News & notes

 The Gerry McNamara era officially begins at Siena tonight with the home opener vs. Brown at MVP Arena. Tip time will be around 7 pm, with the game airing on JAMZ 96.3 FM. TV games around here won't start until January.

Meanwhile, UAlbany opens at Army with an 8 pm tip. However, while the game is advertised to air on WTMM (ESPN Radio 104.5).

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Sunday's college & high school scoreboard:

Colleges:

Men's soccer:

NAC West Division title game:

Delhi 4, Cobleskill 0.

Women's soccer:

MAAC tournament:

Manhattan 1, Siena 0.

Women's volleyball:

Siena 3, St. Peter's 0.

High schools:

Field Hockey:

Class A final:

Guilderland 2, Saratoga 1.

Class B final:

Burnt Hills 3, South Glens Falls 0.

Class C final:

Hoosick Falls 4, Johnstown 1.

Men's volleyball sectionals begin today with four games in division 1, all starting around 5 pm.

You're undefeated, ranked #1 in the state in your classification. Then, the roof caves in................

It came as a shock to learn that the state's top ranked Class D football team, Bolton-Warrensburg-Lake George, withdrew from the sectionals after it was reported that members of the team had engaged in some egregious sexual misconduct.

LG-Warrensburg-Bolton football cancels season after alleged sexual misconduct | Glens Falls Chronicle

Lake George/Warrensburg/Bolton football season canceled

As a result, Greenwich moves up to become the #1 seed in the Class D sectionals, and Stillwater now will play Cambridge-Salem on Friday. Greenwich gets a bye directly to the Class D Super Bowl, November 16 at Schuylerville.

As additional punishment for the student-athletes involved, we recommend steering them away from these guys......

Two teenagers desperate to score.

The Wolverines were a perfect 8-0, but what got into these kids?

Troy High sports review, through November 1

 The fall sports season at Troy High is officially over as of Friday night. Winter sports begins with bowling Thanksgiving week.

Volleyball:

Final record: 9-9.

Talia Valenti's Lady Horses went 1-&-done in sectional play, losing in straight sets to Niskayuna on Halloween. Troy has served (no pun intended) notice on the Colonial Council that they will be contenders going forward.

Football:

Current record: 5-4.

Troy football closed out a better than expected season by taking down Scotia, 24-20, on Friday night. A lot of the players will be returning next season, plus call-ups from junior varsity, so there is a bit of an expectation that Jordan Canzeri and company could be contenders in 2025.

Update, 11/4: A 2nd crossover game has been added, this one is Thursday at Guilderland, the same team which ended Troy's 2022 campaign. Kickoff is set for 6 pm.

Women's swimming & diving:

Final record: 5-3.

A scheduled meet at Shenendehowa on October 29 was cancelled at the last minute, and even scrubbed off Shen's page on Aktivate.

The men, under Jeff Maxwell's leadership, begin their season December 3 at Albany.

We're taking a break from the weekly reviews, which will resume the 1st weekend in December.

Sectional update, 11/1-2

 Football:

Class A  semi-final pairings for 11/8:

Ballston Spa @ Averill Park.

Queensbury @ Burnt Hills. The Battle of The Spartans, round 2.

Class AA semi-final pairings:

Saratoga @ CBA.

Shenendehowa @ Shaker.

Class B semi-final pairings:

Mechanicville-Hoosic Valley @ Ravena.

Hoosick Falls-Tamarac @ Glens Falls.

Class C semi-final pairings:

Fonda-Fultonville @ Schuylerville.

Granville-Whitehall @ Cobleskill Richmondville.

Class D semi-finals:

Stillwater @ Bolton-Lake George-Warrensburg in a rematch of last year's Super Bowl.

Cambridge-Salem @ Greenwich.

Women's soccer:

Friday:

Class A final: 

Schalmont 4, Broadalbin-Perth 0.

Class B final:

Mechanicville 4, Chatham 2.

Men's soccer:

Class AA final:

Bethlehem 2, Columbia 0.

Class A final:

Ichabod Crane 1, Schalmont 0.

Class B final:

Mechanicville 1, Greenville 0.

Class D final:

Northville def. Fort Ann via penalty kicks.

Women's volleyball:

Friday:

Class B:

Ichabod Crane 3, Watervliet-Heatly 0.

Holy Trinity 3, Cobleskill-Richmondville 1.

Fonda-Fultonville def. Johnstown.

Broadalbin-Perth 3, Schalmont 0.

Class C:

Galway 3, Hoosic Valley 0.

Stillwater 3, Canajoharie-Fort Plain 0.

Lake George 3, Tamarac 1.

Class D:

Mekeel Christian 3, Loudonville Christian 1.

Duanesburg 3, Argyle 1.

Fort Edward 3, Germantown 0.

Hartford 3, Saratoga Catholic 1.

High School Fridays: Beware the Green Streak (Saratoga @ Shenendehowa, 11/1/24)

 You'd have to go back to the Obama administration for the last time Saratoga won at Shenendehowa. But, with playoff spots in Class AA on the line, the Blue Streaks came to Clifton Park looking to upset the applecart.

Saratoga won the toss, and took the football to start. Unfortunately, the first quarter was a war of attrition, with defenses taking control. That wasn't the case in the 2nd quarter, as Shen took the early lead on a pass from Jake Clawson to James Pepper, Jr., good for 7 yards. Thomas Fankhanel added the extra point, and it was 7-0 Shen going into the break.

Right before halftime, with about 3 minutes and change left in the 2nd quarter, there was a switching error at Spectrum News 1's studios, resulting in an unscheduled commercial break. Viewers only missed one play, thankfully.

