Empire Football League

09/23/2007

Late score dooms Eagles

STAFF REPORT

Kellen Nolan scored his second touchdown of the game, a 1-yard quarterback sneak with 4:13 to go, to lift the Lake City Stars over the Scranton Eagles, 14-10, Saturday night at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

Scranton scored first at 4:58 of the first quarter when Scott Perry booted a 25-yard field goal.

The Stars (4-5-1) took the lead with 6:08 to go in the first half when Nolan scored on a 16-yard bootleg to give Lake City a 7-3 advantage.

The Eagles regained the lead late in the third quarter when, after Andy Minnick recovered a Lake City fumble near midfield, quarterback Ted Wallingford found Christian Grandzol for a 27-yard scoring strike and a 10-7 lead.

The Eagles had a chance to capitalize on another Stars' miscue with 1:37 left in the game when Victor Rivero intercepted a pass, which he returned to his 35-yard line. After Wallingford took off on a 14-yard run, he found Cory Champi with a pass to put the Eagles in Lake City territory. However, Wallingord was sacked and the Eagles were unable to move the ball before time expired.

Wallingford went 14-for-27 for 157 yards through the air while Phil Ross led the ground attack with 62 yards on 19 carries. George Romiti, playing in his 150th consecutive game, led the defense with 13 tackles.

Despite the loss, the Eagles (3-7) qualified for the Empire Football League playoffs and will travel to Ottawa, Ontario to battle the Deacon Demons next Saturday.

Contact the writer:sports@timesshamrock.com

Lake City pulls off stunner

— SCRANTON, Pa. -- The streaking Lake City Stars defeated the Scranton Eagles 14-10 Saturday night to keep their Empire Football League playoff hopes alive.
The Stars, who improved to 4-5-1 with their third straight victory, needed Ottawa to beat Chateauguay Saturday to reach the postseason. A Chateauguay victory would eliminate Lake City.
"No matter what happens, I'm happy with the way the season ended, if it did end tonight," Stars Coach Pat Keleher said.
"The young guys have figured it out and are coming on. Hopefully, next year we can get a little more depth."
Lake City twice had to come from behind to finally win its first game ever in Scranton.
The hosts took a 3-0 lead, but Kellen Nolan rambled 37 yards to score in the second and Elijah Parks added the point after to give the Stars a 7-3 lead at halftime.
Scranton regained the lead with a touchdown with 58 seconds left in the third quarter, making it 10-7.
But a 60-yard interception return by Jordon Keleher in the fourth set up the game-winning score by Lake City. Brandon Keleher punched it over from the 2 with 3:11 left in regulation and Parks added the PAT to make it 14-10.
Parks, who had never kicked before, was pressed into service this week when regular placekicker Ryan DeCamp was unable to make the trip.
"It was a Tuesday night decision," Pat Keleher explained. "Brandon is in grad school in Boston and he called to say he wouldn't be able to make it this week; so we went Elijah."
Lake City's defense proved tough, coming up with three interceptions and some big plays in the second half.

Copyright © 1999-2006 cnhi, inc.

Watertown defense slows Amsterdam

EMPIRE FOOTBALL LEAGUE: Red and Black ends regular season with triumph vs. visiting Zephyrs

By MATT CORDOVA

TIMES SPORTSWRITER

Sunday, September 23, 2007

In case it didn't know the feeling, the Watertown Red and Black defense found out Saturday night that it's nice to be needed.

The unit, which has now allowed just 10 points in four games, cleared the way for yet another Empire Football League victory — this time a 14-3 result over the Amsterdam Zephyrs at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds.

Defensively, Watertown (9-1) played perhaps its best game when it was most necessary.

The offense wasn't accomplishing much. In tallying its lowest point total of the season, the Red and Black turned the ball over four times and gained just 106 yards of total offense.

The group only loosely resembled the one that had averaged 31.9 points in the first nine games of the regular season. Still, the guys on the other side of the ball came to the rescue to ensure that Anthony Noel's two first half touchdowns would be enough.

"We wanted to send a message, and we played better tonight than all season," linebacker Kyle Roshia said. "Even without the shutout."

The Zephyrs, likely now, clearly understand what Roshia meant.

Amsterdam never moved in the right direction, finishing with negative-5 yards of total offense. Watertown forced five turnovers and sacked Ty Fish five times. Fish spent practically all night with a myriad of Red and Black defenders in his face.

"Finally the defense got some good pressure up the middle," Watertown head coach George Ashcraft said. "It's a good thing when our defensive tackles and defensive ends are getting sacks. I wouldn't want to be a QB rolling out and seeing (Greg) Roberson running after me. He'll eat you."

Roberson stopped short of ingesting the Zephyrs signal-caller, but he did sack him twice. While Amsterdam lost league-leading rusher Elijah White on the game's first play, it's unlikely his presence would have made a difference.

"They started getting predictable, and then our defense just started getting after it," Roberson said. "Once we started working a lot of stunts and things, we got some guys free."

Despite his game-high 66 rushing yards, Noel and the rest of the offense could have endured a much more frustrating end to the night. He fumbled two third-quarter handoffs, and Todd Kiechle also tossed an interception just before the final quarter. But Amsterdam (5-5) seemed to not want to capitalize. It translated one of the fumbles into a 29-yard Alvaro Mortes field goal, but spent much of the rest of the game committing penalties and moving backward.

