The Eastwick Press Newspaper

Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper

Hoosick School Dist.

Commended Students From HFCS In The 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program

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Principal Steven C. Leunig of Hoosick Falls Junior/Senior High School announced today that Samantha J. Merwin and Ethan J. Myers have been named Commended Students in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program.  A Letter of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), which conducts the program, will be presented by the Principal to these scholastically talented seniors. 

About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise.  Although they will not continue in the 2009 competition for National Merit Scholarships, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2009 competition by taking the 2007 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).

“Recognition of academically talented students and the key role played by schools in their development is essential to the pursuit of educational excellence in our nation,” commented a spokesperson for NMSC.  “The young people named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding academic potential by their strong performance in this highly competitive program.  We hope that this recognition will enhance their educational opportunities and that they will continue to diligently pursue their professional goals.”

Panther Football Team Moves To 3-1 With Overtime Win Over Corinth

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by Gary Danforth

It took them into overtime to do it but Ron Jones’ Hoosick Falls Central School Panther football team moved to 3-1 on the year in Class C, North division play with a 39-33 victory last Friday evening, September 26, in Corinth.

The home standing Tomahawks got on the board first when they scored on C.J. Saunders’ 66 yard run early in period one. The point after touchdown was added as Corinth led 7-0. Hoosick Falls came right back with quarterback Kevin Woods scoring from a yard out. Hutton Rasmus’ PAT boot knotted the score at 7-7. Early in period two Woods scored on a five yard run with Rasmus adding the PAT to put the Panthers ahead, 14-7. But Corinth returned the ensuing kickoff for an 85 yard TD and the PAT boot was good as the Tomahawks tied the score at 14-14.

Then Corinth’s Mike Rubel scored on a 29 yard run to give the hosts a 20-14 edge, and the score remained that way when the PAT kick failed. Rubel opened period three with a 79 yard TD scamper, and the kick failed again to leave the Tomahawks ahead, 26-14. HFCS came back with Woods scoring on a one yard run. The PAT boot was no good as HFCS trailed, 26-20. Thomas Bass hauled in a 29 yard TD pass from Woods to knot the score at 26-26. The PAT boot was no good for HFCS.

Corinth took a 32-26 advantage on a 57 yard run by Saunders midway through period four. The Tomahawks’ PAT boot put them ahead, 33-26. Junior Alex Hansen scored on a four yard run with less than a minute to go to get HFCS to 33-32. Rasmus’ PAT boot put the game into overtime.

Hansen’s one yard run in overtime gave the Panthers the hard earned win. 

Under the Goalposts: In other Class C games this past weekend, Cambridge crushed Stillwater 41-0, Chatham blistered Voorheesville 62-7, Granville blasted Mechanicville 38-6, Fonda-Fultonville beat Brittonkill-Tamarac 41-39, Watervliet pounded Hoosic Valley 30-0 and Coxsackie-Athens beat Catholic Central High School 8-0. A lot of teams are putting up a lot of points this season. Cambridge looks to be rounding into their usual form. Watervliet has another experienced, senior dominated team. Fonda has some fine skill players, and Chatham looks to be loaded this year. That brings us to the rest of the Panthers’ final three regular season games. In two weeks HFCS will play host to Mechanicville for their final regular season home game which will most likely be Homecoming. That will be followed by a long journey to Cobleskill-Richmondville. They will be two very competitive games. This week the Panthers travel to Granville to take on the Golden Horde in their earthen stadium. Bring a lawn chair and watch the game from the hill on the Granville side of the field. Opponents’ fans have shared the high side of the field for years. Granville has a very respectable team this year and cannot be taken lightly. The Horde scored 30 points against Cambridge in week two and put 38 points on the scoreboard versus an always competitive Mechanicville eleven this past week. Granville and Hoosick Falls battled year in and year out for league supremacy in the early 1980s and this week’s game could be a throwback to those very competitive teams which battled so closely on even terms some decades back. HFCS seems to be coming along and they have a lot of players on offense and defense who are getting better and better. This one could come down to turnovers and extra points made. But Hoosick Falls has found ways to win versus Stillwater and Corinth the past two weeks, and I think they will find a way to beat the Horde. But this is not the same Horde team which the Panthers have played the past five or six years. Too many mistakes and it could be a long bus ride home from Granville. Corinth turned the ball over five times against HFCS and lost. This Saturday’s game will be very competitive.

