Troy, NY----City of Champions?

What hath the Tri City Valleycats wrought?

The hits just keep on coming in Troy. First, it was the Valleycats winning the NY-Penn League title nearly 2 full months ago, defeating Brooklyn to bring their first championship home. Then, the Troy Fighting Irish, representing the city in name only (home games were in Schenectady for some unknown reason), won their semi-pro football league title. Now, championship fever has reached down to high school level.

One year after falling in the Class A Super Bowl to Burnt Hills, Troy High, back in Class AA, won the championship Friday night in Colonie, dismantling Shenendehowa with surprising ease, 38-0. Of their 10 wins this year, Troy has posted 6 shutouts, a far cry from the luckless, winless, dark days when I was a student there 30 years ago. With the tradition that Shen has, you'd think this would've been a shootout that would've ended up, say, 45-44, or something. Nuh-uh! I watched the game on TV, and was stunned. Troy's defense was as advertised, and shut down Shen star Bronson Greene. The game was essentially over after the 3rd quarter. Shen's Hall of Fame coach, Brent Steuerwald, had warned in Friday's Albany Times-Union that his Plainsmen couldn't afford to fall behind early against Troy. Unfortunately, the message didn't get through fast enough.

Tonight, Lansingburgh will try to do what Troy couldn't a year ago, and that is beat Burnt Hills for the Class A title. If they succeed, it will be another notch on the belt for the city. Meanwhile, Troy rolls on to represent Section II in state playoffs, presumably against Section IX champ Monroe-Woodbury.

Back when I was at Troy, the football team was so bad, they couldn't execute a simulated goal-line offense-----at a pep rally! It was that bad. No, I take that back. If they were dared into a pickup game of touch football with the cheerleaders, they'd probably have lost that, too. Just kidding.

Now, if only they could do something to make the basketball team more competitive at the start of the season........