2026 flag football sectional pairings released

 The regular season for flag football ended last night, and now, the sectional pairings have been released.

Class A (aka the Suburban Council invitational):

Thursday:

Schenectady @ Saratoga. Winner will play Shaker Saturday.

Also Saturday:

Bethlehem @ Albany.

Guilderland @ Shenendehowa.

Niskayuna @ Colonie.

Semi-finals will be next Tuesday. CBA will host the title game on May 22.

Class B:

Saturday:

Burnt Hills @ Ballston Spa. Winner to play Troy next Tuesday.

Also on May 19:

Mohonasen @ Columbia.

The finals are at CBA May 22.

Class C:

Saturday:

Albany Leadership @ Holy Trinity.

Ichabod Crane @ Ravena.

KIPP Capital @ Broadalbin-Perth.

Lansingburgh @ Catskill. The Knights will look to avenge a blowout loss last month.

The semi-finals are next Tuesday. CBA hosts the final May 22 at 3 pm.

Good luck to all the teams.

Monday's high school scoreboard, 5/11

 Softball:

Schalmont 7, Guilderland 5.

Tamarac 10, Mechanicville 1.

Columbia 3, Burnt Hills 0.

Amsterdam 12, Gloversville 3.

Ichabod Crane 6, Ballston Spa 3.

Chatham 21, Maple Hill 0 (5 innings).

Germantown 16, Catskill 11.

Cobleskill-Richmondville 13, Holy Trinity 2 (5 innings).

Hudson Falls 2, Broadalbin-Perth 0.

South Glens Falls 2, Glens Falls 1.

Ravena 9, Taconic Hills 4.

LaSalle 13, Coxsackie-Athens 1 (5 innings).

Northville 10, North Warren 1.

Albany Academy 12, Fieldston 3.

Schuylerville 14, Granville 7.

Troy 3, Lansingburgh 2. The two teams will try again to play at THS, this time on Saturday. Today's Troy road game at Shen has been cancelled, as Shen will make up a league date vs. Albany.

Berne-Knox-Westerlo 8, Fonda-Fultonville 5.

Queensbury 11, Scotia 2.

Hadley-Luzerne 9, North Warren 5.

Fort Edward 8, Salem 7.

Duanesburg 1, OESJ 0.

Saratoga Catholic 12, Stillwater 0 (5 innings).

Mayfield 11, Johnstown 8.

Schalmont 13, Lansingburgh 1 (5 innings).

Women's lacrosse:

LaSalle 11, Ichabod Crane 2.

Johnstown 11, Amsterdam-Broadalbin-Perth 9.

Saratoga 11, Queensbury 5.

Cohoes 9, Hoosick Falls-Tamarac 6.

Men's lacrosse:

Hoosick Falls-Tamarac 10, Schenectady-Mohonasen-Schalmont 7.

CBA 10, LaSalle 8.

Tennis sectionals:

Class AA:

Shaker 9, Colonie 0.

Guilderland 7, Niskayuna 2.

Shenendehowa 7, Saratoga 2.

Bethlehem 9, Albany 0.

Class A:

Queensbury 7, Troy 0.

CBA 4, Ballston Spa 3.

Columbia 7, South Glens Falls 0.

Burnt Hills 7, Averill Park 0.

Class B:

Scotia 7, Ravena 0.

Ichabod Crane 6, Coxsackie-Athens 1.

Glens Falls 5, Schalmont 2.

Hudson Falls 4, Taconic Hills 3.

Class C/D:

Cairo-Durham 6, North Warren 1. Cairo-Durham will visit top-ranked Argyle today.

Greenville 7, Schoharie 0.

Maple Hill 4, Lake George 3.

Baseball:

Troy 10, Lansingburgh 0 (5 innings). Troy snaps its latest losing streak, hopefully to make the sectionals next week.

Johnstown 5, Mayfield 0.

Colonie 4, Guilderland 3.

Flag football:

Troy 64, Albany Leadership 12. Ouch!!

Weekend sports roundup, 5/8-10

 Lacrosse season is over for colleges in the 518.

For Union College's women, it ended in Salisbury, Maryland on Sunday in a 2nd round loss to the host team, 17-9. The Garnet Chargers finished at 14-7 for the season, much better than the men, who finished well below .500, and didn't land a post-season bid.