Panther Golfers Lose To Stillwater

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Stillwater defeated HF 3.5 – 1.5 at the Hoosick Falls Country Club on  Thursday, September 25. Stillwater’s Mark Sabatino was medalist with a 1 under par 33.

Mark Sabatino (S) def Taylor Bellemare 4 & 2

Corey Callahan (HF) tied Chad Murphy

Tyler Meek (S) def Joe Wirmusky 3 & 2

Kevin Gorman (HF) def Taylor Jones 2 & 1

Jake Kardash (S) def Zack Hall 4 & 2

Stillwater, with a 14-0 record, wins the WASAREN League for second consecutive year. Hoosick Falls finishes second in the WASAREN League with a 10-4 record.

Both teams will play in the League Invitational on Monday at Kingswood CC.

JLS Foundation Finalists Attend Networking Day In New York

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In the photo from left to right: John Liporace, Jr., Laura Stevenson, Nicole LaCroix, Ben Taylor, Samantha Merwin, Mary Donohue, Sean Swarner.
In the photo from left to right: John Liporace, Jr., Laura Stevenson, Nicole LaCroix, Ben Taylor, Samantha Merwin, Mary Donohue, Sean Swarner.

 

Five students from the Class of 2009 at Hoosick Falls Central School recently attended a networking day in New York City where they met with four professionals who shared stories about their careers, offered advice on how to be successful and pledged to stay in contact with the students to help them plan their college and post-college careers. 

 

The five students – Mary Donohue, Nicole LaCroix, Samantha Merwin, Laura Stevenson and Ben Taylor – earned the trip to New York City after being named finalists for a scholarship offered by the JLS Foundation. The JLS Foundation which honors the memory of the late John Liporace Sr., was created to empower high school students at HFCS to realize their fullest potential by exposing them to a variety of career opportunities, connecting them to a network of career professionals and awarding them with the financial resources to pursue their careers. Each year the Foundation offers a networking opportunity to HFCS students entering their senior year. 

The networking day was hosted by John Liporace Jr., Managing Partner at Taylor, one of the country’s leading public relations agencies, at his office in the Empire State Building. Liporace arranged for the students to meet with four professionals, who included Matt Lalin, Founder, StarPower, who has negotiated $100 million worth of marketing deals for professional athletes, Dr. Joyce Liporace, one of the country’s leading neurologists specializing in concerns for women with epilepsy, Ken Kencel, CEO of Churchill Financial, and Sean Swarner, the first cancer survivor to summit Mt. Everest. HFCS teachers Isabel McGuire and Chris Marsh escorted the students to New York.

Each of the four speakers shared stories of how they started their careers and what they felt were keys to success. 

“Each of the speakers took different paths to success,” said John Liporace Jr. “The common theme was they were all chasing a dream to do something they love and the passion for their work helped them reach the top. Certainly, Sean’s story was a different one; it was more about survival and chasing your dream no matter what stands in the way.”

The 33-year old Swarner, who flew in from Boulder, CO, where he lives and trains, spent an hour with the students talking to them about the challenges he has faced including being a two-time cancer survivor, being twice told that he wouldn’t survive and then realizing his dream of being the first cancer survivor to literally reach the top of the world. Swarner, who co-authored the book Keep Climbing, signed copies of the book for the students and encouraged them to not lose sight of their dreams no matter what the obstacle.

Each of the students has been asked to write a 250 word essay about their experience in New York. One of the students will then be selected to receive a $1,500 scholarship and a matching donation of $1,500 will be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, a national voluntary health organization dedicated to finding cures for Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and Myeloma and to improving the quality of life of patients and their families. The donation will benefit the Upstate New York/Vermont Chapter of the Society, which services the Hoosick Falls area.

For more information about the JLS Foundation, log on to www.thejlsfoundation.org.

