Winter
• The success story of the winter season was the Colonie boys bowling team.
The Garnet Raiders won their second state title in the last three seasons by 60 pins over East Islip of Long Island in Syracuse. Colonie staged a mid-game rally in the fifth of six games to surge past the Redmen and held on through the final game to claim the championship.
“I wish everybody who is involved in bowling could have seen it because it was the best match I’ve ever been involved in,” said Colonie coach Bill Carl.
Two juniors paced Colonie at the state tournament. Justin Carl had a six-game average of 231.5, while Rick Rovelli rolled a 225 average. Senior Charles Moeske added a 218.83 average.
• Shaker had an individual state champion in boys indoor track, as James Steck claimed the pole vault title. Steck, a former gymnast, cleared the bar at 15 feet to earn his first state title in only his 10th month of track competition. It wouldn’t be Steck’s only state championship of the year.
• Christian Brothers Academy’s string of Section II boys basketball championship game appearances ended at 10 in a row after Green Tech defeated the Brothers 64-60 in the Class AA semifinals at the Times Union Center. Jamil Hood Jr. had a huge game for Green Tech. The junior guard scored 31 points, including the game-clinching steal and layup with 4.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Greig Stire had 26 points to pace the Brothers, including a three-point play late in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 60-60. But free throws by Jizziah Carr and Najee Ward gave Green Tech the lead for good.
Shaker also reached the Class AA semifinals, but Troy pulled away in the second half for a 52-36 victory. The Flying Horses went on to defeat Green Tech in the Class AA Sectional finals.
Loudonville Christian School got to the Class D finals, where it ran into Joey Lufkin and the Argyle Scots. Lufkin poured in 26 points and added six assists to lead Argyle to a 63-49 win over the Eagles. Matt Yamin (13 points) and Gabe Brown (12 points, 14 rebounds) led Loudonville Christian.
• For the first time in three years, a girls basketball team from the Town of Colonie failed to reach the Class AA Sectional finals. Defending champion Colonie lost to Bethlehem 44-40 in one semifinal, while Albany knocked off Shaker 47-41 in the other semifinal.
The loss to Bethlehem ended Sydnie Rosales’ highly successful career. Rosales helped Colonie reach two Sectional finals and win the 2012 Class AA title. The Marist-bound senior guard scored 15 points, pulled down seven rebounds and added three steals in the semifinal loss to the Lady Eagles.
Shaker guard Madison Rowland also had her fine high school career end in the semifinals. Like Rosales, Rowland earned a Sectional title as she and older sister McKenzie Rowland guided Shaker to the 2011 Sectional title. Rowland scored 25 points for the Blue Bison against Albany, which went on to defeat Bethlehem in the Class AA finals.
• Colonie’s Golan Cohen finished fourth in the Division 1 (large schools) 106-pound weight class at the state wrestling championships in Albany. Cohen got as far as the semifinals before losing to Westhampton Beach’s Alex Tanzman 4-1. Shaker’s Blake Retell made the quarterfinals in the 120-pound weight class before losing and finished with a 2-2 record in his third trip to states. Colonie’s Jason Johnson was 1-2 in the 220-pound division.
• The Shaker/Colonie hockey team came close to reaching the Division I finals, but Shenendehowa rallied for a 6-5 overtime victory in the semifinals.
The Jets took a 5-4 lead on Kevin Egan’s goal with 5:01 left in the third period, but Peter Russo tied the score for Shen with 2:25 remaining in regulation to force overtime. Kyle Marr scored with 6:07 left in overtime to send the Plainsmen into the finals, where they lost to eventual state champion Saratoga Springs.
CBA only got as far as the Sectional quarterfinals, where it lost to Bethlehem 3-2. The Eagles built a 2-0 lead after two periods and fended off the Brothers the rest of the way to avenge a quarterfinal loss to CBA in the 2012 Sectional playoffs.
Zach Swanteck and Mike Betts tallied for the Brothers in the loss.
Spring
• Steck captured his second pole vault title of the year when he won the Division 1 championship at the state meet in Middletown. Steck cleared the bar at 14 feet, 6 inches to claim the divisional title. Ellenville’s Justin Farrenkopf was the Division 2 and overall champion after clearing the bar at 15 feet.
Shaker nearly claimed the Division 1 and Federation titles in the boys 400-meter dash. The team of Austin Drescher, Kevin Egan, Kenny Jackson and Lloyd Smalling finished second with a time of 42.26 seconds, .23 seconds behind first place Greece Olympia (Section V). Ian Weykamp was third in the Division 1 400-meter intermediate hurdles race with a time of 54.56 seconds.
Loudonville native Catherine Maloy was part of the Academy of Holy Names’ 3,200-meter relay team, which finished third among Division 2 teams with a time of 9:18.17.
• The Shaker baseball team came up short in its bid to win its second Sectional title in three years, as Shenendehowa rallied for a 3-2 victory in the Class AA finals. A Sean Egan solo home run and a Garrett Klahr RBI single in the top of the second inning gave the Blue Bison a 2-1 lead before the Plainsmen came back. Matt Buckley’s RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning proved to be the difference for Shen, which won its first Sectional championship in 17 years.
Loudonville Christian School made it as far as the Class D semifinals before losing to Central Hudson Valley League rival Germantown 3-0.
• Shaker and Shen also squared off in the Class A boys lacrosse finals, and the Plainsmen were once again victorious as they pulled away for an 18-10 win over the Blue Bison. Brian Rogers scored seven goals for Shen, which used a 9-0 run in the second half to take command. Tim Leahy had four goals for Shaker.
• Shaker’s bid for a second consecutive Sectional title in girls lacrosse ended bitterly in a 15-8 loss to Guilderland in the Class A finals. The Blue Bison lost Madeline Devine at the end of the first half when she picked up her second yellow card of the game and was disqualified. That gave Guilderland a two-man advantage to start the second half, and the Lady Dutch capitalized with a pair of goals to build a 10-4 lead. In all, Shaker was given three yellow cards.
“I don’t like to blame the reds, but it was really a one-sided game from the beginning,” said Shaker coach Kara DePaula. “We couldn’t get a call for anything to save our lives. Do I think they (Guilderland) should have won the game? I do. I just think they should have let us play the way we wanted to.”
• The Colonie and Loudonville Christian softball teams fell in the Sectional semifinals. Colonie suffered a 4-1 loss to eventual Sectional champion Guilderland in the Class AA semifinals, while Germantown tripped up Loudonville Christian 5-1 in the Class D semis.