Boys indoor track

The boys’ indoor track team took part in the MVITA Championships this past Tuesday, Jan. 10 at Sanford Field House on the Colgate University campus.  

The meet was divided into two divisions. Old Forge, the only Class D school competing, competed against Class B and C schools with Class A and AA schools in the other division. The three boys on the team continued to do a great job against some tough competition. In their division, Old Forge placed fourth among the seven schools, being bested by Clinton, West Canada and Ilion.  What events the three boys competed in, they did well in. Three boys cannot defeat teams as most of the events that are run in a meet, we could not field a single boy.  

Kevin Kress got the team off to a fine start as he won the 55 meter hurdles in 8.38 seconds which also was the best time in both divisions. Trevor Godemann ran the 300 meter race and took first place in his division with a time of 38.63 which was third best overall. Those were the only running events that they could take part in.  

In the field events, Godemann won the long jump with a jump of 19’ 3 1/2” which was the best jump of the evening in both divisions.  Godemann placed third in his division in the triple jump and fourth overall, with a 39”11 1/2” jump.  

Kress won the high jump and Connor Rockhill placed second in their division with one jumper from the other division topping them.  Kress cleared 6’ and Rockhill cleared 5’ 10”. In the pole vault, Rockhill took the top prize at 12’ 6” with no one topping him in the other division. Kress cleared 11’ to place fourth in his division and fifth overall.  

The three boys combined to score a total of 68 points.  

Girls varsity volleyball

The girls’ varsity volleyball team played one non-league game this past week and that was at Sauquoit Valley last Wednesday, Jan. 11.

Undefeated in their division of the CSC League, Sauquoit proved to be too good for our girls as they won in straight sets; 25-16, 25-15 and 25-12.

Sarah Branch had three kills and one dig; Jessica Menges had seven kills and six digs; Daria Orekhov had 14 assists and Morgan Payne had three kills and two digs.  

There was no junior varsity game.

Boys modified basketball

Coach, Greg Clark, has the following boys on his modified basketball team. Back from last year, the eighth graders are: Tyler Fenton, Westley Lamphear, Tayler Schmid, Mark DeVoldre, James Carnell and Luke Monroe. Newcomers to the team are: eighth graders Christian Midgely and Nick Branch and the seventh graders are Connor Ulrich, Erik Lenci and Carter Kelly.  

The team opened their season with a very convincing win over Rome Catholic, an away game played on Wednesday, Jan.  11. Fenton led his team to a 45-15 win over an over-matched Rome team with help from most of his teammates.

Clark is happy with the start of the season as he feels his kids are achieving in the classroom as well as on the basketball court. He hopes they will continue to work hard to improve on their skills as they prepare themselves for high school ball. The team shows that they love the game of basketball and that is a big part of becoming better.  

Boys junior varsity basketball

The boys’ junior varsity basketball team played one game this past week and that was a home game against a very scrappy ODY team. ODY, fielding a short team, battled hard all night, shot the ball very well and even controlled the boards on the taller Webb team. Old Forge never showed the intensity to keep up with ODY and lost 67-22.  It was not a good game for the Eskimos.  

Will Johnson and Cameron Lenci each had seven points with Andy Slegaitis and Tyler McGough each netting four points in a game in which the team’s turnovers outnumbered their points scored.  

Boys varsity basketball

The boys’ varsity basketball team picked up another victory, but it was not easy as they struggled through a closely played contest to finally pull out a 51-48 victory.  

Calvin Risley, back from a long sick period, helped the team down the wire and saved the victory when other players were losing track of what it takes to win ball games.  ODY had a one point lead at the half and Old Forge gained a one point lead after three periods of play. Old Forge got a more comfortable lead in the last period only to allow ODY to come back and tie the game late in the game. Most of ODY’s success came from poor game management by our team. Risley, a senior, was the only one to keep his composure and that was the difference. The game’s final seconds were very similar to Old Forge’s close victory over Indian Lake/Long Lake two weeks ago. Fortunately, we came out winning both games and we hope they learn from their mistakes.  

