Over the course of the next two days, Section II wraps up its football schedule for the season, as the 5 sectional champions crowned between today & tomorrow will begin state play next week.
Action begins today at Ed Picken Memorial Field at Troy High with the Class D Super Bowl. Kick time is around 11 am.
The lineup:
Today:
Class D: Stillwater vs. Lake George/Warrensburg/Bolton/North Warren: The 4-school conglomerate known as the Wolverines are the defending champions. Stillwater moves down from Class C, where they had been among the elite for the last few years. For these teams, this is big time. To many observers, the Wolverines are still upstarts. Stillwater has been there, done that. Given how everything runs in cycles in high school sports, the better option is the better known team.
The pick: Stillwater in a mild upset.
Class C (3 pm): Schuylerville vs. Fonda-Fultonville: Fonda is another team that has risen the last couple of years. For the Black Horses, it may feel like, to borrow an old U2 song, a sort of homecoming for defensive assistant Jack Burger, who led Troy to their first two state titles in 1996 & '99. Burger returns to Troy after 10 years away (The Flying Horses could use him now), but can he help deliver a title to Schuylerville?
The pick: Schuylerville.
Class AA: CBA vs. Shenendehowa (7 pm, Spectrum News 1): Bob "The Builder" Burns also returns to Troy after bolting for CBA prior to the 2021 season. Burns is looking for a 3-peat as sectional champion with the Brothers, and his record at Troy High, where he coached from 2015-21, may be 2nd only to Burger in terms of winning percentage.
Shen won the last meeting, also on TV, last month, but there is something to Picken Field, and Shen vs. a Burns-coached team that says revenge. Brian Clawson's Plainsmen were 0-2 vs. Troy during the Burns era, both games at Troy.
The pick: CBA collects payback.
Saturday:
Class B: Ravena vs. Glens Falls (11 am): The scene shifts to Guilderland for the Saturday doubleheader. Ravena coach Gary Vanderzee gave up being Section II football chairman after last season (former Saratoga coach Terry Jones has that gig), the better to focus his team on another title run. The transition in Glens Falls to their new nickname, the Black Bears, has served well, as it fits with the team being based in the North Country. This will be a good one.
The pick: Ravena. This one could go to overtime.
Class A: Averill Park vs. Niskayuna (3 pm, Spectrum News 1): Another rematch from last year, like the Class AA title game. Averill Park's mission, should they decide to accept it, is to give Nisky's defense a steady diet of Mr. Phelps. Jacob Phelps, that is. Coach Zack Gobel can't afford to coach like he's possessed by the ghost of George Gobel again in front of the cameras. That doesn't always work. If Nisky's defense can stop Phelps, the rest of the game will be mission impossible for Averill Park.
The pick: Averill Park collects a little payback of their own, and this one's also headed to overtime.
Of course, I could be wrong.
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