Panther Football Team Outlasts Stillwater

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Mike Brewster (#12) and the HF defense made sure there was no gain on the first play of the second quarter against Stillwater last Friday. (Bea Peterson photo)
Mike Brewster (#12) and the HF defense made sure there was no gain on the first play of the second quarter against Stillwater last Friday. (Bea Peterson photo)

 

 

by Gary Danforth

Last Friday evening, September 19, the Hoosick Falls Central School Panther football team used a stingy defense to thwart a Stillwater Central School eleven which tried its best to run right over HFCS in the Panthers’ 19-7 win. Stillwater ran the ball the first five plays it had the ball to open period one and kept up its ground attack all night. But its efforts against the Panther defense was done one better by an improving Panther running game. Time and time again Hoosick Falls got big runs from several different backs and did enough on the ground and in the air to push their Class C, North division record to 2-1.

Both teams stalled on their initial drives with the visiting Warriors being contained at their 40 yard line and HFCS coming up short at their 38 yard line. Stillwater fumbled the ball back to HFCS on their next possession, and HFCS gave it back to the visitors via an interception. HFCS bottled Stillwater up at their own 35 yard line on the Warriors third possession. The Panther offense was stopped on their third possession on a fourth and one situation at the HFCS 43 yard line.

A hard hitting Panther defense stopped the Warriors at their own 38 yard line on their fourth possession. Stillwater had passed the ball just twice in its first twenty plays, completing the pass once for 17 yards. HFCS was getting a heavy dose of the Warrior running game.

HFCS would strike first. The Panthers scored on a five play, 65 yard drive. Senior running back Dan Okerman ripped off a 44 yard run. Then Okerman got four more yards on a run. Senior Panther quarterback Kevin Woods got eight yards on an option run to the left. Junior running back Alex Hansen went the final nine yards on two more Panther running plays, covering the final five yards for the game’s initial score with 8:12 left in period two. Junior Hutton Rasmus booted the point after touchdown to give HFCS a 7-0 lead.

HFCS forced the Warriors into a fourth and seven situation at midfield on their next possession. Then the Panther’s Logan O’Brien made a big play, returning the ensuing Warrior punt all the way to the Stillwater eleven yard line. On the next play, Woods ran an option play into the end zone. Rasmus’s PAT boot was wide left with 5:22 remaining in the first half to keep HFCS ahead, 13-0.

Stillwater came right back at Hoosick Falls, scoring on a six play, 60 yard drive. Stillwater completed their second pass of the evening during the drive with Warrior junior quarterback Dan Palmieri running around the right side of the Panther defense from 22 yards out for the TD. Aaron Tanner’s PAT boot got Stillwater to 13-7 with 2:52 left in the opening half.

A running play and two Panther incompletions gave the ball back to Stillwater, who was unable to score again before the first half ended.

O’Brien made another big special teams play to start off the Panther second half. This time he took the Warrior kickoff and galloped all the way to the Stillwater one yard line. The Warrior defense stiffened with two incomplete passes sandwiched around a stuffed run leaving HFCS with a fourth and goal at the Stillwater seven yard line. But Woods rolled right and found Jordan Brogue with the TD pass. A two-point conversion pass failed as the Panthers clung to a 19-7 advantage.

Neither team could move the ball on the opposing defense as Stillwater bogged down at the Panther 44 yard line and their own 35 yard line on their next two possessions while HFCS gave the ball back at the Warrior 49 yard line and had a second pass picked off.

The Hoosick Falls defense continued to bottle up the Warrior attack during their last three possessions with the Panthers coming out on the long end of the 19-7 score. 

Under the Goalposts: In other Class C action, Cambridge beat Mechanicville in overtime and Schuylerville, Fonda-Fultonville and Watervliet picked up wins. HFCS travels to Corinth this Friday night in a game which should be very competitive. The Tomahawks, like HFCS, have lost to Schuylerville.

HFCS Golfers Defeat Granville

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Corey Callahan was medalist on Thursday, September 18, against Granville. (Bea Peterson file photo)
Corey Callahan was medalist on Thursday, September 18, against Granville. (Bea Peterson file photo)

Hoosick Falls defeated Granville 4.5-0.5 at the Hoosick Falls Country Club on Thursday, September 18. Corey Callahan was medalist with 36.

