by Gary Danforth
Last Friday evening, September 12, on a rainy, soggy field in Schuylerville the visiting Hoosick Falls Panther football team got a large dose of Schuylerville quarterback Austin Bateman as the Black Horses ran away to a 36-0 Class C North division high school football victory. Bateman, a junior signal caller, scored four touchdowns against a Hoosick Falls eleven which was coming off an emotional win versus Cambridge a week ago in the first annual Ken Baker Jug Game. With the win, the Horses move to 2-0 in class play while HFCS drops to 1-1. The Horses had beaten a tough Corinth squad in their season opener.
Schuylerville took a 6-0 lead in period one when senior running back Shane Larkin scored from five yards out. Senior place kicker Dan Ladd booted the point after touchdown for a 7-0 Horses’ lead. Any hopes for a Panther comeback were dashed when Bateman, a three year starter, scored three straight times in period two. First, Bateman got loose on a 46 yard run. Ladd added the PAT. Then Bateman scored from twenty three yards out with Ladd adding the PAT, good for a 21-0 Horses’ margin. Bateman added his third scoring run of the first half when he got loose for a 37 yard TD romp. Ladd’s PAT boot was errant but the Horses still led, 27-0. Ladd added a 25 yard field goal in period two to push the Schuylerville lead to 30-0 at the break. Bateman added a 51 yard touchdown run in period three to seal the Horses 36-0 triumph. Ladd’s PAT boot was errant but the Horses didn’t need it in their second consecutive victory. Under the Goalposts: When was the last time a Panther football team was shut out by this margin in the final score? Elsewhere in Class C action, Cambridge beat Granville 42-30 and Stillwater and Mechanicville picked up wins. In case you didn’t realize it, Brittonkill-Tamarac is 2-0 and Hoosic Valley is 0-2. Next up for HFCS is a home contest this Friday evening, September 19, against Stillwater. This upcoming game and every other game will be no cakewalk for the Panthers. Stillwater seems to play Hoosick Falls very tough each year. And the Panthers will get a large dose of their excellent quick, speedy running back. Then come away contests at Corinth and Granville, respectively, on Friday, September 26 and Saturday, October 4. Friday night, October 10, the Panthers will entertain an always competitive Mechanicville eleven and then HFCS will finish up its regular season with a 75 mile trek to Cobeleskill-Richmondville. Stillwater and Granville are improved from a year ago. And Corinth, Mechanicville and Cobleskill-Richmondville will be very worthy opponents. If the Panthers take any of their five remaining regular season opponents lightly they may walk off the field on the short end of the scoreboard. I’m telling you, Stillwater is for real. And if Granville can score 30 points against a Cambridge team, they are to be reckoned with, I don’t care what their record has been the past few years. Corinth is at home and they are an experienced team. Mechanicville will come right at the Panthers. And Cobleskill-Richmondville is a bigger school than HFCS, used to knocking heads with larger schools. It is possible that HFCS will not win another football game this regular season. Not from lack of effort, but because the quality of their opponents this season is a notch higher than in recent years. It all starts this Friday night against a very capable Stillwater team. HFCS is going to see a heavy dose of the Warriors’ running game and more if Stillwater gets ahead.