TROY — Two years ago, the Lansingburgh High School boys soccer team posted one of the marquee victories in program history when it upset Ichabod Crane in the Section II Class A playoffs.

Friday night, the Knights welcomed Ichabod Crane to town for its first Colonial Council game in Lansingburgh and the Riders were not about to see history repeat itself.

Ichabod Crane (2-0-1, 4-0-1) scored three goals in the first 11 minutes of Friday’s game en route to a 4-0 victory.

Sophomore Ricardo Cruz tallied a pair of goals and freshman Seth Scarano and senior Mitchell Niemeyer added single tallies for the Riders.

Lansingburgh goalkeeper Jarrod Jarosz – a freshman – made 19 saves in net for the Knights (2-2-0, 2-3-0).

It was Ichabod Crane’s third victory of the season in the Collar City. The Riders topped two of Troy’s Big 10 Conference teams, Catholic Central and La Salle Institute, in non-league games to open the season.

2010 has been a rebuilding season so far for Lansingburgh, which lost 12 seniors to graduation after having secured a third place finish in the Colonial Council regular season and the No. 2 seed on the South Side of the Section II Class A bracket a season ago.

Lansingburgh senior soccer player Jarrod Nash prepares to kick the ball during Friday's home game against Ichabod Crane. (Photos by J.S. Carras - The Record).

“We knew they (Ichabod) were a good team coming into the game,” said Lansingburgh head coach Ed Classen. “We lost 12 seniors last year, so we’re young and we knew it was going to be a tough game. Ichabod, they move the ball well and they play a good soccer game. They move the ball left to right and they get give-and-goes up through the middle. They’re a good team.”

Ichabod Crane, which has moved from its traditional place in the Patroon Conference to the Colonial Council beginning this fall, controlled the ball nearly the entire game. Every time Jarosz made a save, it seemed that the Riders were there to swoop in and steal the ball away or cut off a passing lane and create yet another offensive opportunity.

“Since we’ve started, we’ve really been trying to get the defense going again,” senior Jarrod Nash said. “Last year we had a really quick D and we had a really good stopper, but all of them left. So we’ve slowed down our defense and that’s what we’re trying to build toward.”

Wednesday, the Knights played Cohoes and scored the first two goals of the game, only to have Cohoes storm back with two goals to tie the score. Lansingburgh scored again to go ahead, 3-2, but the Tigers scored four unanswered goals to close out that game and win 6-3.

Lansingburgh's Aaron Barker (17) battles an Ichabod Crane defender for control of the ball during Friday's Colonial Council game.

“I’m still shuffling guys,” Classen said. “We only have 14 guys on the team and I only had one sub in the first half. I’m still moving guys to different spots and I’m not even sure where they’re going to play for the rest of the year. We’re trying new things.”

"Some guys just started this year and some guys have been playing for a few years, but it’s all a mix of guys who just coming together," continued Classen.

As soon as the defense picks up, Nash hopes he can help create a few opportunities for the team’s striker, Brian Gardner.

“I think we need to take more shots,” Nash said. “We’re trying to get too close to the goal to take our shots. We need to start ripping from outside the 18. That’s what we need to do.”

Lansingburgh had just 20 players show up on the first day of practice for both the junior varsity and varsity teams – they would need at least 22 to field two teams with no substitutes.

For video highlights from Friday's game, visit www.troyrecord.com/video/sports

"We have three seniors on the team and on the first day we had 20 guys for JV and varsity and that’s not even enough for two teams," Classen said. "We’ve been picking up guys left and right. Football, they have a lot of guys. They have a winning program and they’ve done well the last few years so I think a lot of guys go to that for the attraction of that."

The Knights are aware they have their work cut out for them if they hope to catch Ichabod Crane in the Colonial Council standings this season.

“We’re working on possession every day,” said Classen. “We’re doing keep-away and possessing the ball and that’s what we really have to work with, pass and trap and moving into space. You can tell my kids, they’re just starting at this. With Ichabod, you can just see that they’ve been playing together a long time and they’re three steps ahead of us.”

"They’re a good team," Nash said. "They move the ball really well. There was nothing we really did about it. We didn’t try marking and we didn’t try cutting off passing lanes. It’s going to be a long year."

ICHABOD CRANE 4, LANSINGBURGH 0

Ichabod Crane (2-0-1, 4-0-1) 4 0 — 4
Lansingburgh (2-2-0, 2-3-0) 0 0 — 0
Scoring: IC: Cruz 2-0, Scarano 1-0, Niemeyer 1-0. L: None.
Goalkeepers: IC: Domino, 2; Ooms, 3. L: J.Jarosz, 19.
Corner kicks: IC: 5. L: 0.