Risley was the leading scorer for Old Forge with 14 points followed closely by Ethan Kress with 13 points. Dane Daiker, moved up from the jayvee squad, helped the varsity with seven points. Without him, they probably would have lost the game. Greg Hunkins also had seven points. Kenny Pastore followed with six points and Lance Frymire and Parker Clemans each had two points.  

Girls varsity basketball

The girls’ varsity basketball team got back to action after a nine-day Christmas break and played two league games..  

Tuesday, Jan. 3, they hosted a very strong Poland team and lost the game 43-18. This was a game in which none of the girls could get anything going on offense.  Their defense and desire were there, but the skill of putting the ball into the basket, a skill that needs work every day, was not there.  

Haley Josephson led the scoring for Old Forge with six points, four rebounds and one assist. Mercedes Rice had four points, eight rebounds and four steals, Katie Connell had four points, 12 rebounds, two blocks and an assist and Sam Notley and Elizabeth Getty each had two points.  

Their second game of the week was played at New York Mills, always a tough outing for any team. Mills came into the game having lost only one game for the season and was primed to dominate the outmanned Old Forge team. Old Forge showed up, and nearly pulled off a huge upset of the Mills. The girls had the lead at the half, 14-13, and the Mills then used a big advantage at the foul line to eke out a 35-30 victory over a very determined Eskimo team. On some courts, home court advantage is very evident and in this case, it certainly was. The Mills shot nearly three times as many foul shots in this game as Old Forge, even though they were pressing the ball and Old Forge was playing a zone. This is to be expected sometimes on the road and you just have to deal with it. Our girls should be very proud of the way they played two days after playing poorly against Poland.  

Connell led the way with a double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling down 10 rebounds and blocking four shots. Josephson had a good game even though her scoring was not up to her average as she had a team high of five assists, a huge amount in girls basketball, scored six points and had six rebounds. Notley scored six points, had two steals and two assists and Rice had six points, seven rebounds and three steals. It was good team balance in the scoring department and the only bad thing in the game was committing too many turnovers against the press.  

The girls must know that no matter what is happening, they must continue to work hard, enjoy the game, try, and never give up. They certainly showed that against the Mills. Many people think that winning is the only thing, but you can not always expect that as a coach. Trying to win is the single most important thing a team has to show.  The team seems to know that they are playing a great sport that is the most competitive sport played on the high school level, and they are being competitive.  No one can ask more than that.

The girls’ varsity teams next game was at Rome Catholic played Tuesday, Jan. 10.  The Rome team was shocked to find that the Eskimo team could give them such a battle, but they prevailed, 49-48 in overtime.  

It was a very tough loss for our team as they, again, gave their all, but fell short. It certainly was the best game that the team has played this year and it made it two straight strong games played, both away, and both tough losses.  

Haley Josephson had a great game before fouling out of the game. Josephson had 17 points, 16 rebounds, five assists and three steals to show her versatility on the court.  Katie Connell was close behind as she also had a double-double. Connell scored 13 points, collected 10 rebounds and had five blocked shots. Sam Notley had her best game of the season with seven points, four assists and six steals. Elizabeth Getty had her career best game with seven points. Jodi Bolton had four points and Mercedes Rice pulled down eight rebounds.  

The team is dressing only six players and with Josephson fouling out of the game and Connell, who had to play much of the second half with four fouls, just became too difficult to pull out the victory. What was nice was that everyone contributed positively to the game and they cut their turnovers down to a more normal number.  

Thursday, Jan. 12, the team hosted a very strong Adirondack team in a non-league game. Having to play in a tough league and then play some larger schools in their non-league games makes for a brutal schedule and it kind of wears on the team.  Adirondack was just too big and physical for our team and won by 20 points. Old Forge had many chances to keep the game close, but, they simply missed too many shots to compete with a team like Adirondack.  

Despite being hounded by a box and one defense, with the one girl playing on Josephson, she still led the team in scoring with 11 points. Josephson also had five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Rice had a good rebounding game with 14 to lead the team and also scored four points. Connell had four points, seven rebounds and an assist, Notley had three points, four rebounds and one assist and Getty and Bolton each had two points.  

The team will not have a game until this Friday, Jan. 20 at Westmoreland. They then have to play host to a very good Little Falls team the following morning with the game starting at noon. This game is a non-league game.