UAlbany's women were in Baltimore, not too far from Salisbury, and, with six players missing for various reasons, fell to Johns Hopkins, 21-7, on Friday. The Lady Danes finish at 12-6. As for the men, they were obliterated on national television by North Carolina, 24-6, on Saturday afternoon, a game shown on ESPNU. The men played one fewer game, and finish 11-6. The whole idea of a mid-major vs. a power conference isn't so bad or pronounced in lacrosse as it would be in basketball, but, still, it makes one of this guy......

"Mid-major colleges are like me! No respect!"

In other college action, UAlbany's women finished 4th in the America East track & field championships on Sunday. The men also finished in 4th, as New Hampshire won the men's title, and Bryant copped the women's crown.

College baseball:

Siena 8, Iona 1.

Binghamton 3, UAlbany 1.

It wasn't a sweet homecoming for Darius Prince, as the former Albany Empire/Firebird star returned to MVP Arena as a visitor for the first time in 7 years Saturday. Prince had a pair of touchdowns, but the Kentucky Barrel defense looked more like Cracker Barrel in trying to stop the 'Birds, who won, 55-37.

The Tri-City ValleyCats dropped two of three to New Jersey over the weekend. The 'Cats won the opener, 7-1, as Aaron Whitley (Niskayuna) made his 'Cats debut a successful one. Arlo Marynczak (Bethlehem/Siena) pitched the 9th with no save on the line, and fanned 2. The Jackals won the next two, 7-4 & 10-6.

The 'Cats stay in New Jersey to play Sussex County starting tomorrow.

Time to catch up on the weekend's action in high school sports:

Women's lacrosse:

Friday:

Shaker 13, Bethlehem 11.

Albany 9, Schenectady-Mohonasen-Schalmont 4.

Schuylerville 15, Averill Park 13.

Cohoes 10, LaSalle 7.

Saturday:

Nyack 17, Bethlehem 4.

Johnstown 14, Scotia 9.

Shaker 12, Saratoga 6.

Shenendehowa 17, Columbia 10.

Suffern 17, Queensbury 9.

Men's lacrosse:

Friday:

Voorheesville 11, Greenwich-Cambridge 7.

Johnstown 17, Schenectady-Mohonasen-Schalmont 4.

Saturday:

Shaker 6, Duxbury (MA) 4.

Glens Falls 16, Rutland (VT) 1.

Schuylerville 13, Averill Park 12.

Scotia 15, Broadalbin-Perth 5.

Ballston Spa 16, Vestal 8.

Softball:

Friday:

Saratoga 23, Niskayuna 2 (5 innings).

Colonie 5, Averill Park 3.

Columbia 15, Albany 4 (5 innings).

Ballston Spa 5, Shaker 1.

Greenwich 11, Saratoga Catholic 4.

Hudson Falls 9, Amsterdam 6.

Hoosick Falls 15, Waterford 0 (5 innings).

Duanesburg 17, Middleburgh 0 (5 innings).

South Glens Falls 17, Gloversville 0 (5 innings).

Schoharie 14, Mayfield 1 (5 innings).

Hoosic Valley 14, Maple Hill 0 (5 innings).

Fort Edward 11, Hartford 1 (5 innings).

Warrensburg 16, North Warren 3 (5 innings).

Stillwater 16, Cambridge 9.

Tamarac 17, Berlin-New Lebanon 0 (5 innings).

LaSalle 6, Albany Academy 1.

Granville 14, Hadley-Luzerne 0 (5 innings).

Argyle 3, Fort Ann 1.

Cobleskill-Richmondville 9, Fonda-Fultonville 3.

Whitehall 6, Salem 5.

Cohoes 8, Berne-Knox-Westerlo 4.

Bethlehem 6, Shenendehowa 3.

Saturday:

Eastchester 6, Voorheesville 4.

Voorheesville 16, Bloomfield 6.

Holy Trinity swept a doubleheader from Nichols, 9-0 & 14-6.

Galway 11, OESJ 0.

Tennis sectionals:

Friday:

Class AA:

Albany 9, Schenectady-Mohonasen 0.

Colonie 6, Albany Academy 3.

Class B:

Ravena 7, Cobleskill-Richmondville 0.

Troy High sports review, through May 9

 We're entering the final week of the regular season, although tennis sectionals will begin in earnest on Monday.

Flag football:

Current record: 9-2.

Troy's 8 game winning streak ended at the hands of Columbia, 13-12. Troy's two losses were each by one point, and, yet, they're still ranked #5 by the Albany Times-Union due to political bias in favor of the Suburban Council.

