The boys’ varsity basketball team continued to show improvement in their play as they had a very interesting week of play this past week.
The week started off with an away contest at Remsen last Tuesday, Jan. 24. Off to a fine start and a 20-7 first quarter lead, the team played some poor defense in the second quarter and had a 35-24 lead at the half. They played much better in the second half and won the contest, 67-45.
Sam Waterbury led the team with 19 points just ahead of Calvin Risley who had 17 points. Greg Hunkins scored 12 points, Kenny Pastore had nine points, Ethan Kress scored six points and Parker Clemans had four in a nice balanced scoring attack.
Their next game was an important league matchup with Rome Catholic played at the Town of Webb School Gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 28. This game turned out to be the most exciting game played by any Old Forge basketball team since our team defeated New York Mills on their court four years ago. The game had to go to two overtimes before Rome Catholic pulled out the victory. The loss to Old Forge does not in any way take away just how exciting the game was.
Rome took charge of the game early on and held a 35-27 halftime lead. Whatever coach Nate Smith said to his team at the half seemed to work. Old Forge completely outplayed Rome in the third period outscoring them by a 14-4 margin and entered the final period of play with a two-point advantage. The game was close all the way through the fourth period which ended in a 54 tie. Both teams had excellent chances to win, but could not capitalize. Both teams played well, but, down the line, both teams made some bad mistakes that cost them a victory in regulation. It was these mistakes that may have made the game even more exciting because you never knew what to expect. Neither team made mistakes for not trying, it was because they were trying too hard and, under pressure, young kids get excited, (old fans do too). A case in point was the last 20 seconds of the fourth period. We had the ball in a tied game and worked it for the last shot. However, we turned it over to Rome who had just enough time to dribble down the court for a layup. Game over, but no, they missed the layup.
First overtime. We, again, had the ball in a tied game, have an open layup for the game winner with two seconds to go and miss it.
Our luck ran out in the second overtime as Rome took charge and won the game 73-66. No question that the main reason for this was due to the fouls that our team committed. We had two starters on the bench that fouled out and when Waterbury fouled out early in the second overtime, it was all over. Not only did the loss of these players hurt the team but, it gave Rome an eight point edge in made free throws in the contest.
The loss was especially hard to take as they needed this game to qualify for the Section III playoffs. They still have an outside chance of making the playoffs. The game was certainly an exciting game and one that we can be proud of our teams play. They have nothing to be ashamed of, however, I do feel sorry for the seniors on the team that were honored as they played their last league game before the home crowd. Calvin Risley, Parker Clemans and Kenny Pastore all will be missed next year.
The excitement of the game was what most people think about when asked but the play of Waterbury may have even been better than that. Waterbury had a career night as he scored 36 points, not far behind the school record for individual game scoring. The rest of the team certainly contributed to the cause as they were led by Risley with nine points, Kress had seven, Hunkins, six, Pastore had four and Clemans and Cody Earl each had two points.
Boys modified basketball
The boys’ modified basketball team played two games this week and showed that they can, if they continue to work hard, be a fine group of players in their high school careers.
Friday, Jan. 20, they traveled to West Canada and lost a hard fought contest, 49-37. Playing a school larger than us and rich in basketball tradition, this was a good result. Westley Lamphear and Tyler Fenton led the team in scoring with James Carnell, Kelly Carter, Christian Midgely, Luke Monroe and Erik Lenci also scoring points.
The next morning, Saturday, Jan. 21, they hosted a large Remsen team sporting 20 in number. The team used both A and B modified players in the game and hoped to wear down a team that had only eight players dressed for the game. It did not work as Old Forge had the lead from start to finish as they pulled out a 53-43 victory over the Rams. Fenton had an outstanding game for the Eskimos as he willed the team to victory. Fenton got good support from other members of the team that scored, namely, Kelly, Lamphear, Lenci, Ulrich and Mark DeVoldre. It was a nice victory for the team and their coach, Greg Clark. For modified ball, it was a very high scoring affair and the team looked good.
The boys modified basketball team lost a heart breaker at Adirondack on Jan. 23.
Having command of the game in the first half, the team watched a comeback bid by Adirondack which culminated into a 25-24 victory at the final buzzer.
It was a tough loss for the team, but, wins and losses aren’t the main thing in modified ball. Coach Greg Clark played all players more than the required second period and he realizes that the teams development is more important than anything else. I have watched this team play and they do have the potential to be a very competitive team in their future years at the Town of Webb Schools.
