And then there was one.

There is one week of high school football left. Jeepers.

I am constantly reminded of the insanely quick passage of time by how quickly high school sports seasons seem to fly past. I’m not being metaphorical here or looking for some deeper meaning in life, I’m simply saying that time is moving past and we just played week six of the football season. 

That being said, what a week week six was. I say that every time I write this blog post, but I mean it every single time I sit here and type it. There are some really, really fantastic athletes in the Section II football world and if you haven’t been watching these kids play, there’s probably something wrong with you.

If you did however, find yourself braving homecoming celebrations and jam-packed bleachers this past weekend, you’ve come to the right place to relive all of the glory. And if you didn’t do just that; shame on you, take a moment now to read what happened while you were busy doing something else and get to a game next week. You’ve only got one more chance left.


Players of the Week
Anthony Walker (Lansingburgh, RB): The junior tailback had just 35 yards in the first half against Ravena on Friday night. By the final whistle he had 270 yards and four touchdowns, leading the Knights to a 26-21 victory and sole possession of first place in the Reinfurt Division.
Brad Burns (Hoosick Falls, RB): The senior has yet to play a full, four quarter game; mainly because he’s been racking up enough touchdowns in the first half to warrant some rest. Burns continued to dominate the field on Friday as he broke the school’s career rushing record with 3,263. He also finished with 128 yards and four touchdowns.
Daishawne Sturdivant (Cohoes, RB): The tailback found the endzone twice and recorded 181 yards as Cohoes topped Hudson 32-12 in the Tigers’ third straight victory of the season.
Steven Harwood (Rensselaer, QB): Harwood threw just four passes in Friday’s 33-0 victory over Bishop Gibbons, but he completed them all, finishing the shutout victory with 162 yards and three passing touchdowns for the undefeated Rams quad.

Biggest Surprise of the Week
Greenwich Almost Topped Goliath…or Cambridge: Usually I wouldn’t pick a loss as one of the biggest surprises of the week, but the Witches gave state-ranked Cambridge a run for their money on Friday night, forcing overtime before ultimately falling 42-34. Before the Greenwich game the Indians had allowed six points in five games and at one point Greenwich was even leading. Again, normally a loss wouldn’t be a surprise, especially against a team like Cambridge, who are simply dominant in Class D play. However, the way Greenwich played the Indians, as if they 0-5 and not 5-0, without any kind of intimidation or fear, that’s something pretty awesome; and, in its own special way, surprising.
Stillwater Takes the Indian Bowl: Earlier this week I held a live-chat with my fellow high school sports writer from The Saratogian, Michael Cignolli, and we discussed Mechanicville’s progress throughout the season. I said I loved it, and I did. Every week the Red Raiders stepped on the field, they looked better, getting into a rhythm and climbing up the standings until they were just a game behind Hoosick Falls. Then this week happened and everything seemed to fall apart. Mechaniville fell 34-16 to Stillwater on Friday night and suddenly the season seems to have a lot more question marks. 

Biggest Surprise That Probably Shouldn’t Have Been A Surprise
Chris Smith: The Columbia senior running, who had broken practically every single one of the Blue Devil’s rushing records last season, has been relatively quiet this year. As his squad has kind of bounced around in the standings, including a surprising 12-0 loss to La Salle last week, Smith simply wasn’t getting the yardage he was used to. Eventually something had to give though and it did this Friday night. Smith rushed for 136 yards and three touchdowns on just 20 carries, making the 30-0 victory over Colonie one of his most productive games of the season.

I Finally See Anthony Walker Rush the Ball
His Consistent Presence on This Blog is Warranted: Ok, I admit it. I did not think Anthony Walker was on track for a good game during Friday’s halftime against Ravena. It did not look good; his longest rush was for eight yards. I was almost certain that he would not be on this blog this week. He proved me wrong. Walker rushed for four touchdowns and 235 yards in the second half. Two of those touchdown runs were over 50 yards. This is the first time this year I’ve seen him run and let me tell you, he is fast. He doesn’t run in a brusing sort of way, but rather like he’s simply sliding through lanes and around tacklers. People were literally just falling off him. He’s fun to watch.

Speaking of Bruising Running Backs…
Brad Burns Will Run You Over: I’ve interviewed Brad Burns a lot and every time I ask him about getting the chance to run over a defensive line man he gets this big smile on his face like he just unwrapped the present he’d been asking for on his birthday. It’s interesting because Burns doubles as a linebacker for the Panthers, so he kind of brings that same mentality with him every time he takes a handoff; which is frequently. Brad Burns wants to run you over; he wants to lower his should and plow past a linemen and straight into the endzone. The style has worked to a tee; Burns topped his brother John’s school rushing record on Friday, entering a new number at 3,263 yards. Keep in mind, he’s still got some time left too.

Cohoes Wins Three in a Row
Really: The Tigers did not look like a very good football team early this season. They didn’t play like one either, scoring just 40 points, while allowing 116 in the first three games of the season. Fast forward to now and Cohoes has won three in a row, including two league games against Green Tech and Hudson. Granted, the Tigers haven’t topped the top teams in Class B, but in the past three games they have scored 136 points. Maybe they’re on to something over there.

Academy Makes It a Two-Horse Race in Class B
Shutout: The Cadets dropped a 35-0 game to cross-over rival Queensbury on Saturday afternoon, falling to 4-2 overall on the season. The loss seriously puts a dent in the Cadets perspective seeding going into sectionals, as they’ve already lost to Ravena and face off against undefeated Lansingburgh this coming Saturday. As things stand now, it looks like Lansingburgh will get the top seed in Class B once sectionals do roll around, with Schalmont not far behind in the second seed.

Game I’m Looking Forward to Most in Week Seven – and You Should Be Too
Shenendehowa at CBA: We haven’t talked much about CBA so far this season. Let’s remedy that now. The Brothers are 6-0 overall, currently sitting atop the Empire Division of Class AA with a 5-0 league record. They’ve quietly racked up 220 points this season while allowing just 72 and have recorded over 1600 rushing yards thanks to a whole corps of talented running backs. After Shen’s upset loss to Shaker in week five, the Plainsmen rebounded nicely, topping Saratoga 49-0 on Friday night. So what’s important about this game in particular? Shen is a game behind CBA now, so a win here would force an Empire Division tie, which helps make sectional seeding exciting. A CBA win though, drops Shen to 5-2 for probably the first time since the creation of the Earth. It could get exciting here.