Cross country

The cross country running teams took part in the Center State Conference Championships this past Saturday, Oct. 22, at Ilion. Almost 20 schools took part in this race which was won by the Sauquoit boys’ team and the Remsen girls’ team. It was just another fine performance by the Remsen girls as they continue to amaze people with their athletic achievements. Rarely will a small school like Remsen be the overall winner of such a competitive race as this against many Class C and B schools that are in our league.  

In the varsity races, no runner from Old Forge cracked the top ten racers, but Maddie Phaneuf did have success in coming in 13th place overall. Phaneuf was followed by Caitlin Bailey in 44th, Andrea Frey placed 67th, Lauren Holt was 73rd and Jessica Hannah was 75th. Of the 12 full teams competing, Old Forge placed ninth with seven other schools having incomplete teams.  

In the boys competition, Lance Frymire was the top finisher for Old Forge, placing 70th overall. Connor Glasser was 78th, Dane Daiker placed 95th, Hunter Lawrence was 96th, Griffin Kleps was 97th Josh Matteson was 99th and Will Johnson placed 100th. Of the 14 full teams competing, Old Forge placed 14th, with four other schools not having a complete team.  

The boys modified team did not have a runner in the race which was disappointing as they had a good team. The girls’ modified team did not have a complete team as only four girls came to race. They did have the top placement from that team for Old Forge as Chloe Barkauskas placed eighth overall. Lauren Beckingham was next for Old Forge in 37th, Melissa Rockhill was 41st and Robin Smith placed 46th.  

The next competition for the team will be this Saturday, Oct. 29, in the annual Adirondack Invitational.

Boys modified soccer

The boys modified soccer team played two games this past week against Hamilton and Remsen, both home games.  

Tuesday, Oct. l8, two very fine teams played a great game at the local high school field.  Hamilton scored the first two goals of the game but Old Forge battled back to tie the game going into the last period. Carter Lawrence got Old Forge’s first goal on a successful penalty kick and then assisted on the second goal with a well placed ball off a corner kick with Henry Uzdavinis slamming it home. In what proved to be the best game of the year, Hamilton came back to score two goals in the fourth period to win the game 4-2.  

Both teams played hard with Hamilton being just a bit more opportunistic in its win.  When a team losses and it played well with great intensity, it has nothing to be ashamed of.  

Thursday, Oct. 20, the team hosted a very fast and large Remsen team. I have not received the final results of the game, but, I assume Remsen won. I did see the first half, and the Rams had, by far, the better play of the game and held a 3-0 halftime lead. They were just too big and too fast for our team. People must realize that Remsen does not have a junior varsity team and many of the ninth graders will be on the team. This is a huge difference. But, take nothing away from Remsen, they were good and should be a contender in later years.  

If my calculations are correct, the young Eskimo team has a fine 6-4 winning record. Many of these boys will move to the junior varsity level next year, and they will be a big factor as to that team’s  success.  

Girls junior varsity soccer

The girls’ junior varsity soccer team had a successful last week of action with three games being played to end their season.  

Monday, Oct. 17, the team traveled to Oriskany to play on a very wet field that made playing on it questionable.  However, the powers that be decided to play the game and it may have been a poor decision.  

Our team barely got their shoes out of the mud before Oriskany scored a goal in the first minute of play. Old Forge got going after that and the two teams battled evenly throughout the half. Finally, Allyson Brosemer scored a goal with 12:45 left in the half to tie the game. With the first half completed and the two teams tied, it was decided to call the game as it was now an official contest. The two teams slogged off the field with a 1-1 tie.

Wednesday, Oct. 19, Old Forge hosted Owen D. Young, a team that had defeated them 1-0 earlier in the season. Old Forge simply dominated the game but had little to show for it. The only score of the game came from Sara Carnell who placed a long 30-yard shot just out of the reach of ODY’s outstanding goalie. That goal was scored with 5:29 left in the first half of play and the defense made it hold up. Making up Old Forge’s defensive team were Samantha Notley, Lindsay Payne, Jodi Bolton and Mercedes Rice.   They were so effective that ODY could only manage one shot on our goalkeeper, Shelby Egnaczyk, who had just one save for the game.  

Old Forge outshot ODY 27-1, the saves were 14 for ODY and one for Old Forge and the corner kick advantage was strongly in favor of the Eskimos by a 14-1 count. Again, the main weakness of the team is their inability to finish plays.   

Friday, Oct. 21, they played their last game of the season against a good Poland team on the North Street Field. The weather was quite nasty—cold and rainy—but the girls seemed to be having a great time playing the game.  