Girls modified basketball
The girls’ modified basketball team opened their season with a home game against West Canada last Friday, Jan. 20. Opening up with such a strong team as West Canada and playing at home, the girls were obviously very nervous at the start of the game. They were limited to just three points at the half. The jitters went away in the second half and they showed some nice offensive moves and they ended up with 19 points for the game in a losing effort.
Helen Thornton led the team with six points followed by Melissa Rockhill with five, Holly Kalil and Madison Rice each had four points to round out the scoring.
The girls had two games postponed this past week that would have been a very busy week. Those games will be played later in the season. As it was, the team did have one game and that was a home game against Adirondack last Monday, Jan. 23.
Coach, Katie Ritz, had to be happy with the way her team played Monday as they jumped to a lead and then answered a comeback bid by the Adirondack team to win the game going away. The entire team had a hand in the victory as they got some good play from Melissa Rockhill, Helen Thornton, Allie Evans and Madison Rice. However, the main player for this game was Holly Kalil as she had a career day. Kalil led them in scoring with double digit production and she was strong on the boards and on defense. It was a fine win for this young team and one that they should be able to build on.
Girls varsity volleyball
The girls’ varsity volleyball team had a busy week this past week as they near the end of their season.
Monday, Jan. 23, they traveled to Remsen to take on the Rams with nearly identical records. Although all three games were closely played, the Rams won all three; 25-22, 27-25 and 25-22. The victory moved the Rams one game ahead of the Eskimos in the league standings.
Sarah Branch had six kills and one dig; Jessica Menges had three aces, eight kills and three digs; Daria Orekhov had six aces and 27 assists and Morgan Payne had one ace and four kills.
The team played their next game at ODY on Wednesday, Jan. 25. They had little trouble defeating their outmanned opponents who played with mostly underclassmen. ODY could not field a junior varsity team with their limited numbers.
Their last home game of the season was played last Friday, Jan. 27 against Oppenheim. Before the match, the school honored the seniors who were playing their last home game of their volleyball careers. The seniors; Mallory Kleps, Alex Levi and Jessica Menges will be missed come next year when the team starts anew for another season.
Oppenheim had defeated Old Forge earlier in the season, but, this night, the home team would not be denied as they won the match 3-1. The scores of the games were: 25-18, 18-25, 25-19 and 25-18.
Menges had six aces, six kills, one assist and 10 digs; Orekhov had one ace, one kill, 23 assists and two digs; Levi had two aces, eight kills and three digs and Branch had five kills, one assist and four digs.
The last two victories brought the teams record up to 4-4 in the league and 5-8 overall.
The junior varsity team lost at Remsen and I received no report on that game or their game against Oppenheim.
Indoor track
The indoor track team went back to Colgate University to take part in the CSC Championships held in the Sanford Field House.
Not only did the CSC teams who take part in the indoor track season compete that night, but, they also included other schools who competed in an independent invitational. Schools like RFA and New Hartford would be among those schools.
It was not the best night for our three boys who compete in terms of individual efforts, but, one boy, Trevor Godemann had a good night. Godemann led off with a personal best long jump of 20’ 3 1/2” to take first place. His distance was the best jump of both divisions. Godemann came right back to run a 1:31.75, 600 meter run, to win that event. After running that event, Godemann could not find his mark in the triple jump and fouled out of the event he normally does very well in.
Kevin Kress placed second in the 55 meter hurdles with a time of 8.34. That time was just 3/100 of a second behind the first place finisher from Ilion. Connor Rockhill placed third in that event with a time of 8.73. The same two boys teamed up for the high jump and pole vault to complete their three events. Rockhill won the high jump at 6’ and Kress placed third at 5’ 10”. Rockhill and Kress were among four boys who ended up the pole vault at 11’. Because of the number of competitors, the judges moved the bar up 1’ at a time. That is too much of an increase and it seemed to bother the vaulters. Deciding the final places, they see who had the least misses, first at the height that they tied at and if that doesn’t settle the tie they go to misses for the entire event. Rockhill was clean throughout and was awarded first place and Kress was placed fourth. Both boys have done better at this event and it was a bit disappointing to them.
