Sunday, September 12, 2010
EFL Press Coverage September 12
WatertownDailyTimes.com - ‎2 hours ago‎
Watertown was originally scheduled to host the Silver and Black Raiders in an Empire Football League mathcup, but the St. Lawrence County-based franchise
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20100911/SPORTS01/309119963/-1/sports
Ice Storm head to Plattsburgh: After a break of almost a month, the Vermont Ice Storm return to the field Saturday night when they travel to face the rival Plattsburgh North Stars in an Empire Football League game.
After losing its EFL opener, the Ice Storm (7-1-1) have won their last five games on the field and picked up a forfeit victory to move into a tie for first place with Watertown and Plattsburgh.
Quarterback Brad Ruderman leads Vermont's offense having completed 76 of 141 passes for 944 yards and 14 touchdowns. Akeem Williams has rushed for 266 yards while Ray Hershenhorn paces the receivers with 24 catches for 253 yards.
September 12, 2010
North Stars capture EFL regular-season title
PLATTSBURGH — Plattsburgh was down by six points with under five minutes to go.
A fumble early on the previous drive put the North Stars on back on defense, and a late-hit penalty gave Vermont a first down before Rob Joy of the Ice Storm hauled down the go-ahead touchdown reception.
The North Stars' crowd got quiet, but in a desperate tone, one fan screamed "Block the kick!" as Vermont's Oscar Ody lined up for the extra point.
Plattsburgh's special teams' response? A blocked kick.
Jordon Keleher brought the ensuing kick return to the 40-yard-line and scored on a 33-yard touchdown reception a couple plays later. Kicker Mitch Ryder didn't miss his extra point, and Plattsburgh went on to claim the Empire Football League regular-season title by defeating the Ice Storm, 21-20.
The victory puts Plattsburgh at home throughout the playoffs.
"There's the window," said Stars coach Pat Keleher about the inspiration the blocked kick had on the team. "The window opened, and that was big. It was that little lift to take the sorrow away from the touchdown.
"It really fired them up."
Contributions came from everywhere in the Stars' victory.
Trevor St. Clair caught two touchdown passes. Ken Stay threw three.
Harry Rascoe picked up two huge 10-yard gains for first downs that sealed the victory. Earl Parks made the biggest defensive play of the game on an interception after Plattsburgh's final touchdown.
Dan Marbut had a sack, a pass defensed and a fumble recovery in the first half. The defensive line as a whole played well.
And most importantly, the guys in charge did their part.
"I can't take a lot of the credit — I've got to give them a lot of the credit."
St. Clair grabbed his first of two touchdown scores on a fade from Stay that when 21 yards midway through the first quarter.
He brought in his second from another nice toss by Stay as St. Clair was double-covered to knot the score at 14-14 after Ray Herschenhorn and Akeem Williams found the endzone through the air and on the ground, respectively.
Ken Ruderman tossed his third touchdown of the game to Joy before Plattsburgh responded a little over a minutes later.
"Vermont is a great team," Keleher said. "They're probably as good as anybody up front defensively.
"They still gave us problems in protection, and we had a hard time running the ball against them at times. But at the end, we might have worn them down a little bit."
The Stars will be off next week because of a Massena forfeit and have a bye the following week for the first round of the playoffs.
