by Gary Danforth
Last Friday night’s October 24 Section Two, Class C, opening round football game between the home standing Hoosick Falls Central School Panthers and the visiting Watervliet High School Cannoneers promised to be a tight match-up between the then 6-1 Panthers and 5-2 Cannoneers. And, it was.
Both teams went at each other for four quarters and when all was said and done, Watervliet came out on the high side of a 22-19 verdict. With the win, the Cannoneers move on to semi-final action where they will travel to 8-0 Schuylerville next Friday night. The other semi-final will see Fonda-Fultonville travel to Chatham to take on those Panthers. Fonda disposed of Cambridge while Schuylerville beat Brittonkill-Tamarac 60-20. Chatham pounded Corinth 70-20. Hoosick Falls will play a crossover game this coming week.
Watervliet took the opening kickoff and ran right at HFCS. At the Panther eleven yard line, a running touchdown was called back by a holding penalty. Then the Hoosick Falls defense raised up and blocked a 30 yard Vliet field goal attempt when the drive stalled at the Panther 13 yard line.
Then, on one of those nights to try and forget, the Panthers fumbled their next possession back to Vliet, setting the visitors up at the Hoosick Falls 12 yard line. You can’t give solid football teams that short of a field and not expect to pay. On a fourth and five play at the Panther seven yard line, Cannoneer quarterback Chris Hughes found Tom Ebenhoch with a touchdown pass, and Caleb Gleason added the point after touchdown boot for a 7-0 Vliet lead with 3:23 left in the opening quarter.
But Hoosick Falls came right back. HFCS went on a 12 play, 82 yard scoring drive, capped off by a six yard option run to the left side by Panther senior signal caller Kevin Woods. On a night to try and forget, the PAT boot was blocked as Vliet led 7-6 with 10:16 left in the first half.
Watervliet made a mistake of their own and a solid Panther football team made them pay. HFCS took but three plays to cover 43 yards. On third down Woods hit junior wide-out Logan O’Brien with a 37 yard touchdown pass. On a night to try and forget, the Panthers two point conversion was no good, leaving Hoosick Falls ahead, 12-7, with 9:21 remaining in the opening half.
Watervliet took over but was forced to punt from the Vliet 43 yard line. HFCS took over, and, after gaining a first down via a measurement at the Watervliet 31 yard line, Woods hit Jordan Brogue with a 31 yard TD strike with 4:35 left in the first half. Hutton Rasmus split the uprights on the PAT boot to give Hoosick Falls a seemingly commanding 19-7 lead.
But this might have been a night to try and forget. What could go wrong for HFCS did go wrong for HFCS. The Cannoneers’ Ian Kelly gathered in the ensuing Panther kickoff and galloped down the right sideline for an 80 yard touchdown return. Gleason booted the PAT to get Vliet to 19-14 with 4:17 left in the first half.
Hoosick Falls could not move the ball on a solid Vliet team. With 2:22 left in the initial half, the Panthers punted into the Cannoneer end zone for a touchback. But on a night one might want to forget, Vliet drove the ball the length of the field for the go ahead touchdown. Hughes scored on a four yard keeper with :04 left in the opening half to put Vliet ahead, 20-19. Gleason barreled into the end zone for the two point conversion run to put the Cannoneers ahead, 22-19.
HFCS drove to the Watervliet 20 and 37 yard lines on their first two possessions of the second half and came up empty. There was 1:00 remaining in period three when HFCS punted the ball back to Vliet. A tough Panther defense kept Vliet bottled up at their own 40 and 17 yard lines on their own first two possessions of the second half. Then HFCS drove to midfield and gave the ball back to Vliet.
Here is where the game continued to swing in Vliet’s favor. Following an illegal forward pass penalty on HFCS, Vliet took over at the Panther 45 yard line. They drove to the Hoosick Falls four yard line, and Hughes was stopped on a fourth down play inside the Panther two yard line.
With 5:38 to play HFCS would have to drive almost 99 yards to go ahead or tie the score with a field goal. Panther head Coach Ron Jones and his staff directed a fifteen play drive which took HFCS to the Vliet fifteen yard line. On a fourth and twelve play, Woods hit senior running back Dan Okerman with a screen pass on the left side. Okerman was dragged down from behind at the Vliet six yard line, three yards shy of a Panther first down.
Watervliet took over with :55 to play and ran out the game clock to preserve their hard fought 22-19 win. The Panthers had gained five first downs and had driven the ball 93 yards on their final drive of the game but had come up empty on a night one might just want to forget.
Under the Goalposts: The effort by HFCS was there all night, but you can’t allow a solid team like Watervliet to take over at the Panther 12 yard line and not expect to get hurt. And you can’t give up a kickoff return for a touchdown and expect that not to hurt. Watervliet was not flashy; they were just a good, solid team. The Cannoneers got four total extra points while HFCS got one total extra point. Those three Vliet points were the difference in the game. Hoosick Falls will play its final game of the regular season this Friday night, October 31, Halloween Night, when they host a crossover game at 7 pm. Hopefully, the Panthers can end their successful season to date with another win and finish up 7-2.