by Gary Danforth
Last Friday night, October 16, Ron Jones’ Hoosick Falls Central School Panther football team took the long trek to Corinth Central School and beat the Tomahawks 21-7 to finish unbeaten in Class C Northern division, Section II play. HFCS won at least a share of a division crown for the fifth time in the past seven seasons. Hoosick Falls also won titles in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. The Panthers are the only unbeaten team in North division play, finishing 6-0 with another win over a 6-1 Class D squad. HFCS got the top seed amongst Class C North Schools for the upcoming Class C sectional pairings and will host a game this Friday night at 7 pm on Ken Baker Field.
Hoosick Falls took a 6-0 lead in period one when senior running back Alex Hansen scored on a nine yard run. Junior Quinn Rasmus booted the point after touchdown for a 7-0 Panther lead. Corinth closed their deficit to 7-6 when Ron Bovee hauled in a fourteen yard pass from Jordan Charbonneau. Charbonneau’s PAT kick knotted the score at 7-7 before the first quarter ended. The half ended in the 7-7 deadlock.
Hoosick Falls took a 13-7 lead when Hansen caught a 16 yard touchdown pass in period three. Rasmus booted the PAT to give HFCS a 14-7 advantage. Then the Panthers put the game away in the fourth quarter when Hansen broke away on a 38 yard scoring run. Sophomore Tanner Williams booted the PAT, good for a 21-7 Panther lead. That is how the game ended for the North division champion Panther football team.
Under the Goalposts: HFCS (7-0) got the top seed of Class C North division teams with Cambridge (6-1) and Granville (6-1) getting the second and third seeds. In the South division, Chatham (7-0) got the first seed while Voorheesville (6-1) and Fonda-Fultonville (6-1) got the second and third seeds. At press time, it looked like Mechanicville (5-2) would be the North division fourth seed while the fourth South division seed was either Canajoharie, Coxsackie-Athens or Taconic Hills. The pairings for sectionals are in inverse order across divisions with one playing four and two playing three, etc. Whomever HFCS will play, this Friday night’s game should be an interesting match up. It’s always good to see how the northern teams stack up against the southern teams, teams they usually haven’t played in the regular season. Last year, Watervliet, a three seed, got hot and played tremendous defense to put three wins together and win the sectional tile for the first time in over a decade. Probably five of the top seeded eight teams are capable of winning the title. A Panther win will get them another home game for the sectional semi-final.