Next: Senior Day on Monday sees the Lady Horses close the regular season vs. Albany Leadership.

Softball: 

Current record: 11-4 (9-1 Colonial Council).

Troy dropped a 4-1 decision to Guilderland, then mercy ruled Voorheesville & Cohoes. Friday's game vs. Lansingburgh was postponed again, and likely will not be made up.

Next: The Lady Horses are at Lansingburgh, weather permitting, so they can finally play the Lady Knights. After that, a last minute road trip to Shenendehowa. On Thursday, it's Senior Day vs. Mohonasen before finishing vs. Holy Names. The game is being played at the state Correctional Services Training Center (?). Weird.

Women's lacrosse:

Current record: 7-6 (School record appears to be 8-5).

The Lady Horses are on the verge of being the 1st lacrosse team in school history to finish above .500!!!

Next: The laxwomen close at home vs. Emma Willard & Albany. Sectional pairings will be announced on Thursday.

Men's lacrosse: 

Current record: 3-9.

Good thing the season's almost over.

Next: A rematch at Mohonasen-Schalmont-Schenectady on Wednesday before Senior night vs. Voorheesville on Friday.

Baseball:

Current record: 5-11.

The week began with a loss to Voorheesville, then Trevor McCarthy's club defeated Cohoes before venturing to Westchester County, only to be 1-hit by Lakeland.

Next: A busy final week starts at Lansingburgh. Then, Senior Day vs. Mohonasen, before returning to the 'Burgh for what appears to be the Colonial Council tournament vs. LaSalle on Friday and, presumably, a 3rd meeting with the Knights on May 17.

News & notes

 The Tri-City ValleyCats open the 2026 season tonight in New Jersey against the Jackals. One big change for the 'Cats this season is that Ranko Stevanovic is the starting catcher, after Oscar Campos chose to start the season in the Mexican League, with no guarantee he'll rejoin Tri-City later this season. Chris Burgess, who'd backed up Campos, is now with the Indianapolis Clowns as part of the Savannah Bananas' Banana Ball 2026 tour.

Stephen Still will be the opening night starter for Tri-City. You can access the Jackals' website to pick up their broadcast to satisfy your ValleyCat fix.

The WWE is bringing Smackdown back to MVP Arena in Albany on Friday, July 17, two weeks after TNA holds two nights of tapings at Broadview Center. Pray that local radio stations will do ticket giveaways so you don't have to sacrifice your nest egg for the show, since TKO Holdings has been taking heat for their greed leading to higher ticket prices.

Program starts around 7, with the USA Network broadcast beginning at 8 pm.

Thursday's college scores:

Softball:

America East tournament:

UAlbany 3, Maine 1.

MAAC tournament:

Siena 3, Iona 1.

Quinnipiac 10, Siena 5.

Liberty League tournament:

St. Lawrence 6, Skidmore 4.

Ithaca 11, RPI 8.

Empire 8 tournament:

Geneseo 7, Russell Sage 6 (8 innings).

Thursday's high school scores:

Women's lacrosse:

Columbia 18, Guilderland 11.

Troy 11, Greenwich-Cambridge 3.

LaSalle 11, Schenectady-Mohonasen-Schalmont 3.

Shenendehowa 11, Saratoga 2.

Burnt Hills 20, Ballston Spa 0.

Shaker 13, Bethlehem 11.

Men's lacrosse:

Burnt Hills 9, Ballston Spa 7.

Schuylerville 16, Amsterdam 4.

Albany 15, Hudson Falls 2.

Glens Falls 9, Scotia 4.

South Glens Falls 12, Queensbury 5.

Niskayuna 16, Colonie 6.

Shenendehowa 12, Saratoga 9.

Guilderland 17, Columbia 3.

Shaker 11, Bethlehem 9.

Softball:

Highland 11, Catskill 3.

Duanesburg 7, Berne-Knox-Westerlo 3.

Fonda-Fultonville 23, Johnstown 10 (5 innings).

Chatham 16, Coxsackie-Athens 2 (5 innings).

Troy 12, Cohoes 2. Cohoes is now 0-8 all time vs. Troy.

Bethlehem 4, Niskayuna 3.

Saratoga 6, Colonie 4.

Saratoga Catholic 12, Cambridge 0 (5 innings).

Ichabod Crane 6, Voorheesville 0.

Tamarac 3, Hoosick Falls 1.

LaSalle 5, Holy Trinity 4.

Galway 20, Middleburgh 0 (5 innings).

