Marlboro seeks berth in state title game
Berth in state Class B title game on line when Dukes take on Glens Falls
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Three times before, Marlboro High’s football team has reached this point — the state Class B semifinals — but failed to advance.
The Iron Dukes hope the fourth time is the charm in finally achieving the goal of making the state championship game.
Marlboro plays in its first state semi in four years 3 p.m.
Saturday, taking on Glens Falls at Middletown’s Faller Field.
The (10-1) Dukes head into the game riding a nine-game win streak. The (9-2) Indians have won five straight, including beating Beekmantown 21-7 in their regional. This is the third consecutive year Glens Falls has reached the state semis.
The winner will play for the state title Saturday, Nov. 24, at Syracuse University’s Carrier Dome, facing either Batavia or Skaneateles.
Marlboro reached the state semis three consecutive years from 2012-14. It lost to Glens Falls 28-17 in ‘12, then got routed by Schalmont 66-0 and 49-14 in succeeding years.
“As a waterboy, I watched Marlboro get dismantled by them twice,” said Dukes senior quarterback Sam Mongelli about Schalmont. “That was probably the scariest team I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“We’ve never had any success against teams out of the north. Schalmont has kicked us around a little bit and we lost to Glens Falls a few years back,” said Marlboro’s Brian Beck, who was on coach Rich Ward’s staff for those earlier games. Beck took over as head coach this year after Ward was not rehired.
“This is the one that puts us on the map if we can get through it,” Beck said. “The kids’ goal is to get to the Dome. This is the big ticket to get us to Syracuse.”
It is a senior-laden (20 players) Marlboro team that is intent on making it to to the finals. Most of this unit was here
last season when Pleasantville knocked it off in the regionals then defeated Glens Falls to reach the title game.
“It was the same team as last year,” senior Eric Borchert said. “We should have made it there last year and should have won a state championship, but everyone’s back and we’re hungry.”
“This is huge, but it is part of the road of what their goal is,” Beck said. “Their goal is just not to play in the regional and not just to play in the final four. We’re trying to get all the way to that Dome this year and win it.”
Marlboro, fresh from eliminating undefeated Ardsley 27-19 in the quarterfinals, now has to contend with a tough Glens Falls team featuring All-Star Joseph Girard III, who just signed his National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Syracuse. Girard, who threw two touchdown passes in the Beekmantown win, leads the Indians with 13 TDs.
“I know they got a stud quarterback and they got a bunch of fast receivers and that they have a ferocious defense,” Beck noted.
Glens Falls has allowed only 13 points in the last four games. The offense is balanced between Girard’s passing and the speed of sophomore halfback Aalijah
Sampson, who has rushed for 12 TDs. The Indians held Beekmantown to 135 yards, while generating 504 (286 passing, 218 rushing). Girard completed 21-of-35 passes.
Marlboro’s defense has been forcing turnovers to help fuel the Duke offense through the postseason. The Dukes overcame adversity against Ardsley. The offense had three fumbles and an interception in the first half, but the defense kept the game tight and Marlboro rallied in the second half.
“We’re confident. When you have a defense like we do, you’re going to have confidence,” Mongelli said.
Marlboro has to tighten up its secondary play in anticipation of Girard. It
got burned by Ardsley’s Frankie Belarge, who had 300 yards on 21-of-34 passing.
Ameer Williams, a workhorse for the Dukes in the postseason, could be an X factor for Marlboro. The senior rushed for 245 yards and three touchdowns against John S. Burke Catholic in the sectional semfinals, 185 yards and two scores on 26 carries against James I. O’Neill in the finals, then 181 yards and one TD on 35 attempts versus Ardsley.
“We’re just going to go out there and do our thing,” said Mongelli, who has passed for 634 yards and nine touchdowns and rushed for 865 yards and eight TDs. “We’re going to keep on going.”