Horses back on track

In a bizarre twist, Schuylerville's Zack Dames recovered his own second-half kickoff, sparking the Horses' second-half surge en route to a 27-0 Class C North football victory over Corinth. Both teams are 1-1 in the division.

Dames' line-drive kick to start the second half caromed off one of the Tomahawks' linemen, and the junior pounced on the loose ball at midfield.

Seven plays later, Shane Larkin burst up the middle 25 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead for the Black Horses.

"That was pure luck, it just bounced off him," Schuylerville head coach Greg O'Connor said. "That was a big break for us emotionally. We were fired up to start the half, but that gave us even more of a lift."

From there, Schuylerville rolled, getting a pair of touchdowns from Anthony Casimano, on runs of 48 and 7 yards in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. Larkin set up Casimano's second TD with a 50-yard run, as the bruising fullback finished with 123 yards on 13 carries.

Casimano finished with 92 yards on nine rushes, and quarterback Austin Bateman added another 71 yards on 17 carries.

"We pride ourselves on being a second-half team," Larkin said. "We fixed our problems and opened it up in the second half."

"That kickoff that hit us -- it felt like that deflated us," Corinth head coach Jeff Higgins said. "We've got to learn to come back from things like that. Good teams do that."

It had been a frustrating first half for the Horses. Coming off a 46-13 loss at Cambridge last week, Schuylerville struggled against a hard-hitting Corinth defense that forced two fumbles, one at the Tomahawks' 1-yard line.

However, after the second fumble -- which Corinth's Shawn Delancey recovered in the end zone for a touchback -- the Horses forced a punt to midfield. Two plays later, Bateman found Schuyler Thomas down the left sideline for a 46-yard touchdown pass with 3:17 left in the half.

"The kids were embarassed by last week, they thought they were capable of more than that," O'Connor said. "We wanted to see who would show up -- the team we think we're capable of being, or the team that laid an egg last week."

The Tomahawks' offense struggled for much of the game, managing 121 total yards and six first downs. They went three-and-out six times, including their first four possessions, and did not gain a first down until three minutes remained in the first half.

"When we got close, I didn't want to go for it -- maybe we should be more aggressive," Higgins said. "I was trying to be conservative and protect our defense a little."

Schuylerville used its advantage in depth to wear down the Tomahawks.

"I'd put our 11 against their 11, but they have depth that we don't," Higgins said. "We've got to get into better shape."

Schuy. (1-1, 1-1) 0 7 13 7 -- 27

Corinth (1-1, 1-1) 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Second Quarter

Sch -- Thomas 46 pass from Bateman (Patrick kick), 3:17

Third Quarter

Sch -- Larkin 25 run (Patrick kick), 9:11

Sch -- Casimano 48 run (kick failed), :57

Fourth Quarter

Sch -- Casimano 7 run (Patrick kick), 8:25

TEAM STATISTICS

Sch Cor

First downs 16 6

Rushing-yards 48-342 22-68

Passing yards 56 53

Comp-Att.-Int. 5-9-0 6-19-0

Punts-ave. 1-41.0 6-21.7

Fumbles-lost 3-3 2-1

Penalties-yards 6-40 3-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING --- Schuylerville: Larkin 13-123, 1 TD; Casimano 9-92, 2 TD; Bateman 17-71, Ekblom 5-48, Lyon 2-7, Backus 2-1. Corinth: Saunders 6-36, Rubel 9-18, Lucia 5-10, Armstrong 2-4.

PASSING --- Schuylerville: Bateman 5-9-0, 56 yards, 1 TD. Corinth: Lucia 6-18-0, 53 yards; Saunders 0-1-0.

RECEIVING --- Schuylerville: Casimano 3-9; Thomas 2-47, 1 TD. Corinth: Mann 3-17, Rubel 1-17, Saunders 1-14, Charbonneau 1-5.