Troy High fall sports schedule (aside from football) 2020

We previously have posted the football schedule for Troy High for 2020. As of press time, there are no plans for a game or a scrimmage during week 0 (Sept. 4-5). The season will start for volleyball, women's tennis, and golf, though, before Labor Day, and the soccer season  will start Sept. 8.

Again, everything is tenative due to coronavirus.

Soccer:

Like in basketball, the men's & women's games will be at opposite sites.

Sept. 8: Women's home opener vs. Shenendehowa. Men @ Shen.
Sept. 10: Men's home opener vs. Schenectady. Women @ Schenectady.
Sept. 15: Men vs. Colonie. Women @ Colonie.
Sept. 17: Men vs. Guilderland. Women @ Guilderland.
Sept. 22: Women vs. Albany. Men @ Albany.
Sept. 24: Men vs. Ballston Spa. Women @ Ballston Spa.
Sept. 26: Women vs. Shaker. Men @ Shaker.
Sept. 29: Men vs. Niskayuna. Women @ Niskayuna.
October 1: Men vs. Columbia. Women @ Columbia.
October 3: Women vs. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. Men @ Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake.
October 6: Women vs. Bethlehem. Men @ Bethlehem.
October 8: Women vs. Averill Park. Men @ Averill Park.
October 13: Men's Senior Night vs. Christian Brothers Academy.
October 15: Women's Senior Night vs. Saratoga. Men @ Saratoga.

The women's swimming & diving team, winless last season, is merging with Averill Park this year, according to Schedule Galaxy. However, the schedule is incomplete as of press time, as are the remaining fall sports (volleyball, golf, women's tennis, & cross country track). We'll be checking back soon for the full schedules, if they're able to compete.

Lansingburgh football 2020 schedule

In the interests of equal time, since we cover LaSalle & Troy High quite a bit, we have Lansingburgh's football schedule for the 2020 season. They have opted to play a game on week 0, rather than a scrimmage---as far as we know.

Information culled from the Colonial Council's Lansingburgh page.

Week 0 (Sept. 4): Home opener vs. Hoosic Valley.
Week 1 (Sept. 11): Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk.
Week 2 (Sept. 18): Schalmont.
Week 3 (Sept. 25): @ Cobleskill-Richmondville.
Week 4 (October 2): Broadalbin-Perth.
Week 5 (Saturday, October 10): vs. Holy Trinity @ Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons.
Week 6 (October 16): @ Hudson.
Week 7 (October 23) Senior Night vs. Niskayuna, as the Silver Warriors complete the Collar City Hat Trick, as they play at Troy & LaSalle in weeks 1-2.

Of course, the schedule is tenative, pending the status of sports in the 518 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

News & notes

Siena College has gotten the green light to prepare for their 2020 fall sports season, per the Albany Times-Union. Now, the question is whether or not the area's other colleges (UAlbany, Union, RPI, etc.) will similarly be ok'd to begin practice for the fall season.
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There may be hope for baseball in the 518 this year after all.

The Saratogian and The Record, in their Sunday editions, reported that Saratoga-Wilton Youth Baseball plans on beginning a short season as soon as they get the go-ahead from the governor's office. Spring Youth Baseball, in Troy, erring on the side of caution, is waiting until September at the earliest to begin their fall schedule.

The downside to Spring's plan, however, is that youth baseball in general doesn't get the same kind of press coverage it used to back in the day, and the local press is more interested in football & soccer during the fall season. Also, some parents might also be parents of Troy High or LaSalle athletes, creating a conflict of interest if high school sports begins as scheduled in September.

Stay tuned.

News & notes

Add the Northeastern Football Alliance to the summer leagues that have cancelled for the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Troy Fighting Irish announced on their website that the 2020 regular season has been cancelled, and the Irish would go directly to national tournament play sometime this fall if the situation changes enough to allow it.
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The Independent Collegiate Baseball League hasn't started yet, and Amsterdam manager Keith Griffin may have to sit out the season due to travel restrictions that have been put back in place this week. The league still has no idea when the season will start, though. Stay tuned.
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Local boxer Abraham Nova won his bout on ESPN's Top Rank Boxing Thursday night in Las Vegas. Oh? You didn't know? I guess boxing has fallen off the local radar.
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If and when Albany Academy begins the 2020 NEPSAC (New England Prep School Athletic Conference) football season, they'll do so with a new coach, as Rich Puccio was hired on Thursday. As we stress regularly here, personnel changes at the high school level are kept in house and only made known to the press with press conferences when needed. It ain't like college or pro sports, where everything is under scrutiny.

