Empire Football League

PREVIEW: EMPIRE FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Watertown Red and Black vs. Ottawa Deacon Demons

When, where: 7:30 p.m., today, Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds

Head coaches: Watertown, George Ashcraft; Ottawa, Jeff Pinck.

Records: Watertown (4-1 overall, 2-0 EFL); Ottawa (2-0).

Last meeting: Watertown won, 26-12, on Sept. 16.

Notes: Watertown has been playing nearly perfect football during the regular season. The offense has posted 88 points, while the defense has yielded just nine points. ... The Deacon Demons are coming off a 49-0 decision over Scranton. ... Watertown LB Mike Dumaw did not practice this week. His status for tonight is unknown. ... Anthony Noel is expected to return to the running game, which, along with Ernie Miller and George Eason, should bolster Watertown's tough rushing attack. ... The Red and Black won't return to the Fairgrounds until Sept. 8 against Chateauguay.

St. Lawrence Valley Trailblazers vs. Scranton Eagles

When, where: 7:30 p.m., today, Scranton Memorial Stadium, Scranton, Pa.

Coaches: SLV, Mike Britton (offense), Jim Compeau (defense, special teams); Scranton, Michael Arcure.

2007 records: St. Lawrence Valley (0-2); Scranton (0-2).

Last meeting: Scranton won, 37-14, on Sept. 17, 2005.

NOTES: The Trailblazers are looking to rebound after a disappointing 44-0 loss to Watertown last week. The team's rushing offense continued to struggle, finishing with minus-9 yards on the ground. ... The Eagles were dealt a similar result against Ottawa, falling 49-0 in their EFL matchup last week. To make matters worse, Scranton lost starting quarterback Ted Wallingford to a shoulder injury. Wallingford is responsible for the team's lone touchdown this season. ... Despite showing better efficiency on the final drive, St. Lawrence Valley quarterback Dave Currier managed to throw for just 117 yards and two first-half interceptions. He'll have an opportunity to bolster his passing numbers against the Eagles, who have been outscored 93-9 in two games. ... Veteran George Romiti is guiding Scranton's defense this season. He's piled up 29 tackles, including 17 against Ottawa.

Copyright 2007. Watertown Daily Times, Inc., Watertown, NY. All rights reserved.

07/28/2007

Scranton Eagles seeking first win

STAFF REPORT

The Scranton Eagles, a team looking to right the ship after a pair of lopsided losses, host the St. Lawrence Valley Trailblazers in an Empire Football League matchup tonight at 7:30 at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

The Eagles (0-2), who lost 49-0 to Ottawa last weekend, received some good news this week when quarterback Ted Wallingford was cleared to play after suffering a bruised shoulder in last week's game.

"He had X-rays and an MRI on the shoulder and the doctor said he was OK to play," coach Mike Arcure said. "He's going to practice, but we're going to take it slow with him just to make sure he's all right."

The Eagles also added some defensive help this week as they signed lineman Dave Drake, a former standout at Lackawanna Trail.

Among the bright spots last week was the play of receiver Louis Verdetto and rookie kick returner Rob Solimini.

Verdetto, from Old Forge, caught five passes for 75 yards. On the season, Verdetto leads the team with 11 receptions for 137 yards.

Solimini, a Bishop O'Hara product, helped get the Eagles solid field position with returns of 35 and 25 yards.

, while a third, a 90-yarder that put the Eagles near the goal line, was nullified by a penalty. Solimini is averaging 29.9 yards on his nine kickoff returns this season.

"Rob is like a little spark plug. He's small and fast, the other team has a hard time finding him," Arcure said. "We're trying to find ways to get him the ball offensively. He's been a nice little surprise for us."

St. Lawrence Valley (0-2, 1-3 overall) looks to do much of their damage offensively through the air. Quarterback Dave Currier has passed for 345 yards with a pair of touchdowns this season while receiver Joe Hutchinson has hauled in a team-high 13 receptions for 149 yards and a score.

"They picked up some players from Lake City and from Watertown, plus they lost to Ottawa by only a touchdown in the opening week," Arcure said. "We just aren't playing physical football. We need to start blocking and we need to get more physical."

Eagles' notes

Saturday is Big Brothers/Big Sisters Night, sponsored by the Eagles. A percentage of the night's gate receipts will be donated to that organization. ...The Eagles and Trailblazers have met only once, with the Eagles taking a 37-14 home decision in the ninth week of 2005.

