Football

Briefs

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LMR has strong finish in loss to Deposit

DEPOSIT, NY - Livingston Manor/Roscoe (LMR) coaches Fred Ahart and Kevin Clifford can be strongly encouraged by their team’s resurgence in the late going of the season opener against the Deposit Lumberjacks.

Putting up a better showing than last year’s 35-0 waxing, LMR got going with a fourth- quarter passing attack out of the shotgun formation as quarterback Tyler Schmidt threw a pair of touchdown passes of 13 and 40 yards to John Clancy and Mike Hendrickson respectively. Schmidt ran for one two-point conversion and threw a pass to Hendrickson to complete the other.

All this came after Deposit had rolled up a 33-0 lead that began with a five-yard run by Matt Mason in the first quarter. Deposit scored twice in the second quarter on a 22-yard run by Tyler Vandermark and on a 14-yard pass from quarterback Brett Hauber to Ben Winans to take an 18-0 lead at the half.

Mason added a 41-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and then caught the conversion pass to make it 26-0. Hauber had a three-yard run in the fourth quarter to make it 33-0 before LMR got down to work.

“Our kids never gave up,” said Ahart, who added that the first game was a great learning experience for players and coaches alike.

Schmidt completed five of 10 passes for 80 yards. Clancy had four receptions for 58 yards.

LMR travels to play Division V rival Eldred on September 8 under the lights in a non-league game. The LMR/Eldred games in 2005 were two of the best games on the docket last season. This year figures to be just as exciting.

Liberty shows life in season-opening loss to Chester

CHESTER, NY — Drawing Chester on the road for their season opener didn’t faze coach Jim O’Connor’s Liberty Indians. They played hard and stayed in the game until the end. To many observers, the score of the game did not reflect its true nature, though Chester proved itself to be the dominant team.

Anxious to get underway with their 2006 campaign, Liberty hoped that its strong athleticism would propel the team to victory. But Liberty’s relative inexperience against a strong Chester team, with its iconic runner Mike Schmidlein, proved to be a daunting challenge.

Chester looked to its first game as the initial step in wresting the Section 9 Class D title away from Eldred, who defeated them last year.

In the season opener on September 1, Chester rode the stellar running of Schmidlein, who torched Liberty for 279 yards on 34 carries. Schmidlein scored three touchdowns, including one that wrapped up a 64-yard game-opening scoring drive during which the team marched down the field in two and a half minutes. Schmidlein’s 21-yard run gave the Hambletonians their first score.

Chester scored again in the second quarter, combining six running plays and a 26-yard pass from quarterback Joe Salthouse to Kevin Jones to get the ball to the Liberty 15. Schmidlein took it in and a Salthouse conversion pass to Darren Mann made it 14-0.

Liberty fought back and moved the ball downfield, but a costly fumble at the 10 gave Chester an easy opportunity to score on a nine-yard run by Schmidlein and a keeper by Salthouse. The Hambletonians led 22-0 at the half.

Liberty received to start the third quarter and sustained a drive that led to a 19-yard touchdown run by Trevor Tompkins. Mann blocked the point after kick. The score stood at 22-6.

Chester got its final score on a 29-yard pass from Salthouse to Jones and a two-point conversion run in by Dan Conklin for the final score of 30-6.

Liberty travels to take on Highland in a Class B league game on September 8, while Chester hosts Webutuck in a non-league home game on September 8.

Week one scores

FDR 33, Saugerties 6

Newburgh Free Academy 31, Washingtonville 0

Cornwall 33, Kingston 20

Monroe-Woodbury 48, Valley Central 0

Minisink Valley 12, Wallkill 0

New Paltz 6, Highland 3 OT

O`Neill 34, Spackenkill 13

Chester 30, Liberty 6

Eldred 39, Hancock 18

Port Jervis 21, Middletown 17

Rondout Valley 27, Pine Bush 26

Deposit 33, Liv.Manor/Roscoe 16

Warwick 50, Goshen 0

Burke Catholic 8, Marlboro 0

Tri-Valley 21, Ellenville 0

Pine Plains 13, Webutuck 12

Delhi 58, Sullivan West 13

Red Hook 35, Millbrook 7