 

Bellemare HF def Casey 2 & 1

Callahan HF def Miller 5 & 3

Wirmusky HF def McDermott 3 & 1

Gorman HF def Bixby 2 & 1

Hall HF tied Bernard

Hoosick Falls’ record is now 9-2.

HFCS PTA Fall Festival

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HFCS PTA is proud to announce its featured raffle items for the eighth annual Fall Festival being held on Saturday, October 18, from 9 am to 3 pm at Hoosick Falls Central School.

Each year, the featured raffle items are always an event in themselves, and 2008 will be no exception – and the public can get a sneak peek at them prior to the Festival on October 6 at the community-wide open house at HFCS beginning at 6 pm and from October 8 to October 17 at the Hoosick Federal Credit Union.

The fabulous prizes are: a Will Moses print entitled “Snow in the Hills,”

Fall Festival 2008 raffle items. Photo by Sharon Messersmith.
Fall Festival 2008 raffle items. Photo by Sharon Messersmith.

 custom framed by Peg Caron, a handmade quilt entitled “Split Decisions” by Sharon Messersmith, four prints by Warren Kimble called “Four Seasons,” framed in primitive Shaker black frames, and a Bennington Pottery bowl filled with dinner for a week (gift certificates from Bianca’s Pizza & Pasta, Falls Diner, Guiseppe’s Restaurant, Jean’s Place, John Street CafÄ, Olde Firehouse Tavern and Theresa’s Country Cuisine).

 

Take a chance to win any or all of the prizes, and enter as many times as you’d like!

Tickets are $1 per or $5 for six and are available for purchase prior to the festival at the community-wide open house on October 6 and at the Grand Union on October 4, 5, 11 and 12, from 9 am to 3 pm.

This fun-filled event features crafters and vendors, games and activities for the kids, a cake walk, a bake sale, food and beverages, several raffles for adults and kids and much more! And new this year are a tag sale featuring good quality, reusable products and Animaland©, a chance for youngsters to stuff their own collectible animals. All proceeds from the Fall Festival help the PTA host family-oriented events, volunteer time in support of classroom activities, offer funding for countless programs and events.

Please take a chance at one or more of these wonderful raffle items and come join the fun on October 18. If you have any questions or want to buy raffle tickets, you can call Shannon Wickenden at 518-686-7133 or Laurie Gormley at 518-686-9138 or, for vendor information, contact Margaret Stevens at 518-686-1648.

HFCS Board Almost Puts Kibosh On Athletic Fields

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by Alex Brooks

 

 The Hoosick Falls School Board had a scary moment at its meeting this week when a vote to approve a contract with the Hoosick Falls Soccer Club for use of its fields failed to pass.

The contract is for this season, from August 18 through November 13, 2008

After the vote Superintendent Facin told the Board that failure to approve this contract means that the teams using those fields would have to stop using them immediately.

Hoosick Falls senior Carly Pine controls the ball while Tamarac senior Nicole Conrad bears down on her in Monday’s game. Tamarac was victorious 2-1. (Bea Peterson photo)
Hoosick Falls senior Carly Pine controls the ball while Tamarac senior Nicole Conrad bears down on her in Monday’s game. Tamarac was victorious 2-1. (Bea Peterson photo)

There are currently five teams using the soccer club fields for both practices and games, and Facin said he had no backup plan – tomorrow morning he would be scrambling to find fields for these teams to play on, re-arranging the bus schedules, re-scheduling games with other schools and so on.

 

The discussion of the matter began with Don Skott asking why the fee to use those fields had gone up so much since last year.  Superintendent Facin replied that last year when the fee was $3,200, only two teams from HFCS were using that field. This year since there are five teams using the soccer club fields, the District agreed to pay $5,200.

John Helft, who is on the Board of the Soccer Club, showed Board members a chart of man-hours expended by the soccer club lining and maintaining the fields. He said last year they spent 70 man-hours more than usual because of the District’s use of the fields, and he expects it will be 110 hours this year. 

Dave Sutton said he felt that the Soccer Club is generously offering at an affordable price something for which they could easily charge more.

