Photo by Richard A. Ross Liberty’s Javier Baez, right, intercepts his second pass of the day intended for Rondout Valley’s Teyshawn Butler, whose airborne leap is too late to snare the ball. Liberty allowed an early TD to Rondout Valley and then shut them out for the remainder of the game.

Sports briefs

Curtain up!

Monticello and Fallsburg debut

SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY—Come September, high school football becomes the talk of the town. Gridiron chatter now reverberates resoundingly in Fallsburg and Monticello where varsity teams have begun their inaugural seasons. For Monticello, the team’s dramatic 41-6 win over Highland ended a 75-year hiatus. The school last fielded a varsity football team in 1935. Last year, the junior varsity team was undefeated.

Led by standout sophomore quarterback Shane Jackson, Class A Monties led 34-0 at the half over the perennially powerful Class B Huskies. Jackson completed 11/15 passes for 280 yards and three TDs. He ran for another, returned a punt for yet another and ran back two other punts for a combined 72 yards. Anthony Gray caught a 35-yard TD pass and Sean Reuss hauled in two scoring strikes of 34 and 72 yards. Class A Monticello will host Class AA Middletown on September 11 in its home debut. The Panthers are coached by Matt Buddenhagen, who steered Cornwall to a state title game in 2006.

Eldred and LMR win in OT; Liberty storms back to pummel Rondout Valley

It’s a new era for football at Eldred with coach Mike Paradisis at the helm following Frank Kean’s retirement. With a trainload of seniors out the door last June, one had to wonder what the Yellow Jackets would bring to the fore this year. Playing a Deposit team that is now merged with Hancock, Eldred overcame a spate of turnovers to garner a 20-18 OT win. Knotted at 14-all after regulation, Deposit scored first in OT but Zach Dilles intercepted the two-point conversion pass. Then Eldred QB Adam Schoch hit Matt Balcolm with a 10-yard TD pass on a fourth down of Eldred’s first series. Eldred’s two-point conversion carried the day. Eldred (1-0) will host Livingston Manor/Roscoe (LMR) on September 11.

LMR took its show on the road to Harpursville. The Devil Cats, which feature a return of its nexus of skilled players from 2009, emerged victorious in OT by the score of 44-38. Brandon Smith ran for three TDs of 12, 13 and four yards. The LMR defense induced a Harpursville fumble on the 10-yard line in OT and then prevailed on Smith’s final TD run (12-yards). Troy Correa was 14/101 in rushing. Adam Hendrix scored twice in the third quarter, once on a 38-yard run and once on a pass from Mike Mills.

Liberty made it to the Section Nine Class C title game a year ago and hopes to get back there again. But its first half was marred by an unstoppable first drive by Rondout Valley that resulted in a TD and two fumbles of its own on the doorstep of the goal line.

The Indians roared back in the second half with 26 unanswered points to spoil the return to varsity football by the Ganders, who only fielded a junior varsity team due to declining numbers. Liberty junior brothers Efrain and Javier Baez proved to be game changers. Efrain recovered a pair of onside kicks, while Javier had two interceptions and deflected a pass. Eddie Soto rushed 14/126 and scored two TDs. Quarterback Marshon Williams was 16/102 on the ground and 6/9/88 in the air with one TD. Liberty (1-0) travels to Ellenville on September 10.

Sullivan West and Tri-Valley lost their openers on the road. The Bulldogs fell to Class A New Paltz 27-6. Tri-Valley fared much better than a year ago against Ellenville but still came up short. A year ago, they fell 45-6. This time out, it was 28-12. Ellenville is now in Class B.

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