Sunday, October 1, 2017

High school this 'n' that

Due to the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, falling on Friday, some Section 2 schools played their week 5 football games on Thursday or Saturday instead of Friday. Most of Class AA played on Thursday, including the annual Town of Colonie Cup game between Shaker & Colonie. The winner would still be undefeated with 2 games left, the loser effectively eliminated from division title contention.

Shaker nearly let a huge first half lead slip away as Colonie rallied in the second half, but held on to win, 40-30 to go to 5-0. Colonie, now 4-1, faces the skidding LaSalle Cadets next before meeting Troy to close the regular season.

Speaking of the defending AA champs, an undermanned Schenectady club proved to be no match for the Flying Horses. Coach Bob Burns rested his starters in the second half, as per usual, and Troy cruised to a 55-0 win. Dev Holmes returned a punt for a TD for the second straight week, and had 2 rushing TD's. Joe Casale threw 2 TD passes and was stellar on defense as well.

Troy visits Shaker on Spectrum's Friday Night Matchup next before hosting Colonie on Senior Night (October 13). The Colonie game will be a homecoming for coach Eric Rouleau, who played at Troy in the 90's and was on their 1998 State title team.
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Albany Academy played their first road game in the New England Prep School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) at Wyoming Seminary College Prep in Pennsylvania, losing 28-20 to fall to 1-2. Brett Young threw for 132 yards and 2 TD's in a losing effort.
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Speaking of LaSalle, after an 0-3 homestand, the Cadets were throttled, 35-7, at Bethlehem on Thursday, extending the losing streak to 4 games. It'll likely be 5 in a row after they play Colonie on the road before returning home for Senior Night vs. Saratoga. No playoffs, again, for Gary Lauver's squad, as all the momentum from a season opening win over Schenectady has been dissolved due to injuries.

Worse, LaSalle has scored just 14 points in their last 3 games, and have scored a grand total of 60 in 5 games, or, an average of 12 points per game. They'll have crossover games to close out October, and fans are already planning for winter sports.
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Back to Troy High. After snapping a season opening 7 match losing streak by beating Schenectady on Tuesday, the volleyball team, along with the tennis, golf, and soccer teams, fell to Shenendehowa on Thursday. Shen swept the match, 3-0. The boys' soccer team saw their 2-game winning streak end in a 7-0 loss. The girls got a goal from sophomore star Abby Burns and nothing else in getting blown out, 9-1, at Shen.

Two weeks remain in the soccer regular season, and the girls close the home portion of the schedule with games against Saratoga (Tuesday), Albany (Thursday), and a non-league Senior Night game vs. Queensbury (Saturday). At 2-9, prospects for a run in the sectionals don't look good. The girls will finish on the road at Averill Park and Mohonasen.

The boys are on the road at Saratoga & Albany this week, and finish at home with AP & Mohonasen, with Senior Night on October 12 vs. the Mighty Warriors. If the Times-Union can finally update the standings to reflect scores not reported (losses to Guilderland & Ballston Spa, wins over Burnt Hills & Schenectady), we could get a better gauge on their projected sectional seeding, which would be better than last year. If my math is right, the guys are 6-6 overall with four games to play.

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