a big play.

It was just a scrimmage, there were certainly positives and negatives. Without having seen any other teams and without having reviewed my notes on last year I'd think it's safe to assume the Riders will be in the top half of the league, probably in a battle with Maple Hill for the league title.

ICC Girls Soccer Scrim

I'm probably going to check out the Ichabod Crane-Red Hook girl's soccer scrimmage today. I don't know much about Red Hook but ICC should be interesting to see. They lose big time players every year and have a ton of young talent waiting in the wings, this year should be no different.

Losing Kylie Watt, Jess Van Alstyne and Olivia Armstrong will be huge. Finding and cultivating skill players is easy enough, finding players with such natural goal scoring instincts as Watt and Van Alstyne is not as easy. This team will have to work a lot harder for their goals this year than they have in a long time.

I'll be keeping an eye on Alex Armstrong and Morgan Van Alstyne to see if they can replace some of what the team is losing in their older sisters. Both were solid last year, now they have to do it while being the focal point of the other team's defensive strategies. Lacey Powers has the talent and now a year of experience at sweeper, can she follow in a long line of excellent defensive Riders like Lauren Williams and Mary Donohue?

Clarification

Just so I'm clear ccSCOOP is still up and running, at least to some extend. Sports have been on hold since the end of last school year as the site tries to get their non-profit funding in order. I still may do some free lance work for them and if the budget gets on track I may very well be back with them full time.

I think with the proper funding and people in the right places ccSCOOP has a chance to be a very viable and effective option for local news, especially sports!

Everyone should continue to frequent the site to see what kind of stuff they have going on there. Again with the proper support I think they can provide something really cool and innovative for Columbia County.

Goals for the Blog

Well ccSCOOP didn't quite live up to my hopes and expectations with what they were promising. I loved the idea of being on camera and talking about the seasons but the restrictions of the studio didn't always translate into the best videos or interviews.

Being able to pick what games I wanted to go to was great, but considering I was not the one putting the actual game articles onto the site we were often times 2 or 3 days late on stuff. What is the point of having an online "newspaper" if it takes longer to get it on the site than it does to just get it into an actual printed newspaper.

All in all it was a fun learning experience and I did enjoy my time there. With the economy the way it is journalism isn't the best place to be in at the moment so I'm doing a lot of other things to keep busy but still love local sports and keeping tabs on the schools I grew up around and the new sets of athletes that come through every year, so my goal for this blog is to go to games whenever I can and post about them here. I will be putting up some pictures here and there and also some video. I'd love to maybe even set up a little studio here in my house and do some videos (won't be the highest quality but still an avenue for me to discuss the sports).