After spending the first half of the week trying to re-prove that one of its players was a city resident, Lansingburgh scored 27 first half points on its way to a 43-7 victory over Mohonasen in Saturday’s Section II, Class A quarterfinal football game.
The Mighty Warriors (1-7) did everything they could to make the Knights (7-1) earn their points, but they wore down against Lansingburgh’s high-octane running game. Kenny Youngs and Nyquan McGirt each ran for more than 120 yards to lead the Knights.
We played relatively well defensively, said Mohonasen coach Scott Sabourin. `Eventually they wore us down, but it was a great testament to our guys that we scored in the fourth quarter.`
McGirt was an integral part of Saturday’s storyline in more ways than one. Besides his 128 rushing yards and his 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the third quarter, McGirt was also at the center of a controversy in which his eligibility was called into question for the second time this season. It wasn’t until late last Tuesday that the Section II transfer committee ruled that McGirt, who played for Catholic Central last year, was a Lansingburgh resident and could play for the Knights ` nearly a month after it first ruled in the north Troy school’s favor.
`Because of the transfer issue, they played with a level of intensity and pride that wasn’t evident the first time we played them (Sept. 7),` said Sabourin.
That intensity was especially evident in Lansingburgh’s defensive performance. The Knights allowed only one Mohonasen first down in the first quarter and kept the Mighty Warriors out of the end zone until Vincent Gabriele’s 14-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
Not that Mohonasen didn’t have its opportunities. A fumbled punt return by Lansingburgh gave the Mighty Warriors a first down in the Knights’ territory early in the second quarter, but Mohonasen couldn’t take advantage and turned the ball over on downs. The Mighty Warriors entered Lansingburgh territory a couple of more times before finally piecing together their lone scoring drive.
`We played relatively well defensively, but we didn’t take advantage of some of the offensive opportunities we had,` said Sabourin.
Lansingburgh took advantage of its scoring chances, though. The Knights systematically drove down the field on their first series, which Youngs capped with an 8-yard touchdown run. Youngs then broke off scoring runs of 56 and 29 yards in the second quarter to give Lansingburgh a 20-0 lead.
From there, the Knights showed Mohonasen its range of weapons. Quarterback Connor Gallo connected with Matt Harte on a 24-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter to make the score 27-0. After McGirt’s kickoff return in the third quarter, Lansingburgh didn’t strike again until early in the fourth quarter, when Marcus Hepp capped a series with a 5-yard touchdown run. Bill Wangler added a 28-yard field goal to increase the Knights’ lead to 43 points.
Youngs still led Lansingburgh’s attack with nearly 170 yards on only nine carries. Sam Olszewski had 76 yards on 24 rushing attempts for Mohonasen.
Lansingburgh advances to Friday’s semifinal round against Bishop Maginn, while Mohonasen wraps up its season against a Schenectady squad that features as many weapons as the Knights including tailback Marc Thompson and quarterback Nick Ottati.
`That’s certainly not the opponent we would have chosen, and I spent Sunday talking to the Section II committee trying to make that point, but that’s who we drew,` said Sabourin of facing Schenectady, a class AA team.
Mohonasen isn’t the only county team playing a crossover game to finish the season. Niskayuna, Schalmont and Scotia-Glenville will be playing their second crossover games after failing to make the playoffs. Niskayuna hosts Bethlehem Friday night, while Schalmont travels to Taconic Hills and Scotia-Glenville visits Gloversville.
Schalmont and Scotia-Glenville are both looking for their third wins of the season Friday night after winning their crossover openers. Schalmont downed Cairo-Durham 56-0 last Friday, while Scotia-Glenville defeated Johnstown 35-7 Saturday.
Schalmont (2-6) didn’t need many offensive plays to score its points against Cairo-Durham (0-8). The Mustangs turned the ball over several times to give the Sabres good field position, and Schalmont took advantage with short scoring drives.
Ken Lancto had a 9-yard touchdown run and returned a punt 68 yards for another score to lead the Sabres. Dashawn Banks also scored two touchdowns, and Matt Torres rushed for more than 70 yards and a touchdown.
Scotia-Glenville (2-6) did most of its scoring in the first quarter against Johnstown. Brett Evensen rushed for a 4-yard touchdown to get the Tartans on the scoreboard, and Kevin Frame capped the next Scotia-Glenville series with a 3-yard scoring run. Frame added a 78-yard interception return at the end of the quarter to put the Tartans up 21-0.
Evensen contributed a 37-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter, and Dakota Aker added a 10-yard touchdown pass to Joe Coons for Scotia-Glenville. Evensen finished with 108 rushing yards.
Niskayuna (2-6) will try to bounce back from a 28-27 loss to Saratoga when it hosts Bethlehem Friday. The Silver Warriors made a valiant comeback with 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, but Saratoga stopped their two-point conversion run attempt to hold on for the win.
Quarterback Dan Peters threw for more than 210 yards and three touchdowns, and he added a 1-yard scoring run for Niskayuna.“