The team placed fourth among the seven CSC schools behind Clinton, a new member of the CSC, Ilion and West Canada. These teams have as many as over 30 athletes on their team. The three man team from Old Forge tallied a total of 64 points, quite a nice accomplishment.
The boys will be getting ready for the Section III Championships, the open qualifier and states, all coming up later in February. All have an outside chance of making it to the states.
Girls varsity basketball
The girls’ varsity basketball team had a very busy week this past week, playing three games as they near the close of their season.
Tuesday, Jan. 24, Indian Lake/Long Lake brought their team to Old Forge. IL/LL has only one loss on the season and is state-ranked. Watching the two teams warmup before the start of the game, one would assume this would be no contest. IL/LL was the much larger team, sported twice as many girls on the team as Old Forge and had very nice looking uniforms and warmup outfits.
As the two teams took the floor, IL/LL started five girls that were all taller, by position, than our team. Once they started to play one saw very little difference in the play of the two teams. The game was closely played throughout and only a stronger fourth period, after our team got worn down by their superior height and numbers, did IL/LL manage to open a larger lead to win the contest, 33-27.
It was a game that Old Forge should have been very proud of and one that they could have won had they shot better. They had to work so hard to get rebounds and get off shots that you could see them tire by late in the game.
Haley Josephson had a nice complete game as she had eight points, five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and five steals. Sam Notley also had eight points and she also contributed five rebounds and two steals. Katie Connell had seven points, four rebounds and three blocks, Elizabeth Getty had four points and Mercedes Rice had three steals and two rebounds.
Unfortunately, the team had to get themselves ready to play Oriskany the next night. Oriskany came into the game comfortably in first place in our league and they are also state-ranked. Old Forge had trouble getting started, but, they battled hard throughout the contest, only to lose, 52-33. It was a case of a very tired team playing a better and refreshed team that could only end in defeat. Watching a tired team and Josephson limping up and down the court, but, still all playing as hard as possible, was great to see.
Connell ended up with a fine game against this strong team as she scored 14 points, had 10 rebounds and seven blocks, almost a triple-double. Josephson had her usual well-rounded game with nine points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Notley had six points and three steals, Getty had two points and Rice had two points and six rebounds.
The team then had to play at Poland on Friday, Jan. 27. Poland is second in the league and you guessed it, they are also state-ranked. Playing three games in four days is tough enough against any kind of competition but playing three games, all against state-ranked teams, is next to impossible.
Again, the team played hard and proved to be a nice example of what a team should be. They ended up losing 50-33 and still have to be proud of what they are doing on the court. Connell had a career night in the scoring department as she led all scorers with 19 points. Connell also had three steals, four rebounds and two blocks. Josephson had a good game as she scored seven points, had two steals, three assists, two blocks and led all rebounders with 16 boards. Notley had one point and two assists, Rice had four points and six rebounds, Kayla Yuckel had two points and Getty and Jodi Bolton each had six rebounds.
I mentioned before how hard this teams schedule is. Breaking it down, of the 16 games they will play, eight of them are against state-ranked teams. Four more non-league games are against larger schools who are actually better than the Class D state-ranked teams. Both Little Falls and Adirondack are at the top of their respective larger school divisions of the CSC League. The remaining four games were against a class C school, Westmoreland, who we defeated, and the only school in our league that is our size, Rome Catholic, has the edge as they only field a basketball team. I think back the many years that I have been at Old Forge and I cannot think of a tougher schedule ever played by one of our teams—ever. The nice thing about this is that some teams would have given up games ago, this team has not, and will not, ever give up.
Boys junior varsity basketball
The boys’ junior varsity basketball team journeyed to Remsen to take on the Rams last Tuesday, Jan. 24. The team did not have one of their better nights as they dropped a 40-27 game to a team that they felt they should have defeated.
Will Johnson led his team with 14 points with Dane Daiker, back to the jayvee squad after a brief stint with the varsity, close behind with 12 points. Andy Slegaitis had the other point. Without good balanced scoring from the team, you simply will not win many games.
The team welcomed Rome Catholic to our home gym on Saturday, Jan. 28. Rome Catholic defeated Old Forge a while back and they were eager to get back at them. Old Forge played the best ball I have seen them play this year in building a 16-5 first period lead. At that point, they slowly allowed Rome to close the gap until, once again, they started to play well again. With a fine fourth quarter, Old Forge got a badly needed victory, 40-29.
