Empire Football League

Late TD propels Titans past Stars

— CHATEAUGUAY, Que. -- The Lake City Stars' playoff hopes suffered a severe blow Saturday night when Chateauguay scored the game-winning touchdown with less than a minute to play in a 16-10 decision in Empire Football League play.
The Titans, in third place in the East, improved their record to 4-3, while the Stars slipped to 1-5-1. To make the playoffs, Lake City would have to win its three remaining games and have Chateauguay lose its three remaining games.
Lake City erased a 10-0 deficit to tie the game in the fourth quarter only to have Chateauguay's Kevin Wyeth connect on a 12-yard scoring pass to Marvin Joseph with 58 seconds left.
"The big play in their drive came on a fourth-and-one at midfield," Stars head coach Pat Keleher said. "Their quarterback ran a bootleg, and we bit on it.
"Then there was kind of a freak play where a pass deflected off the hands of one of our defenders 15 yards down the field, where their receiver caught it. That helped set up the winning touchdown."
Andrew Blevings gave Chateauguay a 3-0 lead at the half with a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter.
"We didn't get off the bus," said Keleher. "We were very sluggish in the first half, even though it was just a 3-0 game at the half. We played much better in the second half."
The Titans improved their lead to 10-0 early in the fourth quarter when Wyeth hooked up with Akked Moore on a 42-yard scoring play.
But Brandon Keleher's 12-yard touchdown run and Ryan Decamp's point after pulled Lake City to within 10-7 at the 7:00 mark of the fourth.
Decamp then pulled the Stars even with a 29-yard field goal with 4:05 left in regulation.
"Despite playing well in the second half, we had two critical fumbles on drives that hurt us," Keleher said. "I thought we were beginning to wear them down.
"We did have a great drive late in the game to get the tying field goal."
Wyeth completed 15-of-26 passes for 184 yards, and Denis Houle led the Titans with 76 rushing yards on 12 carries.
Stars quarterback Kellen Nolan finished with 8-of-13 for 96 yards through the air. Brandon Keleher ran for 78 yards on 12 carries, and Matt St. Clair hauled in three passes for 84 yards.
"It was an evenly-played game with very few penalties," Keleher said.
The Stars have a bye this weekend before hosting St. Lawrence Valley.
Chateauguay 16, Lake City 10
Lake City 0 0 0 10 -- 10
Chateauguay 0 3 0 13 -- 16
Second quarter
C- Blevings 27 field goal, 6:00.
Fourth quarter
C- Moore 42 pass from Wyeth (Blevings kick), 3:55.
LC- B. Keleher 12 run (Decamp kick), 8:00.
LC- Decamp 29 field goal, 10:55.
C- Joseph 12 pass from Wyeth (kick blocked), 14:02.
Individual statistics
Rushing
Lake City- B. Keleher, 12-78, TD; Ky. Nolan, 5-13; Geiser, 3-10; Ke. Nolan, 3-12; M. St. Clair, 1-12. Totals: 24-125, TD.
Chateauguay- Houle, 12-76; Blevings, 5-14; Dottin, 4-27; Moreau, 1-2; Wyeth, 1-7. Totals: 23-116.
Passing
Lake City- Ke. Nolan, 8-13-95-1; Geiser, 1-1-28-0.
Chateauguay- Wyeth, 15-26-184-1, 2 TDs. Sacks- 1-(-14). Net passing, 170.
Receiving
Lake City- M. St. Clair, 3-84; J. Keleher, 2-12; T. St. Clair, 1-7; Verkey, 1-5; Geiser, 1-13; B. Keleher, 1-3.
Chateauguay- James 5-45; Blevings, 2-10; Moreau, 1-15; Kennedy, 2-33; Joseph, 3-38, TD; Moore, 2-43, TD.

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Semi-pro football

Vermont 21, Amsterdam 13: At Colchester, the Vermont Ice Storm, ranked 10th in the nation for semiprofessional football, had to rally from behind in the second half to top the Amsterdam Zephyrs in Empire Football League action on Saturday night at Colchester High School.

Amsterdam's 250-pound fullback Elijah White scored in both the first and second periods for a 13-0 lead.

Vermont responded with a 5-yard touchdown run by Jason Young of South Burlington in the second quarter to cut the lead to 13-7.

Troy Canada tallied a 65-yard punt return to help take a 14-13 lead in the third quarter. John Fahey (12 carries, 84 yards) added the insurance score on a 5-yard run in the fourth period.

Vermont quarterback Brad Ruderman was 8-for-17 for 140 yards as Amsterdam attacked the Vermont passing game.

On the defensive side, Chris Coppins had eight tackles, while Donny LaFleur had five tackles. Aaron Pyer had an interception, while Del Randall and Collin MacDonald each had a sack in the game.

The Ice Storm improved to 7-0 in the EFL and 10-0 overall. Vermont has next week off as part of a league-wide bye for the Labor Day weekend. The following weekend the Storm play at the Scranton (Penn.) Eagles.