by Steve Bradley
Last Saturday night at Stillwater High School, the Hoosick Falls Panthers faced an unfamiliar situation for the first time all year, a halftime deficit. The Fonda – Fultonville Braves scored 14 first half points; the Panthers scored 7. How the Panthers dealt with this situation is the mark of a good team. Coming from behind, especially against good teams, is what championship teams do.
The Panthers were reaching for a sixth straight Section II, Class C championship, unequaled in Section II history, and the F-F Braves were determined to keep them from obtaining that goal.
Kicker Damon Dubois started the game by booming the kickoff into the end zone for a touchback. On their first series, F-F ran three plays for a total of minus seven yards. With the Panthers’ first offensive series, they, too, went three and out. Each team appeared to be sizing the other up. The Panthers’ second possession resulted in the Braves intercepting a pass at midfield. On their possession, F-F put together a nice drive, that included a 20 yard pass, that ended when the Braves ran in from four yards out for their first score.
With the Braves now up seven, the Panthers moved downfield on a 10 play drive using both the run and the pass to put them on the Braves’ two yard line. From there quarterback Garrett Wright faked to Austin Pitt and then kept the ball to dive in for the score. With Dubois’ good extra point kick, the score was all knotted up at 7 – 7.
With just over eight minutes until the half, and two plays after the touchdown kick-off, Fonda was back in the lead. Seventy-five yards from the goal line, the Braves’ QB took the shotgun snap, sighted in on his receiver running a slant behind the linebackers and threw a perfect pass that the receiver caught in stride. From there the receiver easily outran the defense and as quick as that Fonda once again held a seven point lead.
Fonda players and fans enjoyed this score. Both were hooting and hollering. According to the cheers, the Panthers didn’t even deserve to be on the same field with the Fonda Braves. The Braves led the mighty Panthers, and it was clear to them they were going to deny the Panthers that coveted sixth championship. For the Fonda faithful this was a magic moment, and they certainly were going to enjoy it. It was nice that they did because it was the last thing they had to cheer for the remainder of the evening.
The score went into the half at Fonda 14 – HF 7. The Panthers were their own enemy in the first half, giving up two interceptions and the defense surrendering a big yardage touchdown pass. The Panthers were playing well, but the mistakes were giving Fonda a chance, and Fonda was a good enough team that you didn’t want to give them too many chances.
The Panthers didn’t fluster. They went into the locker room, talked it over, discussed some adjustments and came back out for the second half determined to take over the game.
The Braves kicked off to the Panthers to begin the second half. The Panthers’ offense immediately went to a hurry-up offense that appeared to throw Fonda off balance. The Panthers marched up the field in 11 plays, all but one on the ground. Colby Davendonis took the ball in from the one yard line to tie the game, 14 – 14. This drive put the Braves back on their heels, and they never recovered their footing.
The Panthers’ defense stiffened and the Braves found yards much harder to come by. After the touchdown, the Braves offense ran out of downs and punted back to the Panthers. Well, they tried to punt back to the Panthers. The Braves went into punt formation and snapped the ball to the punter, and the punter kicked the ball. The ball was airborne for about two feet before it ran into Panther Jake Bakaitis’ chest and headed in the opposite direction. Bakaitis’ teammate, Pascal Wilkins, caught the ball on the bounce at the midfield stripe and started for the goal line. Wilkins was dragged down from behind at the Fonda 35 yard line.
From the Braves’ 35 yard line, the Panther offense sputtered down to the 25. After seven plays, including a couple of penalties for losses, the Panthers had fourth down at the Braves 15. Dubois booted a 25 yard field goal, and for the first time the Panthers held the lead, 17 – 14, as the third quarter wound down.
In the fourth quarter, the Panthers took over the game. The Braves, rattled, had no answers at this point. The Panthers scored twice more, once on a one yard dive by Davendonis, and the last score came on a run after a 19 yard fumble recovery by Noah LaBarge.
It was the fifth time in a row the Panthers ended Fonda’s season.
Colby Davendonis, with two touchdowns and 163 all purpose yards, 115 of them coming on rushes, was named Offensive and Overall Player of the Game. Garrett Wright was 11 of 14 for 99 yards and rushed for a touchdown. On defense, Evan Hand had 12 tackles, earning him Defensive Player of the Game honors. Noah LaBarge had eight tackles filling in for Shane Richard, who was injured early in the contest. Davendonis also had eight tackles. A special mention needs to be directed to Jake Bakaitis and Mark Hackett for filling in for the injured Richard in the offensive center position. Bakaitis did the offense snaps, mostly shotgun snaps, and Hackett did the kicking game long snaps, without missing a beat, a very difficult thing to do. Damon Dubois went 4 of 4 on extra points to go along with the 25 yard field goal.
On Saturday, November 15, the Panthers and the Faithful travel to Ausable Valley High School to play the Saranac Lake Red Storm in a State regional quarterfinal game. Game time is 1 pm. Hoosick Falls played Saranac Lake two years ago when the Panthers beat the Section VII representative on the way to becoming State champions. Saranac Lake defeated Ogdensburg Free Academy 34 – 26 last Saturday to reach the quarterfinals. Ausable Valley High School can be reached by taking Exit 34 off the Northway and traveling westward about 4 miles on Route 9N. Travel time is a little less than three hours. Tip: Trees quickly put the visitor’s stands in the shade on a sunny day.