After a halftime pep talk from coach Brian Clawson, Shen came out running in the 3rd quarter, or, more specifically.......

Ihsaan, run!!

Ihsaan Aloize, that is. The senior broke off a 50 yard TD run, and Shen doubled its lead, just 35 seconds into the quarter. After Saratoga's Bobby Morris threw an interception, Shen cashed in again, this time with Clawson connecting on a shovel pass to Anthony Diaz, who took it in from 12 yards.

After a Saratoga punt, Aloize was off to the races again, this time 82 yards to the house. Aloize finished with 240 yards on 14 carries, and sat out the 4th quarter. Shenendehowa will get a rematch with Shaker in the Class AA semifinals next week with a 28-0 win. Shen finishes the regular season 7-2, while Saratoga falls to 6-3.

Other scores:

Troy 24, Scotia-Glenville 20. Troy finishes 5-4. Scotia tried making it interesting with 2 4th quarter scores, but ran out of time on a final drive.

Shaker 56, Schenectady 6.

South Glens Falls 40, Broadalbin-Perth 8.

Averill Park 46, Mohonasen 0.

Glens Falls 40, Green Tech 6.

Schuylerville 71, Johnstown 0.

Ballston Spa 27, Bethlehem 14.

Hoosick Falls-Tamarac 35, Schalmont 6.

Ravena 42, Gloversville 14.

Greenwich 44, Cohoes 7.

Fonda-Fultonville 49, Watervliet-Heatly 8.

Burnt Hills 42, Amsterdam 0.

Cobleskill-Richmondville 49, Voorheesville 8.

Section II football playoff preview

 The football playoffs begin tonight in Classes A-C. Most, if not all, of the games can be found on either YouTube or Hudl. Let's just jump right into it.

Class A:

Mohonasen @ Averill Park: With only 5 teams in the Grasso Division this year, thanks to Albany moving back to Class AA, along with Niskayuna, it was going to come down to Mohonasen or South Glens Falls for the right to be fed to AP, anointed by James Allen as the likely A champion. Unless Mohon finds its "A" game, this one's over early.

Pick: Averill Park.

Ballston Spa @ Bethlehem: The Eagles could've run the table and taken the top spot in the Capital Division, but for 2 losses late in the season, and it would've been an even better story than it is now, after losing their opener. B-Spa upset Queensbury last week, and looks primed for another. Not happening.

Pick: Bethlehem.

Amsterdam @ Burnt Hills: The Spartans, under 2nd year coach Kevin DeBonis, have won 6 in a row after dropping the first two. Amsterdam blew a 2nd half lead vs. Troy two weeks ago, then got spanked by Columbia last week. The misery ends for the Rams here.

Pick: Burnt Hills.

Queensbury @ Columbia: Anything can happen here, and probably will. The Blue Devils regained their winning form in routing Amsterdam, and the momentum carries over tonight.

Pick: Columbia.

Class B:

Green Tech @ Glens Falls: The Black Bears are the class of the division. Enough said.

Pick: Glens Falls.

Hoosick Falls-Tamarac @ Schalmont. This one could go either way, given recent performances. 

Pick: Hoosick Falls-Tamarac.

Lansingburgh @ Mechanicville-Hoosic Valley: The Knights have not quite reverted to their hapless ways, but this season ends tonight for them, badly.

Pick: Mechanicville-Hoosic Valley.

Gloversville @ Ravena: Year 1 without Gary VanDerzee has been shaky, but Ravena has found its form.

Pick: Ravena.

Class C:

Voorheesville @ Cobleskill-Richmondville: Moving out of the Colonial Council to the Western Athletic Conference has done wonders for the Bulldogs, who've raised their league's profile with their run this year. 

Pick: Cobleskill-Richmondville.

Canajoharie-Fort Plain-OESJ @ Granville-Whitehall: This one's a toss-up. Well, maybe not.

Pick: Granville-Whitehall.

Watervliet-Heatly @ Fonda-Fultonville: Fonda was close to reaching the Super Bowl as recently as two years ago. Watervliet-Heatly has a ways to go.

Pick: Fonda-Fultonville.

Johnstown @ Schuylerville: This one's a no brainer.

Pick: Schuylerville.

Of course, I could be wrong.

News & notes

 Boxer Abraham Nova will be back in the ring Saturday on ESPN+ vs. Humberto Galindo. Having lost his last two fights, Nova has said he needs to win to get back in the title hunt, and to renew his deal with promoter Top Rank Boxing.

The bout is streaming because of ESPN's commitments to college football.

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Due to election night coverage, NXT will air on Wednesday next week (WCWN, 8 pm), live on location from Philadelphia. More specifically, the legendary 2300 Arena, formerly the ECW Arena. ECW legends Bubba Ray Dudley & Rob Van Dam are scheduled to appear.

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Thursday's sectional scoreboard:

Women's volleyball:

Class AAA:

Albany 3, Colonie 2. The Falcons will play Shenendehowa Wednesday at South Glens Falls.

Class AA:

Niskayuna 3, Troy 0. Troy finishes 9-9, and Nisky moves on to play Columbia on Wednesday at Broadalbin-Perth.

Class A:

Burnt Hills 3, Glens Falls 0.

Queensbury 3, Hudson Falls 2.

South Glens Falls 3, Mohonasen 0.

Academy of Holy Names 3, Averill Park 0.

Field Hockey:

Class A:

Guilderland 1, Shenendehowa 0.

Saratoga 1, Bethlehem 0.

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Tonight's Spectrum News 1 Friday Night Matchup sees Saratoga visiting Shenendehowa, with playoff spots on the line.  Kickoff is shortly after 7 pm.