The Daniel and Michelle Larkin Family - Shane's 2008 Football Season
 

Horses trample Braves 56-26
By PETE TOBEY 
tobey@poststar.com 
Friday, October 31, 2008 1:47 AM EDT
SCHUYLERVILLE - Out of all the big numbers rolled up by the Schuylerville Black Horses on Friday night, here are the only numbers one needs to remember: 54, 63, 59, 61 and 51.

Those are the jersey numbers for the Horses’ starting offensive line — in order, tackles Jeff Ochse and Greg Peterson, guards Josh Stone and Duke Ekblom, and center Colton Barber.

The holes they blew in the Fonda line allowed Schuylerville to rack up 507 total yards — all on the ground — as the undefeated Horses (9-0) romped to a 56-26 victory over the Braves in a Class C semifinal of the Section II Football Tournament.

“We worked hard all week, we came right off the ball hard, we hit hard and kept driving,” Peterson said.

“Our plan was to mix in the pass, but the running game was working,” Schuylerville head coach Greg O’Connor said.

Quarterback Austin Bateman rushed for 172 yards and fullback Shane Larkin added 171 yards and each ran for three touchdowns to lead Schuylerville (9-0), which advances to the Section II title game for the fourth time in five years.

The Horses, who also got 115 yards and two scores from Brad Lyon, play at Columbia High School on Friday at 7 p.m. against the winner of tonight’s semifinal between Chatham (8-0) and Watervliet (6-2).

Schuylerville opened the scoring with a crisp 11-play, 64-yard drive that was capped by Larkin’s 3-yard touchdown burst up the middle. Fonda responded with a 15-yard scoring pass from Josh Nethaway to Kevin Hanson, but Schuylerville closed the first half with another Larkin touchdown from 4 yards out for a 14-7 lead.

Then, the Horses started introducing themselves to Nethaway, the Braves’ star passer who finished the game 19-for-33 passing for 223 yards and three touchdowns. Nethaway set a Section II single-season record with 30 touchdown passes.

Nethaway was continually flushed out of the pocket and forced to throw on the run, was hit while throwing or had passes batted down at the line. Schuylerville also blanketed Nethaway’s receivers.

“That’s what we do on defense — we attack,” said O’Connor, whose defense held Fonda to 284 total yards.

“We worked on their offense all week,” said Bateman, a safety on defense. “I believed in our corners all week, they did a great job on them.”

The Horses took advantage of their defensive stops by opening a 26-7 lead on scores by Lyon and Bateman.

Schuylerville led 26-14 at halftime, but Bateman nearly scored on the final play of the first half, when he was brought down at the 1-yard line.

The Horses opened the second half on defense, but forced Fonda to go three-and-out, then put two quick touchdowns on the board. Larkin sprinted 37 yards around left end for the first, then after a muffed kickoff return gave Schuylerville the ball back at the Braves’ 38, Bateman weaved 13 yards through the Fonda defense to give the Horses a 42-14 lead midway through the third quarter.

“Their guys up front do a good job pulling and blocking, and their backs are all tough to bring down,” Fonda head coach Tom Carpenter said. “We tried a lot of things, but nothing worked.”

“It was still anybody’s game at the half, we were only up two scores and they had the ball to start the second half,” O’Connor said. “It was huge for us to stop them there. Then we got it going. Shane Larkin was a man tonight.”

Fonda (7-2) 7 7 6 6 — 26

Schuylerville (9-0) 14 12 24 6 — 56

First Quarter

S — Larkin 3 run (Ladd kick), 6:35

F — Ke. Hanson 15 pass from J. Nethaway (L.Nethaway kick), 2:42

S — Larkin 4 run (Ladd kick), :19

Second Quarter

S — Lyon 5 run (kick failed), 9:20

S — Bateman 3 run (run failed), 3:29

F — Hall 8 pass from J. Nethaway (L.Nethaway kick), 

Third Quarter

S — Larkin 37 run (Lyon run), 8:33

S — Bateman 13 run (Bateman run), 6:38

F — Sperow 2 run (kick failed), 4:49

S — Lyon 6 run (Dames run), 2:36

Fourth Quarter

S — Bateman 24 run (run failed), 9:48

F — L. Nethaway 30 pass from J. Nethaway (kick failed), 6:09

TEAM STATISTICS

Fon Sch

First downs 17 25

Rushing-yards 20-61 54-507

Passing yards 223 0

Comp-Att.-Int. 19-35-0 0-1-0

Punts-ave. 4-38.3 1-31

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 4-32 5-38

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING ­— Fonda: Sperow 7-32, 1TD; J.Nethaway 10-14, Hart 2-13, Jenkins 1-2. Schuylerville: Bateman 16-172, 3TD; Larkin 16-171, 3TD; Lyon 14-115, 2TD; Ladd 5-46, Backus 1-2, Dames 2-1.

PASSING ­— Fonda: J.Nethaway 19-33-0, 223 yards, 3TD. Schuylerville: Bateman 0-1-0.

RECEIVING ­— Fonda: Ke.Hanson 6-83, 1TD; Hall 5-42, 1TD; L.Nethaway 3-62, 1TD; Sperow 3-10, Ky.Hanson 2-26.

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