by Gary Danforth
No one could have predicted the cavernous discrepancy in this 2009 New York State high school quarterfinal football championship game. And if anybody says they could have, you’d better get them working on far more serious projects like how to solve the economy and how to cure deadly diseases. Quick. Last Saturday night, November 14, on a rainy, wet, damp Fall night, Ron Jones Hoosick Falls Central School Panther football team ran their record to a glossy 11-0 with an emphatic beat down of an overmatched Ogdensburgh Free Academy team of Section Ten for the right to play in the state Class C semi-final.
The game, played at Stillwater High School’s new turf field, was close for one quarter. Then Hoosick Falls ran, passed and generally shut down the Blue Devils in a display of high school dominance which few have probably ever seen. I mean, the Panthers just crushed Ogdensburgh like one would crush an egg shell. It was something to behold. That is the good part. The bad part is that this latest victory by Jones crew may have been so easy that HFCS will forget that the game coming this Saturday, November 21, at noon, at Dietz Stadium in Kingston, will be much, much more challenging. It will be no cakewalk. It won’t resemble anything like this state quarterfinal mismatch. Section One’s Bronxville High School will be a whole different animal. But back to last Saturday night.
On the Blue Devil’s first possession, HFCS intercepted a pass only to be forced into punting the ball. The ferocious Panther defense forced Ogdensburgh into a fourth and twenty situation on their next possession.
Then Panther senior Logan O’Brien returned a Blue Devil punt to the Ogdensburgh 34 yard line. Hoosick Falls senior running back Alex Hansen dragged a would be Blue Devil tackler three or four yards on his first carry. Hanson literally dragged the tackler behind him as he chugged down the field. It’s hard to get that image out of your mind. Especially, if you were a Blue Devil. Five plays later, Hansen scored from two yards out. Junior Quinn Rasmus, who kicked the game winning field goal a week earlier in the Section Two title game, booted the point after touchdown for a 7-0 Panther lead with 5:03 left in period one.
Ogdensburgh came back. They scored in six pays. After converting a third and fourteen situation, the Blue Devil quarterback reversed his field when seemingly bottled up by the Panther defense on a second and nine play at the Panther thirty yard line. He hit a pass to the Hoosick Falls one yard line. How that Blue Devil quarterback got loose to complete the pass and how that Blue Devil receiver caught that ball I don’t know, but they did. The Blue Devils scored on a one yard TD run on the next play to complete a six play, eighty yard drive. The PAT was missed as HFCS led 7-6 with 2:07 left in period one. That was it for the Blue Devils. They never came close to scoring again. It was all HFCS after that. And believe it or not, for much of the fourth quarter, Jones played underclassmen. I saw a lot of freshman in the Panther ranks for most of the fourth quarter. Such was the HFCS dominance.
HFCS couldn’t move the ball on its next possession and after muffing a punt attempt the Blue Devils took over on the Panther 20 yard line. But HFCS recovered an Ogdensburgh fumble on their next drive. Three plays later, Hanson took a right side screen pass and rumbled down the sideline to complete a 70 yard TD play. The drive covered 75 yards. Rasmus’ PAT boot gave the Panthers a 14-6 lead with 10:12 remaining in period two.
Then Panther senior Greg Stifter intercepted a Blue Devil pass. Five plays later Panther junior quarterback Mike Brewster hit O’Brien with a pass to the Blue Devil two yard line. With O’Brien struggling to get into the end zone, the ball popped out and sophomore Tanner Williams recovered the fumble in the end zone for a HFCS touchdown. Rasmus’ PAT boot with 6:52 left in the first half gave Hoosick Falls a 21-6 lead. The rout was on.
On Ogdenburgh’s next possession, junior Steve Colvin, who had earlier gotten an interception, blocked a Blue Devil punt. After Brewster completed a short pass to Williams, Hansen bolted into the end zone from sixteen yards out. Rasmus’ PAT put HFCS ahead, 28-6. There was more. HFCS forced Ogdensburgh into a fourth and ten situation. Brewster, looking like a pro quarterback, with pro receivers and a pro offensive line in front of him, moved HFCS 76 yards in nine plays. Brewster hit O’Brien with a nineteen yard TD pass with :36 left in the first half. HFCS settled for a 34-6 halftime spread when the PAT was wide left. The drive took only fifty-seven seconds. Nine plays in fifty-seven seconds. That’s real good football on any level.
HFCS took the third quarter kickoff and moved 52 yards in six plays for a score. Rasmus booted a 29 yard field goal, good for a 37-6 Panther lead.
A dominating HFCS defense forced Ogdensburgh into a fourth and twenty-six yard situation. O’Brien took a Blue Devil punt on the run and returned it 36 yards down the left sideline to give HFCS a 43-6 lead. Rasmus added the PAT boot for a 44-6 lead with 7:23 left in period three.
Ogdensburgh was already facing Panther reserves. HFCS stopped the Blue Devils twice more, with the Panthers getting another possession when they recovered a Blue Devil fumble. With :46 left in period three, and a second and goal situation, a hard running Bradley Burns, a freshman, went into the end zone from two yards out for a 50-6 Panther lead. Rasmus’ PAT boot placed the final score at 51-6. Hoosick Falls was heading to the state semi-final.
Under the Goalposts: Sometimes there are blowout wins in state quarterfinal play but when you get to the state semi-finals, play really steps up. Saturday HFCS will face a quality team. Bronxville, north of New York City, will be the real deal. They won their quarterfinal by about four touchdowns. They will be a handful. I hear they have speed. They’ll need it. One can only hope for a good, healthy ball game. One game until the Dome for HFCS. Good Luck, Panthers. But it’ll be no cakewalk.