Johnson scored 14 points, Daiker had 12 with the difference from the Remsen game being that we got some needed points from the other starters. Cameron Lenci scored six points and Slegaitis and Tyler McGough each had four points.
Varsity ski team
• On Saturday, Jan. 21, the Town of Webb Varsity alpine ski team competed in a slalom event at McCauley Mountain. The course was a tough one, as it was icy on the headwall and at the flush near the end of the race. Both the Town of Webb girls’ team and the boys’ team won first place. Below are the individual results for Old Forge racers:
Girls, first run
Second place, Jessica Hannah, 50.72; sixth place, Mara Gaffney, 56.15; ninth place, Lexie Haehl, 60.02; tenth place, Camry Liddle, 60.03; 15th place, Danielle Gibbs, 73.23; 21st place, Maggie Queen, 81.65; 22nd place, MacKenzie Kelly, 86.25; 23rd place, Ella Mitchell, 89.02; 24th place, Brianna Brownsell, 89.52; McKenzie Liddle and Lauren Holt did not finish.
Girls, second run
First place, McKenzie Liddle, 46.52; fifth place, Lexie Haehl, 51.53; sixth place, Mara Gaffney, 52.76; ninth place, Camry Liddle, 56.62; 13th place, Maggie Queen, 70.01; 14th place, Lauren Holt, 70.91; 16th place, Jessica Hannah, 75.53; 19th place, MacKenzie Kelly, 84.47; 20th place, Brianna Brownsell, 86.69; 23rd place, Ella Mitchell, 100.05; Danielle Gibbs did not finish.
Boys, first run
First place, Dan Heroux, 43.24; second place, West Tickner, 43.56; fourth place, Corey Down, 48.86; fifth place Griffin Kleps, 49.50; sixth place, John Gaffney, 50.72; seventh place, Carter Lawrence, 52.91; ninth place, Cy Barkauskas, 54.09; tenth place, Adam Levi, 55.72; 17th place, Hunter Lawrence, 68.00; Connor Glasser did not finish and Adam Winslow did not start.
Boys, second run
First place, Dan Heroux, 42.33; second place, West Tickner, 42.70; fourth place, Carter Lawrence, 45.92; fifth place, Cy Barkauskas, 47.26; sixth place, Corey Down, 48.99; seventh place, Hunter Lawrence, 49.06; ninth place, Connor Glasser, 50.71; 11th place, Adam Levi, 52.24; 12th place, John Gaffney, 56.18; 16th place, Griffin Kleps, 64.34; Adam Winslow, did not start.
• An Adirondack Council Race was held at Snow Ridge Ski Resort in Turin on Jan. 14, with the following results:
J6 Girls
First place, Madeline Prichard
J6 Boys
First place, George Uzdavinis; third place, Trevor Greene; fourth place, Thomas Levi; eighth place, Logan Hodge.
J5 Girls
Third place, Hannah Kane
J5 Boys
Second place, Blake Greene; third place, Calvin Barkauskas; sixth place, Sasha Fielteau; 12th place, Wyatt Beckingham
J4 Girls
Second place, Laura Levi; third place, Alex Sutherland; fifth place, Lauren Beckingham; seventh place Alex DiOrio; eighth place, Sidney Payne; tenth place, Shelby Townsend
J4 Boys
Second place, Matt Parent; third place, Charlie Uzdavinis
• The Hovey Memorial Race was held at Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington on Jan. 7, with the following results:
J5 Girls
11th place, Hannah Kane
J5 Boys
15th place, Calvin Barkauskas
J4 Girls
Tenth place, Chloe Barkkauskas; 26th place, Lauren Beckingham; 27th place, Alex Sutherland; 30th place, Shelby Townsend; 31st place, Alex DiOrio
J3 Girls
36th place, Ally Cooper
J3 Boys
Fourth place, Carter Lawrence; sixth place, Cy Barkauskas, tenth place, Adam Levi
• A J3 East race was held at Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington on Jan. 8, with the following results:
J3 Girls
39th place, Ally Cooper
J3 Boys
Fifth place, Carter Lawrence; 20th place, Adam Levi; 42nd place, Cy Barkauskas
• A J3 East race was held at McCauley Mountain on Jan. 22, with the following results:
J3 Boys
Tenth place, Cy Barkauskas; 11th place, Carter Lawrence; 30th place, Connor Glasser; 34th place, Adam Levi