Alpine ski team wins Section III title

The boys’ and girls’ alpine ski teams both won the Section III Championship held over a two-day competition at Song Mountain Feb. 14 and 15. The only surprise was the fact  that the girls took charge early and kept it up to defeat Holland Patent who had pushed them during the season. The boys, who dominated the other four Section III teams all year, had a surprisingly tough time of it against their closest competitor, Holland Patent.  The two teams ended the two-day competition in a tie and only settled it by which team had the best fourth place finisher. That, fortunately, went to Old Forge.  Lowville, MPH and South Lewis were the only other teams in the competition and they were far back.  

The slalom race was held on Tuesday and after the traditional two runs, McKenzie Liddle was the top performer and the sectional champion in winning the slalom. Liddle was not the only Old Forge skier to do well as Lauren Holt placed fifth, Jessica Hannah was seventh, Lexie Haehl was eighth and Camry Liddle was ninth to round out the top ten.  In the boys slalom race, West Tickner came in third, Dan Heroux was fifth, Corey Down was seventh and Griffin Kleps was eighth.

In the giant slalom, run on Wednesday, the girls from Old Forge who placed in the top ten were McKenzie Liddle in second to complete a great two days, Lauren Holt remained a very steady performer as she placed fifth, and Jessica Hannah placed eighth. A nice surprise was the performance by Danielle Gibbs who had her best outing of the year and placed 11th. In the boys’ giant slalom competition, West Tickner completed a fine two-day run by winning the giant slalom becoming a sectional champion. Kleps was sixth in another steady performance, John Gaffney was eighth and Hunter Lawrence was ninth.  

By her great runs in both the slalom and giant slalom, McKenzie Liddle was the combined overall champion.  

For many of the performers, the next competition will be the state championships at Lake Placid. The following girls made the state team: McKenzie Liddle, Lauren Holt and Jessica Hannah. The boys from Old Forge who made the state team are: Dan Heroux, West Tickner and Corey Down.

The basis for picking this team is on their performance all year and not just on how they did in the sectional championship meet.

Many fine performances were turned in by other members of the team even though they did not land in the top ten. Certainly, it takes a team to win championships and that is what coach, Tom Down had. Congratulations to Coach Down and his entire team for another fine performance and hopefully they can carry it on to the states.    

Boys junior varsity basketball

The boys’ junior varsity basketball team finished its season with two away games at ODY and at New York Mills.  

Last Thursday, Feb. 2, the boys lost at ODY in a game that was hard for them to get started offensively. They missed a ton of easy shots on their way to only a 10 point first half. They played better in the second half but could not make up the large halftime deficit. Dane Daiker had his biggest night of the year as he led his team with 20 points.  Tyler McGough had four points, Andy Slegaitis had three and Will Johnson had two points.  

Friday, Feb. 10, they ended their season at New York Mills and had another low scoring night in their loss to the Mills. Slegaitis led the team with seven points with Johnson scoring six, McGough had five points, Cameron Lenci had three and Hanson Schmid and Tom Lindsay each had one point.

Girls modified basketball

The girls’ modified basketball team played three games this past week with some very positive results.

Tuesday, Feb. 7, the team had a game at Adirondack and they opened up a nice 19-4 first half lead. Coach, Katie Ritz freely substituted in the second half on their way to a 33-23 victory. Melissa Rockhill had a big game as the top scorer in the game with 19 points. Madison Rice had her best point production of the year with 10 points and Melanie Levi had four.  

Friday, Feb. 10, the team traveled to Poland and the two teams put on an exciting show for the fans. Old Forge was down 22-12 at the half, but, they never gave up as they closed that gap to only a  three-point deficit at the end of three. The two teams battled evenly throughout the fourth period and finally, a basket by Caroline DeFilipps tied the game and sent it into overtime. I believe that that basket by DeFilipps was her first of the year but it sure was an important one. What timing. Now the team had a chance to win the game in overtime and they did just that as they won the game 32-29.

