Marlboro wins duel of undefeateds
Saugerties’ Hindes sets school career rushing record in Sawyers’ victory
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. » After losing to New Paltz in the finals last year, five-time Section 9, Class B football Marlboro wants its crown back. And the first step has been taken. The Dukes won a classic battle of unbeatens Friday night, defeating the Huguenots 21-7 to clinch the Division I title and, with it, the top seed heading into next week’s postseason.
Two long touchdowns runs from John Perugino and Phil DeSantis had (7-0) Marlboro up 14-0 by halftime and a bend-but-did-not-break Duke defense did the rest. The (61) Hugies staged several long drives, but couldn’t score until there was 5:11 remaining.
The tone was set at the beginning when New Paltz took the kickoff and drove for seven minutes, only to be stopped on downs at the Marlboro 17. Two minutes later, Perugino swept 61 yards for the lead.
DeSantis made it 14-0 with a 65yard sprint on the opening play of the second quarter.
The Hugies were stopped again at the Duke 13, had the next drive squelched by Myles Barrington’s interception. The Hugies got the ball back when Anthony DiMarco recovered a fumble, but they fumbled it away on the Duke 7 with 1:05 left in the half.
New Paltz had an eight-minute drive in the third quarter stall at the Duke 18. The Hugies appeared to have a touchdown with 9:26 left to play, but Jimmy Verney was ruled to have stepped out of bounds when he threw a 26-yard strike to Brian Kenney.
The Hugies finally broke through, cutting it to 14-7 when Verney hit Axel Rodriguez on a 45-yard TD with 5:11 to go. New Paltz, which had forced the Dukes into a threeand-outs on their two previous drives, put the game on the defense and Marlboro’s offense answered.
Long runs by DeSantis and Sam Mongelli drove the Dukes to a critical fourth-and-8 at the Hugie 18
with 1:32 remaining. Mongelli rolled left and found Muhammad Banks behind a defender for a back-breaking touchdown. Saugerties 42, Wallkill 0
At Wallkill, Jack Hindes ran for 179 yards and broke Saugerties’s career rushing record as he became the first Sawyer to gain 2,000 yards in a career. Hindes, who also scored two touchdowns, broke the school mark of 1,994 yards which
had belonged to Carlos Morales.
Matt Bucci, who also rushed for 74 yards, threw two TD passes to Tavin Rell and another to Jake Browe. Saugerties had a 26-0 lead in the first half.
Sophomore middle linebacker Craig Laurey led the Sawyers with 12 tackles. Rell had a pair of interceptions.
Saugerties is 4-3 as it heads into the Class A tournament.
Wallkill is now 0-7, Roosevelt 28, Kingston 14
At Hyde Park, Kingston hung tough in the first
half, but fell short. The Tigers, now 0-7, saw their losing streak extended to 16 in a row.
Elijah Hewitt rushed for two touchdowns to lead (4-3) Roosevelt, which will host a Class A playoff game next week. Hewitt raced 60 yards for one TD and also scored on a 16-yard run. The Presidents led 14-0 at the half.
Jake Niesen ran 14 yards for one score and E.J. Budai had a 4-yard TD for Roosevelt.
The Presidents built a 28-0 lead, with Kingston rallying for two touchdowns
in the final four minutes.
The Tigers play the first of two crossover games next week to close out the season. Section 9 will assign the games early in the week. Pine Plains 24, Dover 0
At Pine Plains, the (4-3) Bombers dominated as they clinched a home game for next week’s Class C playoffs.
“I challenged my offensive line on Monday when we (were) watching film,” said Pine Plains coach Rob Scott, who saw center Aidan Kiernan, guards Matt Hansen and Brad Butts and tackles Matt Michetti
and Mike Mastroeni rise to the occasion as the team rushed for 330 yards.
Sophomore Kyle Stracher ran 14 times for 161 yards, quarterback Matt Beam carried eight times for 11 and Evan Proper gained 58 on 13 attempts behind their line. Each rushed for one touchdown. Matt Funk kicked three extra points, plus a 35-yard field goal.
“It was the best game the team has played all year, a full 48 minutes,” Scott said.
Kiernan had eight tackles, Butts and Marcus Hay made six each, Beam had
an interception and Andrew Holsapple a fumble recovery to lead the Bomber defense. Liberty 47, Highland 7
At Highland, Roy Penn Cosentino rushed for 295 yards and three TDs and Kymanni Dennis carried for 157 and two scores as (3-4) Liberty rolled to 524 yards on the ground in a game that decided the final playoff berth in Class B Division 2.
Jake Leszcynski and Jerry Olmo also scored for the Indians.
Highland fell to 2-5 on the season.