Broadalbin-Perth 6, Scotia 3.

Schalmont 7, Ravena 4.

Canajohaire-Ft. Plain 6, Schoharie 3.

Burnt Hills 8, Guilderland 1.

Taconic Hills 22, Cairo-Durham 0 (5 innings).

Albany Academy 21, Holy Names 3 (5 innings).

Granville 7, Lake George 5.

Fort Ann 11, Whitehall 3.

Queensbury 1, Glens Falls 0.

Northville 9, Maple Hill 3.

Shaker 9, Albany 3.

Baseball:

Burnt Hills 5, Guilderland 4.

Taconic Hills 9, Albany 2.

2026 Section 2 men's tennis sectional pairings released

 We haven't paid much attention to men's tennis due to lack of results. The sectionals begin Monday in 4 divisions.

Class AA:

Friday:

Colonie @ Albany Academy. Winner plays #1 Shaker on Monday.

Schenectady-Mohonasen @ Albany. Winner plays #2 Bethlehem.

Monday:

Niskayuna @ Guilderland.

Saratoga @ Shenendehowa.

Class A:

Monday:

Troy @ Queensbury.

Ballston Spa @ CBA.

Averill Park @ Columbia.

South Glens Falls @ Burnt Hills.

Class B:

Friday:

Ravena @ Cobleskill-Richmondville. Winner plays Scotia on Monday.

Monday:

Coxsackie-Athens @ Ichabod Crane.

Schalmont @ Glens Falls.

Hudson Falls @ Taconic Hills.

Class C/D:

Monday:

North Warren/Johnsburg/Minerva @ Cairo-Durham. Winner plays Argyle on Tuesday.

Schoharie @ Greenville.

Maple Hill @ Lake George.

In all classes, the semi-finals are set for Tuesday, with the finals on Wednesday. Schedule is subject to change due to weather.

Good luck to all the teams.

News & notes

 The next time Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo runs will be in next month's Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.

Trainer Cherie DeVaux announced Wednesday that Golden Tempo's owners have decided to bypass the Preakness, which is being run at Laurel while Pimlico, like Belmont Park, is undergoing renovations, next weekend. The Saratoga native will surely get a hero's welcome when she arrives at The Old Spa next month.

DeVaux, like a lot of modern day trainers, feels two weeks isn't satisfactory enough lead time between the Derby & Preakness anymore. It's usually 3 weeks between the Preakness & the Belmont, and there are negotiations for renewal of broadcast rights to the Triple Crown (NBC has the Derby & Preakness, and the Belmont is either also on NBC or on Fox, I forget which). In this day & age, stretching out the Crown across a two month period between May & July might actually make more sense.

Being a backup QB with the Houston Gamblers in the UFL wasn't satisfying for Sam Castronova.

The reigning AF1 MVP has returned to the Albany Firebirds, and will likely alternate with current starter Josh Kulka, as the 'Birds are off to a 4-0 start. For coach-GM Damon Ware, it's a nice problem to have. The 'Birds return to MVP Arena on Saturday.

Brett Young's injury plagued baseball career could conceivably be over.

The Albany Academy grad reinjured his quad in a game against the ValleyCats last summer, and finished the 2025 season on the injured list. His mother, a classmate of ye scribe at Troy High back in the day, said Brett needs surgery to repair a torn labrum, and she fears his career might be over.

Stay tuned.

Kyra Santicola, in today's Albany Times-Union, included Amarilyss Cabrera & Kayleigh-Ana Harris of Troy High as some of the players to watch as the flag football playoffs approach. Yes, Harris is the middle daughter of basketball coach Will Harris, and is a sophomore, playing alongside sister Tianna, a senior, leading Troy to a 9-2 overall record leading to the Senior Day finale next Monday vs. Albany Leadership.

Because lacrosse, like soccer & football, can be played in the rain, there were a few games played on Wednesday. Here's the scoreboard:

Women:

Glens Falls 20, Scotia 5.

Voorheesville 15, South Glens Falls 6.

Johnstown 13, Greenwich-Cambridge 4.

Ballston Spa 17, Amsterdam-Broadalbin-Perth 3.

Men:

Guilderland 13, Burr & Burton 0.

Schenectady-Mohonasen-Schalmont 10, Hoosick Falls-Tamarac 5.

Mechanicville-Stillwater 15, Voorheesville 1.

Johnstown 7, Troy 5.

Softball:

Argyle 9, Fort Edward 0.