Twenty total penalties made for a sloppily played regular season finale.

"We've preached all season that you got to just let the mistakes go," Noel said. "Our offense struggled tonight, but the defense played hard. And, they say, defense wins games."

Noel, though, held on when it mattered most. He converted a 1-yard dive in the first quarter and scored on an option from 5 yards out in the second. On Watertown's final series, he produced runs of 7, 10 and 19 yards.

Garrett Kline had two sacks, while Keith Jones, Brian Williams and Bryan Harris each intercepted a pass for Watertown, which will face Ottawa or Scranton in the playoffs Oct. 6 at the Fairgrounds.

VERMONT 37, ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY 14

Brad Ruderman threw for three touchdowns as the Ice Storm clinched home field in the EFL playoffs with a league win over the Trailblazers in Potsdam.

Austin Partain, Jason Griner, and Troy Canada reeled in the touchdown receptions for Vermont (9-1). Kyle Bombardier added a 30-yard interception return for a score.

Joe Hutchinson went 10-for-30 for 159 yards and a touchdown for St. Lawrence Valley (0-10). R.J. DuBois scored on a 7-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter, and Cheyenne Dashnaw scored on a 6-yard interception return in the fourth.

James Compeau also had seven catches for 126 yards for the Trailblazers.

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

Zephyrs fall short against Watertown

By The Leader-Herald

Published on Sunday, September 23, 2007

WATERTOWN — The Amsterdam Zephyrs were shorthanded on the offensive side of the football and dropped a 14-3 game Saturday night to the Watertown Red and Black.

After the Zephyrs fumbled on their own 5-yard line in the fourth quarter, the Zephyrs' defense held tough for three downs. However, Anthony Noel converted on fourth down with a 5-yard touchdown run gave the Red and Black a 7-0 lead.

Noel capitalized on another Amsterdam fumble in the second quarter as the Zephyrs coughed up the football on their own 20. Six plays later, Noel scored from eight yards out to give Watertown a 14-0 halftime lead.

The Zephyrs got their only score in the third quarter, a 41-yard field goal by Alvaro Montes.

Amsterdam was missing starting quarterback Ken Schaefer and the Zephyrs found out when they reached Watertown that they would also be without their starting left tackle because of a back injury causing the offense to struggle.

"I'm proud of these guys," Amsterdam coach Dominic Ruggeri said. "We came up shorthanded, but they showed they can be one of the best defenses in the league. My hat's off to Watertown. They're a tough team at home."

The Zephyrs (5-5) will move on to the Empire Football League playoffs and Saturday night were waiting for the outcome of the game between the Ottawa Deacon Demons and the Chateauguay Titans to find out whether they will host a playoff game.

If Ottawa wins, the Zephyrs will play their next game at Lynch Field.

Watertown is 9-1.

Watertown 14, Amsterdam 3
Amsterdam 0 0 3 0 — 3
Watertown 7 7 0 0 — 14
First Quarter
W — Noel 5 run (Grant kick)
Second Quarter
W — Noel 8 run (Grant kick)
Third Quarter
A — Montes 41 field goal

Marc-André Guay (44) was one of the Titans' defensive players praised by head coach John Mouland in tough loss to Vermont.(Photo Andrew Clark)

Le Soleil du samedi - Édition du 22 septembre 2007
Titans lose overtime heart-breaker
Dan Rosenburg

The Chateauguay Titans came within a hair's breadth of handing Vermont Ice Storm their first loss of the Empire Football League season last Saturday, holding their powerful opponents to a 3-3 tie heading into overtime. But in the end they succumbed 10-3 and their playoff hopes remain in jeopardy.

"The only team that can beat the Titans is the Titans," head coach John Mouland observed afterwards. But he also took exception with what he termed were "two bad calls" by U.S. referees, quickly adding that this was "no excuse for losing."

One of the questionable calls came in overtime when the Titans were penalized 15 yards for having 12 men on the field. "It was fourth down and 14 yards to go for Vermont when they kicked to us. I admit we had 12 men on the field, but I was sure it should have been a five-yard penalty," Mouland recalls. "Instead, they were awarded a first down and it was a big letdown for our team."

The Titans' last chance to nail down a playoff berth will come this Saturday in Nepean at 7:30 p.m. when they lock horns with the perennial rival Ottawa Deacon Demons who whipped St. Lawrence Valley Trailblazers 24-6 last Saturday.

Plattsburgh's Lake City Stars climbed to within a point of Chateauguay in the East Division standings by edging the Amsterdam Zephyrs 30-29 last Saturday.

Chateauguay went up 3-0 on the Ice Storm on a 43-yard field goal by Andrew Blevings but offensively, that was all she wrote. "We just couldn't move the ball," Mouland lamented.

He did laud the vaunted Titans defence, however. "We made four interceptions," he noted. Singled out for praise were Wesley Joseph, Jean-Marc Michel, Marc-André Guay, Sébastien Archambault, Corvell Isaacs, Steve Crompton, Mike Coles, Jean Lerouge, Kevin Lloyd and the aforementioned Blevings.