Schuylerville took different approach to secure sectional lacrosse title

PHOTOGRAPHER: Jim Schiltz

Run-and-gun lacrosse didn’t work for Schuylerville in the 2008 Section II Class C championship game, with the Black Horses coming out on the short end of a 17-14 score against Johnstown.

“This year, we slowed it down,” junior midfielder Colton Barber said Tuesday

after the Black Horses secured the Class C title with a 10-6 win over Greenwich. “We played a ball-control game. It worked out a lot better this year.”

Schuylerville (7-11) scored four unanswered goals to begin the contest, and with a patient approach, gradually extended its lead. The Black Horses were up at the half, 6-1, and enjoyed an 8-2 cushion entering the final period.

“We’re thrilled,” said Schuylerville coach Bill Battaglia, whose second-year varsity team had split a pair of one-goal games with Greenwich during the Foothills Council season. “The kids played hard the whole game, for four quarters. There were times this season where I couldn’t say that.”

Barber scored three goals, including the game-clincher with 1:57 left after the Witches had sliced their deficit to 9-6. Dave Ferris had two goals and an assist, Jamie Mabb also had two goals and J.P. Gove made seven saves as Schuylerville became the fourth team to win a Section II Class C banner since that level was introduced in 2000.

Glens Falls and Greenwich joined Johnstown as previous Class C champions.

“We came out and played our game,” said Mabb, a senior attackman. “They came back on us, and we held it together.”

The championship-game win was the third for Battaglia, whose Saratoga Springs teams beat Shaker for Class A honors in 1995 and 1996.

Schuylerville, Guilderland (Class A, 19-2) and Niskayuna (Class B, 21-0) will see regional semifinal action today at the University at Albany against the Section IX champs. Schuylerville and Red Hook (13-5) play at 1, Guilderland and Warwick (19-1) meet at 3:30 and Niskayuna and Saugerties (14-2) square off at 6.

linebackers commit

Linebackers Connor Hadcock, Chris Van Alstyne and Ian Schwan, who each played a significant role in Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s run to the state Class A championship football game last fall, have made their college choices.

Hadcock, an all-state first-team pick, will continue his football career at American International College in Springfield, Mass. Van Alstyne is headed to St. John Fisher in Rochester, and Schwan will play for Adrian College in Michigan. The trio helped

BH-BL post five shutouts en route to the state final, where the Spartans lost their only game, 35-28, to Sweet Home.

Hadcock was tabbed BH-BL’s defensive most valuable player in that loss after making 11 tackles and intercepting a pass, and also earned the honor after state playoff wins against Nyack and Indian River. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound senior finished the season with 90 tackles, six sacks and two pickoffs, and was selected the Daily Gazette’s co-Defensive Player of the Year, with Schenectady’s Dan Desbiens.

Schwan plans to play football as well as lacrosse at Adrian.

schultz tosses gem

Maple Hill senior Jaime Schultz pitched his second no-hitter this year, striking out 18, in a 6-0 Section II Class CC quarterfinal win over Voorheesville last Saturday.

The first-team Patroon Conference all-star also no-hit Taconic Hills earlier this year, fanning 20. Schultz held Taconic Hills hitless as a junior, and as a freshman, he teamed up with Joe Duggan on a no-hitter against Greenwich in the sectional Class CC quarterfinals.

As Maple Hill’s starting point guard, Schultz helped the Wildcats reach the state Class C basketball final, and during the fall soccer season, he scored 36 goals to boost his career total to a school-record 109.

Schultz will attend Division I High Point University on a baseball scholarship.

kandath stopped

Matt Kandath’s bid to become the first player to win three consecutive state singles titles ended Saturday when the Albany Academy senior lost to Dan Kreyman of Long Beach High School, 7-6 (9-7), 2-6, 6-3, at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing.

The Niskayuna doubles tandem of Bryan Chow and Chris Frost lost in the finals to Commack’s Bryan Roberts and Zack Dean, 6-1, 6-2, after winning four earlier matches.

here and there

Schalmont football players Coleman Jennes and Madison DeCerce will play at Hartwick College, while teammate Ryan Hyde will continue his career at McDaniel College in Westminster, Md. Jennes was named a first-team Class B West Division all-star for his accomplishments as both a tight end and defensive end. DeCerce (linebacker) was a West first-team all-star and Hyde (wide receiver) a second-team star. The trio helped the Sabres win the West title, and tie a school record with seven victories. . . .

Shenendehowa cross country and track runner Jamie Glover has committed to Quinnipiac University. His contributions helped the Plainsmen win Section II, state and Federation championships last cross country season. . . .

The Section II Exceptional Seniors boys’ lacrosse game will be played Friday at 7:30 Columbia High School. The top senior baseball players from the Central Hudson Valley League and Patroon Conference will also square off that night at 7 at Waterford Park.