Indians Head To Regionals In Potsdam
by Steve Bradley
The Cambridge-Salem Indians played the Panthers for the second week in a row. Last week it was the Hoosick Falls version and this week it was the Chatham version. This week was the Section 2, Class C Super Bowl.
Chatham entered the game playing in a soft division. During the game it was easy to see that Chatham was a good team that deserved the record it earned.
The Indians scored twice in the first quarter. On their initial possession they went down the field and Tyler Linendoll capped the drive with a one yard run. Tommy English scored the second touchdown with a four yard run. A successful PAT pass from Calvin Schneider to Soyer Mattison after that touchdown put the Indians ahead 14-0.
Chatham struggled to move the ball in the first half.
Another Linendoll score, a 42 yard run in the second quarter, put the Indians up 21-0 after an Austin Hackman PAT kick.
A few minutes before the half the rain began to fall. About the same time, Chatham put seven points on the board. C-S rebounded from giving up that score with a drive that ended when they ran their last play with .07 seconds on the clock from the Chatham one yard line and didn’t get into the endzone, leaving the score at 21-7.
With the rain coming down harder, Chatham threw more in the third quarter, and began moving the ball. Scoring on a one yard run and a kicked PAT, the Panthers found themselves within seven points at 21-14.
But C-S quickly put any thoughts of a Chatham upset out of reach. By the end of the third quarter, C-S scored two unanswered touchdowns and held a 34-21 lead.
Chatham scored on an 18 yard pass in the fourth quarter but C-S came right back with an English six yard run and Hackman kick to give the Indians the last of their 41 points. Chatham got their final points on an 18 yard run.
Linendoll finished with 245 yards on 17 carries, English ran 22 times for 122 yards. C-S’s Calvin Schnieder threw six times, completing five, for 95 yards and one touchdown. Soyer Mittison had two catches for 53 yards, English caught two passes for 39 yards.
This week the East quarterfinals will find the Indians traveling to Potsdam to play Ogdensburg Free Academy Blue Devils of Section 10. The game is scheduled to be played at Potsdam High School on Friday, November 9, beginning at 7 pm. The winner of that game will play the winner of Saturday’s, November 10 game between Section 1’s Dobbs Ferry and Section 9’s Chester.
The East semifinals will be in Middletown on Saturday, November 17, at 11 am. The game will take place at Middletown High School. The Class C finals take place Friday, November 23 at 6 pm in the Syracuse University Carrier Dome.