Section Nine Class C Football Championship

Payday

Tri-Valley cashes in on its year-long effort to garner Class C title and finally subdue rival Sullivan West

By RICHARD A. ROSS

KINGSTON, NY — “Every dog has his day,” and the Sullivan West Bulldogs have certainly had theirs. But on November 3, the day belonged to the Bears with Tri-Valley’s 18-6 Class C championship win over the team they had long-sought to beat for the crown.

For the past three years, the Dawgs have reigned supreme in football. Their ravenous teams devoured a Class B title in 2004 and Class C titles in 2005 and 2006.

The latter two came at the expense of Tri-Valley, which had to endure the bitter defeat of consecutive Section Nine title losses sandwiched around a 2006 Division loss. The Bears’ last title came in 2004 before Sullivan West dropped into their class and ended the Bears’ two-year title streak over Pine Plains.

By the time the Bears dolefully gathered near the darkened end zone following last year’s 48-27 Class C thrashing, their three-game losing streak had amassed an imbalance of scoring in Sullivan West’s favor to the tune of 103-41.

Right then and there, unbeknownst to the team gleefully celebrating at the other end of the field, a sea of change began in the consciousness of Tri-Valley, fueled by coach John Rusin who made it known, in no uncertain terms, to his returning players that Sullivan West’s dominance had to stop.

Encouraging a weightlifting program and a year-long football consciousness that prevailed as Tri-Valley’s boys basketball team was making a run at a state title and on into baseball season as the Rusin-coached Bears made the sectionals, football was still on everyone’s mind.

So was Sullivan West, who had marred Tri-Valley’s perfect regular season in basketball by handing the state-tournament-bound Bears their only defeat before succumbing to Friends Academy one game shy of Glens Falls.

The Bears vowed this year to rewrite that hackneyed phrase to read, “Every Bear will have his day.”

Rusin knew that would take more than words. He holds unbridled respect for Sullivan West coach Ron Bauer who is one win shy of 150. “He’s forgotten more football than I’ll ever know,” said Rusin, who kept the heat on his team to train harder than ever for the Bulldog team he knew could beat you any number of ways, especially with Jim Moloney at quarterback, a kid Rusin describes as “tough as nails.”

By night’s end, Moloney would have shown that toughness, passing 17/29/232 with a TD and taking countless hits from Tri-Valley’s relentless pursuit.

October 20 was the first Bear day marked by a 13-7 division championship win over the Dawgs. Tri-Valley’s victory celebration was decidedly muted as Rusin told his team, “We’re not done. We’ve got to beat Pine Plains and then it’s on to Dietz.

Following their 38-8 hammering of Pine Plains, Tri-Valley started its Dietz countdown.

Sullivan West shook off the division loss. They knew they had squandered opportunities and still believed that when push came to shove it would be them doing the pushing and shoving. On October 26, they awoke from a first-half miasma against Millbrook and won, playing the kind of inspired football reminiscent of their forerunners who flattened teams with skill and muscle.

Those championship teams were built in the Bauer mode of toughness evinced year in and year out at formidable Delaware Valley before the merger. One of Bauer’s former standout players, Matt Buddenhagen, became his assistant this year, one season after guiding Cornwall within a hair’s breadth of Class A state crown.

After setting aside Millbrook, the Dawgs aimed to retame the Bears. But the Bears, now wild, turned on their former captors with a previously unforeseen fury.

After winning the toss, Tri-Valley elected to receive. Rusin hedged his bet that his team could get out on top first. His gamble paid off, as did the dues his team had been paying for the past twelve months, a cash reserve they would draw on as the game progressed.

Dan Byrne took the first three carries and those 26 yards showed the Bears’ newfound muscle. Tri-Valley is perceived as a run-first team, but they had watched the Bulldog corner come up hard when the Bears sent a tight end in motion. Rusin figured they could get Kevin Drown into the open space and beat the safety.

On first down, Charlie Edwards hit Drown with a 42-yard touchdown pass not two minutes into the game. The PAT went wide but Tri-Valley had drawn first blood and led 6-0.

In the division game, Tri-Valley’s linemen had shown their oomph. Now, they had to stop Sullivan West’s potent offense again. On the Dawgs’ first play, they nailed Dan Figueroa for an eight-yard loss. The series ended shortly at three and out.

Now Sullivan West showed its grit, abetted by the first of several Tri-Valley mistakes, a pitch gone awry. Snap problems would surface, too, but Tri-Valley never turned the ball over.

The Dawgs treated Brendan Musa to a loss and Tri-Valley punted, but Sullivan West’s next series was no better than its first.

Musa rode a 23-yard sweep into Dawg land. A bad snap thwarted the series but not the Bears’ spirits.

Nailed at the nine, Moloney uncorked a fine pass to Reimer, who gave Sullivan West a post-Halloween scare as he fumbled the ball after catching it. Artie Norden alertly recovered it for Sullivan West. An incomplete pass for Jason Leewe ended the series and the first quarter.

