When the chips were down, the Voorheesville football team found a way to win.
Lee Fenner’s 20-yard field goal with 1:51 left in the fourth quarter lifted the Blackbirds to a 19-18 victory over Watervliet in Saturday’s class C South Division showdown of undefeated teams.
We played a little sloppy maybe a little impatiently ` offensively, but the defense kept us in the game,` said Voorheesville coach Joe Sapienza. `If you can win games like this, it speaks a lot to your character. This was a gutsy win.`
Fenner played goal earlier in the day for the Voorheesville boys soccer team, and just like his performance in the Blackbirds’ 3-1 victory over Mayfield, he came through when called upon to perform. Besides his game-winning field goal, Fenner also nailed a 39-yard field goal in the first quarter and was perfect in his only extra point attempt for the Blackbirds (3-0).
`That was his first (game-winning) field goal of his career, and to have it be under those circumstances and drill it like that, it’s tremendous,` said Sapienza. `He was the difference in this game.`
The Cannoneers (2-1) scored first when Mike Cooney hooked up with Chris Hughes for a 38-yard touchdown reception. The two point conversion failed, giving Watervliet an early 6-0 lead. Fenner’s 39-yard field goal cut the deficit in half, but Cooney connected with Dan Bolt in the second quarter from 11 yards out to give Watervliet a 12-3 lead.
`We’ve seen them a couple of different times, and we know they’re very good, they’re balanced and physical,` said Sapienza. `I think their aggressive nature took us out of our game a little bit, but we settled in and didn’t get beat.`
It looked as if the Cannoneers would head into halftime with their nine-point lead, but the Blackbirds had other ideas. Jay Conde orchestrated a late drive, capping it was a 40-yard touchdown pass to Evan Christner with 13 seconds left in the second quarter. Fenner’s extra point made the score 12-10.
Watervliet regained some momentum when Cooney engineered a long drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown run by Matt Kodadar in the third quarter. The two-point conversion failed, though, which left the Cannoneers with an 18-10 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Voorheesville got back into the game with a drive that ended with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Conde to Jordan Murphy. A failed two-point try left the Blackbirds with an 18-16 deficit.
The Cannoneers failed to move the ball on their next series, which forced them to punt with under six minutes left. The Blackbirds moved the ball deep into Watervliet territory, where Fenner hit his second field goal of the game to give Voorheesville its first lead.
Watervliet tried to get a drive going in the final two minutes, but Adam Duncan sacked Cooney to seal the victory.
`We put our defense in terrible position all game with the mistakes we made. We really put them behind the eight ball, and they did a nice job,` said Sapienza. `We were worried that they would wear down, but they never did.`
Voorheesville returns to action Saturday when it travels to Mechanicville.“