Now, if only NEPSAC could be bothered to get a regional TV deal made available in the 518......!

Tiz the winner

As expected, Tiz The Law, owned by Sackatoga Stables of Saratoga, won the Belmont Stakes Saturday afternoon, rallying to win by 4 lengths at the wire.

For the owners, it completed a career Triple Crown 17 years in the making, after Funny Cide won the Kentucky Derby & Preakness in 2003.

This year's Derby isn't until September 5, but will Tiz The Law race again before then? Saratoga and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) hope so. The August stakes schedule for Saratoga has been shuffled somewhat with the announcement that the Travers, billed as the Midsummer Derby, will be contested a couple of weeks earlier than usual this year, on August 8. The Jim Dandy, a traditional prep for the Travers, switches spots on the calendar, and will be run the weekend of August 22-23, with the Kentucky Derby to follow two weeks later.

When Saratoga begins its season July 16, there won't be fans in attendance, just like at Belmont, and so it is at this point uncertain whether or not that will change by August 8. For NYRA and their media partners, including NBC, it would be a wish fulfilled if it does.

News & notes

There will be summer baseball. But you have to travel to see it until the Valleycats are ready.

With the Albany Twilight League and the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League shuttered for 2020 due to coronavirus, a four team league is being formed that will play games in Glens Falls & Amsterdam only. Those two cities have teams in the PGCBL, and will play against a pair of Albany based ATL teams. Games will be played at Shuttleworth Park in Amsterdam and at East Field in Glens Falls, which has a rich minor league history.

Now, we'll soon see if the games will be available online. Stay tuned.
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Two sport star Madison Rifenberick was named Validectorian of Troy High's Class of 2020, according to The Record. Rifenberick was a key contributor to the school's softball & women's soccer teams the last four years, although her softball career was cut short with the 2020 season cancelled. Next stop for Rifenberick will be Columbia University. Congratulations.
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Local horseplayers will be keeping a close eye on tomorrow night's Belmont Stakes. Morning line favorite Tiz The Law is owned by Jack Knowlton's Sackatoga Stables, the same folks who nearly scored a Triple Crown several years back with Funny Cide, However, Knowlton and his company won't be at Belmont due to coronavirus, and will watch the race at home.

The Belmont will be broadcast on NBC and, locally, on OTB TV (Spectrum Cable channel 1250).
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Former Queensbury multi-sport star Brett Rodriguez (class of 2016) was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Mariners, but with so much uncertainty over whether or not there'll be a 2020 season, Rodriguez, like everyone else, is waiting to report to training camp, per the Glens Falls Post-Star. Best of luck to Brett.

News & notes

Saratoga Casino & Raceway will resume live cards next Thursday, June 18, with the plan for racing on Thursday & Sunday afternoons until further notice. Before then, track announcer Mike Sardella is almost certainly going to resume his weekly column for The Saratogian/The Record to help promote the reopening.
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If anyone has cared to notice, OTB TV in the 518 has discontinued the tape delays of daily briefings on COVID-19 by Governor Andrew Cuomo and Albany County Executive Dan McCoy. As the 518 is into phase 2 of reopening, and phase 3 likely to start next week, barring any sudden complications, coupled with likely complaints from bettors watching at home about losing up to two hours of racing coverage per night, you might as well figure this was inevitable.
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And, now, this message from the Tri-City Valleycats:



With Major League Baseball's entry draft having concluded last night, the delay in starting the season will give the Astros and the 'Cats extra time to figure out who's coming to Troy. However, the season is delayed largely because MLB can't figure out how to come to terms with the first shortened season in 25 years (not since the end of the 1994-5 strike). At this rate, NFL training camps could open before the first pitch is thrown. Stay tuned.
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Amsterdam's Justin Foscue was drafted by Texas Wednesday night during the MLB Entry Draft. As of right now, he's the only Section II ballplayer to go in this year's draft. Foscue last played with the Amsterdam Mohawks of the Perfect Game Collegiate League.
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Stock car racing returns to the 518 tonight with live racing at Albany-Saratoga Speedway. Fonda Speedway will open their season Saturday.

Admission at Fonda is as much as $35 for non-members, probably the same or lower at Albany-Saratoga, but you can get around that and watch the races online at www.dirttrackdigest.tv for as little as $10. Too bad they can't get a TV deal.....