Dwain Wilwol said he thought the price was high, and he had consulted a soccer coach who  doesn’t coach here, who had assured him that this price was not really out of line. It sounded like Wilwol was defending the price, but when it came to a vote, both Wilwol and Skott voted against it, and John Helft had to abstain because he’s on the Soccer Club Board. The three yes votes, from Dave Sutton, Laurie Gormley and Bridget Foster, were not enough to pass the resolution. HFCS Board member Greg Laurin did not attend this meeting.

HF#8 Will Luke sends the ball toward the Tamarac goal late in Tuesday’s game.Tamarac beat HF 4-0. (Bea Peterson photo)
HF#8 Will Luke sends the ball toward the Tamarac goal late in Tuesday’s game.Tamarac beat HF 4-0. (Bea Peterson photo)

Dave Sutton said he had not heard from any Board member or taxpayer that there was a problem with this contract, and he felt if Board members were planning to oppose it, they should let him know in advance, so as not to leave five of the school’s teams suddenly without a field to play on.

Don Skott says he has questioned these figures before and he feels that no one listened to him. He said the most recent figure he had heard concerning this year’s contract was $4,600 and he had said at the time that he felt it was too much and he couldn’t vote for it.

John Helft said it had cost $400,000 to develop the soccer club facility and this contract is well below the rate they usually charge to rent it.

Appeals to reconsider were taken to heart, and both Don Skott and Dwain Wilwol said although they continue to think $5,200 is too high a price, they did not want to leave the kids without fields in the middle of their season, so they agreed to approve the contract.  The vote was rescinded, and a new resolution approving the contract was passed unanimously 5-0, with John Helft abstaining.

At Public Comment time, Karen Tommasino, speaking as a parent of a soccer player, said she was glad the kids could continue on the Soccer Club fields, because they are good quality fields. she said her son had turned his ankle playing on a bumpy field somewhere else and two weeks later it still isn’t right. But when he is playing on the Soccer Club fields, she has no worries.

Jim Martinez said he is glad the Soccer Club contract was approved because, whether the price is a little high or a little low, the important thing is that the money is going back into this community, supporting soccer programs for the kids.

Local Police Coverage

Superintendent Ken Facin said he has been discussing with officials from the Village of Hoosick Falls having the Village Police extend their coverage area to include the school so that there is a police agency that can respond quickly if need be. It takes quite a while for County Sheriffs or State Police to come out to the Hoosick Falls school property because they have so far to travel to get out here. He cited two examples of recent incidents that illustrate his point. One was an incident about a month ago in which a sexual predator in the Village tried to get two young girls into his car. They ran and called for help, and the police arrived quickly and arrested the guy. If such an incident happened at the school and the County Sheriff or State Police were called, the offender would have plenty of time to get away. Another incident involved a man standing across the road from the school looking through binoculars in the general direction of the school. The Village Police asked him what he was doing, and it turned out he was looking at deer on the hillside above the school. Facin said if a State Trooper drove out here to respond to such a call, it would be a waste of Police resources.

Facin said he is not looking for police patrols or greater police presence on campus. The agreement would only be for responding to calls from the school.

Smooth Start

Many school officials told stories about the first week of school and how it went, and all seemed to agree that it went very well. The new bus schedule and staggered start went very smoothly; a new orientation program for kindergarteners called “Kindergarten Camp” was a fun introduction to the school for the youngsters; the new early morning day care program has gone very well.  Elementary Principal Patrick Dailey said there are 20 to 25 kids participating in the morning day care program. Parents who need to get to work early drop them off starting at 7:15 am, and, with the activities provided, the program has had a calm and productive atmosphere. There are four teachers running it, which exceeds State requirements for staff to student ratios. Dailey said they are staffing on the basis of two teachers for every 15 kids and they are currently set up for up to 30 kids. The State required minimum for school age children is one teacher for every ten kids.

In Other Business:

• The Board tabled a motion to appoint nine sports volunteers because three of the applications were incomplete. Many of these volunteers have been volunteering for these particular duties for many years. Having volunteers complete applications is a new policy, and there were apparently a few glitches in the process.

• The Board changed the date of the November meeting from November 18 to Thursday, November 13, at 7 pm.

• After the meeting, the Board went into executive session to discuss negotiations with the Managerial/Confidential staff.

The next regular meeting of the Hoosick Falls School Board will be Tuesday, October 21 at 7 pm.