Contact the writer:mcoons@timesshamrock.com

Lake City looking for thaw

By KEITH KANE
Staff Writer

— PLATTSBURGH "" The Lake City Stars once owned the Vermont Ice Storm as they captured four consecutive victories against their foe from Vermont.
A year ago, however, the Ice Storm joined the Empire Football League and quickly became a thorn in the Stars side.
Vermont captured three victories against Lake City during the 2006 season, including a 34-14 playoff victory that sent the Stars home for the season.
Tonight, Lake City will be looking for some redemption.
The Stars travel to Colchester, Vt. to take on their Lake Champlain rivals for a 7:30 p.m. EFL contest.
"We had an excellent week of practice," Lake City head coach Pat Keleher said. "I don't have any complaints "" we had great attendance. I know the guys are excited to play Vermont.
"Last week did a lot for our confidence. This is the closest thing to a rivalry that we have in the EFL and we are awfully excited to go out there and play."
The Stars rebounded from a first week loss to Amsterdam with a 35-31 victory over Chateauguay last week in their home opener.
Matt Bezio threw for 232 yards and three touchdowns to lead Lake City's offensive attack. Matt St. Clair pulled in a pair of touchdowns to go with 74 yards receiving while Heath Geiser added 72 yards receiving and a touchdown. Brandon Keleher paced the rushing attack with 62 yards and two scores.
"My goal is to go in and have a balanced attack," Pat Keleher said. "I think we had that last week and had a pretty good offensive night. Again, if we give Brandon and Kyle (Nolan) an opportunity to run, they can run "" they are good backs."
Vermont moved to 2-0 last week as it handed Amsterdam a 26-14 loss.
Brad Ruderman finished with 309 yards on 23-of-38 passing and two touchdowns. Rob Joy (79 yards) and Austin Partain (73 yards) each had five catches in the game. Partain and Troy Canada each had a touchdown catch.
Ruderman sliced up the Stars' secondary a season ago, and so far this season Lake City has shown difficulty in stopping the pass.
"We have worked hard back there to straighten out our assignments," Pat Keleher said. "I am hoping we are more solid in knowing what we are doing and not blowing late leads. It wasn't like the Montreal receivers were better, but we just made mistakes in our coverages. It was more mental than physical.
"(Pairtain) is tough, but he isn't there only guy. We are going to be very cognisant as to where he is and how they are going to use Canada and Joy. They are very much like us in that sense "" they have a group of receivers that is very solid.
"My concern is not really that we will be able to move the ball, but us being able to stop them and stop Ruderman."
Lake City will welcome back Kelly Gordon to the receiving corps this week. Gordon had a slight hamstring pull and was held out of last week's contest.
Gordon has three touchdowns and 137 yards receiving so far this season on seven catches.
"We are hoping to get the running game going a little more," Pat Keleher said. "With a strong running game it gets the pressure off of Matt and opens the passing game up.
"Every minute that we have the ball then Vermont doesn't. Our offense can be the best defense, and can help our defense by not giving them good field position. If that happens, then I think we are OK. We can't have mistakes and give them short field.
"It's going to be a battle. They are a good team and there's no question we like to be the underdog. But I don't mind being the underdog."

Copyright © 1999-2006 cnhi, inc.

Zephyrs ready for shoot out with Titans

By BILL CAIN, The Leader-Herald

Published on Saturday, July 28, 2007

AMSTERDAM — Draw!

The Amsterdam Zephyrs are set for a shootout at Chateaugay tonight. The Zephyrs are without a large portion of their defense, so the onus is on the offense to keep up with another strong offense.

"The pressure of this week is solely on the offense," coach Dom Ruggeri said. "It's going to be a shootout and we have to outscore them. Thank God we've got an offense like we've got."

Ken Shaffer leads the Zephyrs offense and Ruggeri said he believes his wide receivers can take advantage of slower defensive ends to provide him with open targets throughout the game.

"We're going to attack their secondary," Ruggeri said. "That's where they're slow. Their corners don't have the speed to stay with our receivers. Depending on what kind of coverage they play, that'll dictate somewhat what we do on offense, but we're going to open it up a little bit."

The Chateaugay defense has a large line, Ruggeri said, and they are well-coached and disciplined. The speed of the Amsterdam skill players will be rivaled by the strength of Chateaugay's big eaters up front, he said.

"Our offense matches up well with their defense," Ruggeri said. "I think we have the edge with our speed. That could be our advantage, but I think their defensive line may be bigger than our offensive line, which could make it a wash."

The Amsterdam defense will be without several key players. Brian Thompson is out for the year after tearing his second bicep of the year. He tore the other one earlier in the season. Rick Hulett is also out with a shoulder injury in may be out until late in the season.

The Zephyrs are also missing middle linebacker Greg Woodard and outside linebackers Ricky Fish and Penta Thomas.

In light of the missing personnel and the likely ways Chateaugay will attack the defense, Ruggeri said he will go with a 3-4 defense, manning up at the corners, in an effort to take away the short passing game.

"It's going to be a tall task for our defense," he said. "We've got young guys in place who can step in, but they don't have the experience. They have the talent and I have confidence they can get the job done. It's just going to be baptism under fire for some of them."

Ruggeri said he young players will have to remain disciplined in the secondary against an offense that will throw about 70 percent of the time. Any slip-ups will be costly, he said, because Chateaugay's receivers will find the open spots.

The Zephyrs enter tonight's game with a 1-1 record after dropping last week's sloppy game to the Vermont Ice Storm, 26-14. Ruggeri said he thinks is eating at his players a little bit.

If they can rally around the belief that they should still be undefeated, he thinks they may be able to not only perform well enough to win this game with missing personnel, but turn in a few good weeks in a row and head to Vermont for a rematch that could decide league supremacy.

"Even though the guys are upset about blowing last week's game – they knew they were better than them – they're looking forward to winning this one and taking care of the next two," Ruggeri said. "The goal is to be 4-1 when we go up to Vermont and be playing for the league lead."