Sullivan West halted Tri-Valley’s first drive of the second quarter, blemished by another bad snap.

Sullivan West’s ground game was going nowhere. On one run, Moloney cocked his arm to throw and was yanked down by Bo Murphy, who spent the first game between the two teams blowing up people all over the field.

That was just a sneak preview of his title-game antics. In the post-game awards ceremony, he was justifiably awarded Defensive Player of the Game. Moloney, who was soon to find his passing rhythm, would rightfully garner Offensive Player of the Game.

Putting Garrett Grey at fullback added even more Bear claws. After Kevin Drown returned a Norden punt to the Sullivan West 40, he, Grey and Bryne ferreted the rock to the five. At 3:09, Musa scored on a one-yard run to give the Bears a 12-0 lead.

The rabid Dawgs stuffed the conversion run and bared their teeth, but a bizarre play triggered the tidal shift in Tri-Valley’s favor. Moloney completed a pass to Figueroa, who was held up at an angle by Kevin Drown. Musa alertly plucked the ball from his hands and galloped 30 yards for the touchdown at 2:44 to give the bouncing Bears an 18-0 lead.

Reimer broke up the two-point conversion pass but things just weren’t breaking Sullivan West’s way. Figueroa hauled in Murphy’s kickoff at the 20 and juked his way to the house for what appeared to be the Dawgs’ first score but a holding call brought it back to the Sullivan West 32.

Moloney reeled off a string of first downs with completions to Figueroa, Reimer and a screen pass to Schlott. He then tossed a 20-yard touchdown strike to Reimer with 50 seconds left in the half to make it 18-6. Norden’s PAT went wide.

An onside kick was covered up by Tri-Valley’s Brendan Edwards as the half ended.

The Dawgs picked right up where they left off. Reimer returned the kickoff to the Bears’ 41. Moloney and Schlott got it to the eight and Moloney took it in. But before the Dawgs could bark, a flag was evinced and a hold brought the ball back. That made two touchdowns called back, something Bauer would later allude to in assessing his team’s missed opportunities.

Tri-Valley’s fired-up defense pushed the Dawgs back to the 27. A fourth-down pass was overthrown to Leewe and the Bears took over.

A reverse by Nick Cassidy, a nice run by Byrne and a Grey jaunt took it to the Sullivan West 34.

Two more first downs by Musa and Grey had Tri-Valley knocking on heaven’s door, but it shut with a fumbled snap and a big loss as the third quarter ended.

Sullivan West went to the air with passes to Figueroa and Leewe before Moloney was sacked by Mike Mickelson. Moloney rebounded with a stellar 46-yard completion to Reimer, but the drive stalled on an incomplete pass to Figueroa. The clock was now becoming Tri-Valley’s ally and Sullivan West’s adversary.

The Bears ran the pigskin and ate up time, but a holding penalty forced them to punt. The Dawgs would get one more try with just under two minutes remaining. After a pair of first downs, a sack by Murphy punctuated Tri-Valley’s Class C page-turning, establishing what they hope will become a new world order as the win advanced their record to 7-3.

Emotions erupted as Tri-Valley players yelled to the sky, hugged one another and shed tears of joy with Murphy at the nexus.

“We set our sights on this,” he exclaimed. “We weren’t going to accept anything but a win here today. We gave our hearts in every practice, our entire team did. This is an amazing team,” he declared, naming each of its components with effusive praise.

Edwards, who was a non-starting freshman the last time Tri-Valley won the title, said, “It’s all I could ever ask for. This is what we’ve been working for. These past two years have been killers, but our line today was nothing short of amazing.”

Tri-Valley’s ground attack rolled up 148 yards on 43 carries against Sullivan West’s tough defense. Musa and Byrne led the way. Musa was 12/63 and two TDs, Byrne was 16/69.

Many of Tri-Valley’s three-sport athletes had marshaled their other sports experiences to augment their advantage in football. “Sometimes you learn more from losing than you do from winning,” Rusin noted.

“Today we overcame a few mistakes. We were able to move the ball well but a couple of times we shot ourselves in the foot. But this is a mentally tough team,” he added, while crediting Sullivan West as an explosively dangerous offensive group.

Referencing Sullivan West’s penalties that called back a pair of touchdowns, he said, “Both teams made mistakes, but we found a way to overcome them.”

Rusin expects his team to come out on all cylinders in the upcoming regional game next Saturday against Dobb’s Ferry.

“I know our kids will never be out-hit on the football field. We may face a team that has better skill players, but if we are aggressive we can put ourselves in a position to win. Anytime you place 11 men on a football field, anything can happen.”

Bauer praised his team for playing hard and thanked the seniors for their commitment. “I think we played with a lot of heart, but they seemed to want it a little more. I blame myself. Normally, I push a lot of technique but I usually make guys tough,” he noted.

Sullivan West ended its season at 5-4.

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