Morgan Payne opened the scoring with a well aimed shot off a direct kick 5:44 into the game. However, that was it for their scoring. Later in the half, Poland tied the game and that was how they ended the game after two overtime periods were played. How strange soccer can be is our goal in five minutes played and then no scoring for the next 95 minutes of action.  

The tie game was a very appropriate ending for this game as both teams were very equal in their play with the stats of the game being just as equal. The shots and corner kicks were almost dead even with the number of saves by the goalies the only thing that showed a difference. Poland only had to make two saves and Egnaczyk had to make six saves. The game was played for a large amount of time around the midfield area with few good scoring opportunities available by either team. The defense played well, again, to help make only one goal scored hold up for a tie. Scoring only a total of three goals in the three games usually would not produce any success. However, Old Forge did not lose a game and ended its season with a fine winning record under their coach, Robert Fountain. Their final record was 6-5-3. The girls worked had and should be happy with their fine season as they showed the improved play that they will need to play at the next level. A number of the girls will go up to the varsity next year and should help the team get back to their winning ways.

Boys varsity soccer

The boys varsity soccer team played their last game of the regular season of play at home against Hamilton on Tuesday, Oct. 18. Playing a fine state ranked opponent so close to the start of  the sectional playoffs was, I think, a very good scheduling move.

Hamilton wasted little time as they got an early goal and dominated early play.  However, Kevin Kress tied the game with a penalty kick awarded on a hand ball inside the penalty area. Hamilton scored the next two goals to win the game 3-1.  Or, was it 4-1?  There was a dispute over the rule interpretation by one of the referees that disallowed a goal by Colin Criss. I won’t go into all of the details as this game will not be played over and it was not an important game. The records of each team were already forwarded to the seeding meeting committee and the game is a non-league game.  

Whatever you want to believe, the game itself, was a well-played contest with both teams playing at playoff level. It was closely played with Hamilton getting the edge in play but our team had enough success that it should give them confidence that they can play with any team in the playoffs—and win. They have the talent to win, they just have to play hard, confidently and together every game.

The seeding meeting for the sectional playoffs was last Sunday, Oct. 23 and I should have that information available to get it in this week’s edition of the Express. The record that was submitted to the committee was 8-5-1, close to being able to get home field advantage for the first game. Hopefully, we will get that. For more information, please check the Express, or call the school for who, where and when we play.  

The team finished the regular season of play with an overall record of 8-6-1 and a league record of 6-3-1 which was good enough to tie for second place with Poland.  Westmoreland won the league title and only suffered one loss for the season, that loss was inflicted on them by our Eskimo team.  

Girls varsity soccer

The girls’ varsity soccer team played their last game of the season on Monday, Oct. 17, on the North Street Field.  

After a tough season, the team would have liked to play a team that had a poorer record than the 9-4 record that Westmoreland brought into our game. A win would certainly remove some of the bad games out of their minds and simply would be a good way to end the season.  

The fans and the team were not disappointed as Old Forge played the best ball that they played all year in not only defeating a fine team, but, defeating them by a 4-0 score. This is what we had all hoped to see from them during the season, but, they just had bad luck throughout the year.  

Andrea Frey got the team off to a good start by scoring the first goal of the game. Frey took an excellent throw from Katie Connell who found a large hole in the penalty area in which to throw the ball, nailed the long throw and Frey did the rest. Shortly after, Daria Orekhov nailed a bullet past the Westmoreland goalie in what may have been the best goal I have seen this year. In the second half, Maddie Phaneuf had a great run on the goalie, got by the defense and put her team ahead by three to ice the game. For good measure, Haley Bush scored the fourth goal to finalize a great performance from this team. Orekhov and Connell each had an assist.  

We give credit to those who score, but, it was a fine victory by the entire team. Every team member had a positive hand in the victory. The defense was sparked by the fine play from Alex Levi, Jessica Hannah and Sarah Branch right back to some fine goaltending by Jessica Menges who recorded 10 saves and, I think, had her best game of the year.  

The season ended with a lot of “what ifs” and if they had won all of the games that they could have won, they would be heading to the playoffs this week. In their last seven games, they had two wins, two losses and three ties. Had they done that all year, they would have easily qualified for the sectionals. So, they end their season without having to hang their heads, knowing they tried and when they clicked as a team, they were a good team.  

The girls will now split up and start their winter sports season on Nov. 14, some will ski, some will be playing volleyball and some will play basketball. Playing three different sports in one season like that amazes me at any success that a team will have with so few girls to pick from. On top of that, both the volleyball and basketball teams play a very difficult schedule against much larger schools.