NYS football championships

My view:

Walkill’s run was for all of us

By RICHARD A. ROSS

SYRACUSE, NY — When Maine Endwell’s Shawn Fitchpatrick pulled in a 16-yard game-winning touchdown pass from quarterback Shane Connolly with only 19 seconds to go in the Class A championship game at the Carrier Dome, a collective sigh of grief and loss emanated from the Walkill football players, who had a victory cruelly snatched from their grasp.

No doubt, their pain was strongly registered by many Section 9 football players, past and present, as well as their loyal fans and families. Though I don’t know any of the Walkill players personally, I had the chance to watch them demolish Port Jervis 33-0, a great team in its own right, at Dietz Stadium in the Section 9 final. I was duly impressed by their athleticism, skill level, and above all, their deportment. The Panthers were a class act, and though my energy at the time was tied to the fate of Class B Sullivan West, I hoped that Walkill could go all the way. When they defeated defending state champions Nyack 21-18 and did likewise to Section 2’s Amsterdam, it looked like the planets were in the right alignment for a rarified Section 9 title.

We’ve had only one, the 2000 Class B Rondout team.

Notice I said “we.”

Like the outgoing concentric ripples that emanate from a rock dropped into a pond, we are all part of a world that is larger than our own. As a citizen of a small town like Narrowsburg, I am also an inhabitant of Sullivan County, New York State, the USA and the planet Earth.

Similarly, when it comes to sports, my connection is first and foremost to the local teams of the area. But as each season moves past sectionals, it is time to engage the larger picture, namely the run for New York State titles. Schools from Orange, Sullivan and Ulster Counties collectively comprise Section 9, one of New York State’s eleven sections that vie against each other for the right to be called a New York State Champion in any of the sports organized and sanctioned by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHAA).

Regionally, Section 9 shares this sector of the state with heavyweights Section 1, made up of schools from Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess and Rockland Counties, and Section 4, made up of schools primarily from Broome and Delaware Counties. Both Sections 1 and 4 have had significant success when it comes to football titles. Section 1 boasts 15 such victories and Section 4 has five, including this year’s repeat Class B title, won by Chenango Forks over Section 1’s Rye, the team that ousted Sullivan West 14-6.

The Maine Endwell Spartans hail from Section 4, so this game against Walkill had a regional as well as a state resonance to it. The details of the game are by now quite well known, and I thought long and hard about being at the Dome to witness the proceedings. Had it been Sullivan West, I would have been there. Of that there can be no doubt, but it was Thanksgiving weekend and a chance to enjoy a visit from my eldest son, which these days is a rare treat that could not be forsaken.

So I diligently watched the Section Nine website and hoped that the Panthers could hold on to bring this one home for all of us. When Walkill’s Trevor Pedrick took that handoff with 2:30 to go with his team trailing 32-29, he carried the hopes and prayers of a multitude, many of whom were not in the stands in Syracuse. As he turned upfield and ran 80 yards, breaking five tackles along the way, the mantle of long overdue respect was settling on Walkill and Section 9. To have it wrested away in the final seconds was gut-wrenching.

But Walkill’s run this year, along with the fine efforts of Sullivan West and Monroe-Woodbury, were inspiring. Indeed they may well have fueled a revival of football in the section that has long been treated like a doormat. It sent a strong signal to the section’s regional counterparts who have successfully ousted every Section 9 team, save one, in the history of the state football championships.

The tide is turning. Section 9 will no longer be a revolving door through which Sections 1 and 4 easily pass en route to the next round.

Kudos to the Walkill Panthers. Thanks for the great ride, for the classy deportment in defeat and for your example. The accomplishments of your team will be on the lips of many Section 9 coaches and players as the 2005 season gets underway next fall.

Here’s to you Walkill, Section 9’s standard-bearer. You never gave up and you did us all proud.

And I mean us.

Thanks to Phil Dusenbury of the Section 9 website for his diligent game coverage and Mike Zummo, sports editor, and Carl Aiello, publisher, of the Walkill Valley Times for their photos and support.