Improved Hoosick Falls starts 2- 0

HOOSICK FALLS, N. Y. » Hoosick Falls came into the 2017 without a starting quarterback, a small roster in terms of numbers, and the weight of a losing season in 2016.

Despite those challenges, things have been going pretty good.

The Panthers have started out 2- 0 and will play their home opener on Friday night against Stillwater.

“There’s a lot of fundamental things that I think we are doing that are good,” head coach Ron Jones said. “I also like the fact that we’re being very resilient. When we make mistakes, which there have been a number of, nobody’s finger- pointing, nobody is yelling at each other.”

Sam Richard eventually took over that quarterback role and has run with it. He was the catalyst in a 39- 7 win over Corinth last week. The issue isn’t so much the quality of players on the roster, it’s the number of overall players.

There’s only 30 combined play-

ers between the varsity and the junior varsity rosters, down from what is typically 50 players. Other Troy- area teams such as Lansingburgh, La Salle and Cohoes have been battling the same problems with numbers hovering around 20. Jones has said things are OK, but it’s definitely made the job a little different.

But even with these hurdles, Jones has gotten his team back to the typical relevance that he typically has in his 21 years as the program’s head coach.

“I feel like defensively as

a team, we’ve improved a lot over the past few years. We’re a lot more physical,” Richard said. “We fly a lot to the ball. I think that’s what makes our team better than the past few years.”

Richard was one of three players that competed for the starting QB role coming into training camp, but stood out the most to win the job. The other two players still rotate in as running backs. Max Kipp, who didn’t win the job, had a 73- yard touchdown in Friday night’s win.

“He’s a very bright guy,” Jones said of Richard. “Second series of the game, we get a strip sack that we lose from the blind side. It didn’t affect him a bit. He stayed in there, trusted his

guys, hung in the pocket and threw the ball all over the place. You can’t beat that.”

Last season, the Panthers lost to Lake George, and beat Corinth by 16 points. This year so far they beat Lake George and doubled that win deficit against Corinth.

Next up is a Stillwater team that defeated Hoosick Falls by 17 last year to end the season. It’s just another chance for the Panthers to make up for what was a blowout loss last October.

“I’m happy that I keep seeing progress,” Jones said. “I can never ask for any more than that. I’m happy that we’re hustling, playing physical and we’re tackling well.”