Rockhill had another high scoring game as she led all scorers with 20 points. Holly Kalil scored 10 and DeFilipps had two.  

They played their third game of the week at home against a tall and strong Johnsburg team on Monday, Feb. 13. Inconsistent scoring in the game by the young Eskimo team was their undoing as Johnsburg recorded a 42-26 victory. Old Forge failed to score in the first period and scored only two points in the third period. The other two periods, they scored 12 points each.

Johnsburg had an outstanding guard that clearly was the difference in the game and their tall team made it difficult to control the backboards. Rockhill led Old Forge with 13 points, Helen Thornton had six points, Kalil had four and Chloe Brosemer had three.

Boys modified basketball

The boys’ modified basketball team lost its game played at Oriskany last Wednesday, Feb. 15, by the score of 48-30.  

The first time that these schools met, Oriskany used their B team and lost. This time, they used their A team and they were much better, larger and more athletic. Old Forge did not help themselves as they missed many foul shots and easy lay-ups. Oriskany was just too good for our team to handle.  

Westley Lamphear and Tayler Schmid led the team in scoring. The team has two more games left on its schedule with the last game being played on the morning of Feb. 18 against Poland. They presently have a record of 6-4  with hopes of ending the season with a fine winning record.

Cross country skiing

The cross country ski teams took part in a Section III race held at Osceola last Saturday, Feb. 11. The race was a 7.5k classic technique race.  

In the girls’ race, Old Forge was racing without their number one skier, Maddie Phaneuf, who was out ill. The top three girls for Old Forge were: Megan Greene, who was third, Andrea Frey was fifth and Allyson Brosemer was sixth for a team score of 14. That tied them with Holland Patent but Old Forge was declared the winner by having the better fourth place finisher. That skier, Olivia Phaneuf, came in seventh and though she did not count for the team score, was very important in the team victory.

The boys team also had one of their top skiers out due to illness. Tecwyn Williams was out and it did cost the team a victory. Adam Luban was first, Colin Criss was fourth and Evan Nahor was 13th for a team score of 18. Holland Patent’s team score was 16, just edging Old Forge for first. Henry Uzdavinis was 18th.

The meet does not mean much in terms of who wins, but, it helps the Section III teams prepare for the sectional championships that Old Forge will host on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at McCauley Mountain. The individual race will be held that day and the team relay portion of the sectionals will be held on Friday, Feb. 17.  

The Town of Webb School’s cross country ski teams hosted the individual race portion of the Section III Nordic Ski Championships held Wednesday, Feb. 15 at McCauley Mountain. The relay portion of the competition will be held Friday, Feb. 17 at Osceola.  Since I had an early deadline due to Presidents’ Week, the result of the relay race will be included in next week’s edition of the Express.  

In the girls’ competition, the team did what they have been doing all year and that is dominate. Maddie Phaneuf repeated as Section III Champion as she took first place with Megan Greene in second. Allyson Brosemer placed fifth to give the team a score of 8.  Holland Patent was a distant second and will have little chance of catching the Eskimo team in the relay race. Also, Olivia Phaneuf was seventh and only four seconds off Brosemer’s time, and Andrea Frey was tenth.  

In the boys’ competition, Old Forge and Holland Patent have been separated by a much closer score throughout the season. In fact, Holland Patent defeated our boys in their last outing prior to the sectionals. However, in that meet, Tecwyn Williams was ill and did not score in the meet. Adam Luban won the race for Old Forge and is the boys’ Section III Champion. Colin Criss placed third, Williams was seventh, Henry Uzdavinis was ninth and Evan Nahor, 20th.  The team score from the top three finishers for Old Forge totaled 11, seven points ahead of Holland Patent. It is not likely that Holland Patent can make up that seven point difference in the relays and I am confident that I can call our teams the Sectional Champions in my article next week.