Brian Gardner, a senior at Lansingburgh High School, looks to kick the ball around an Ichabod Crane defender during Friday's Colonial Council game.

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Section II football scoreboard

Class AA
Liberty Division
Colonie 21, Columbia 14


Class A
Northwest Division
Amsterdam 22, South Glens Falls 12

Class B 
West Division
Schuylerville 34, Cobleskill 7
Schalmont 62, Broadalbin-Perth 13
Reinfurt Division
Ravena 50, Cairo-Durham 20
Non-division
Ichabod Crane 35, Taconic Hills 12 *(first win in program history)

Class C
North Division
Hoosick Falls 20, Greenwich 0
Lake George 42, Stillwater 7
Mechanicville 35, Corinth 12
South Division
Chatham 35, Fonda-Fultonville 28

Section II high school football standings, 2010

(I'm still missing Quarterpoints on Coxsackie-Athens-Taconic from Week Two & Greenwich-Hoosick Falls from Week Three if anyone can help in that department, thanks).

Class AA, League, Overall
Empire Division, W-L, W-L, PF, PA, QP
Shenendehowa, 3-0, 3-0, 82, 10, 21
Ballston Spa, 2-1, 2-1, 71, 34, 11.5
Saratoga Springs, 2-1, 2-1, 68, 33, 16.5
Bethlehem, 1-1, 1-2, 42, 86, 4.5
Christian Bros. Acad., 1-1, 2-1, 83, 53, 9
Guilderland, 0-2, 1-2, 61, 74, 0.5
Albany, 0-3, 0-3, 7, 107, 0
Liberty Division
Shaker, 2-0, 3-0, 97, 35, 12
Troy, 2-0, 2-0, 95, 0, 14
Niskayuna, 2-1, 2-1, 88, 81, 13.5
La Salle, 1-1, 1-2, 28, 105, 4
Colonie, 1-2, 1-2, 21, 88, 5.5
Columbia, 0-2, 0-3, 56, 92, 4
Schenectady, 0-2, 0-2, 49, 60, 3

Class A
Northwest Division
Amsterdam, 1-0, 3-0, 105, 24, 6
Burnt Hills, 0-0, 2-0, 67, 15, 0
Glens Falls, 0-0, 2-0, 73, 37, 0
Queensbury, 0-0, 2-0, 71, 19, 0
Gloversville, 0-0, 0-2, 61, 73, 0
South Glens Falls, 0-1, 1-2, 59, 63, 1
Southeast Division
Averill Park, 1-0, 2-1, 72, 81, 7
Bishop Maginn, 1-0, 2-1, 91, 73, 6
Lansingburgh, 0-0, 1-1, 50, 53, 0
Mohonasen, 0-1, 0-3, 38, 102, 1
Scotia-Glenville, 0-1, 0-3, 6, 84, 0

Class B
Reinfurt Division
Albany Academy, 1-0, 3-0, 157, 51, 7
Ravena, 1-0, 3-0, 115, 52, 7
Cohoes, 0-0, 0-2, 13, 88, 0
Cairo-Durham, 0-1, 0-3, 26, 132, 0
Hudson, 0-1, 1-2, 49, 71, 0
West Division
Schalmont, 1-0, 3-0, 143, 26, 7
Schuylerville, 1-0, 3-0, 117, 20, 7
Hudson Falls, 0-0, 0-2, 38, 82, 0
Johnstown, 0-0, 0-2, 14, 79, 0
Broadalbin-Perth, 0-1, 0-3, 25, 177, 0
Cobleskill, 0-1, 1-2, 67, 55, 0
Independent
Ichabod Crane, 0-0, 1-2, 72, 81, 0

Class C
North Division
Hoosick Falls, 3-0, 3-0, 110, 20, 14
Tamarac, 2-0, 2-0, 74, 18, 13.5
Greenwich, 2-1, 2-1, 97, 35, 14
Lake George, 2-1, 2-1, 74, 48, 11
Granville, 1-1, 1-1, 58, 56, 7
Mechanicville, 1-1, 1-2, 35, 75, 7
Hoosic Valley, 0-2, 0-2, 0, 100, 0.5
Stillwater, 0-2, 1-2, 47, 103, 0
Corinth, 0-3, 0-3, 45, 97, 3
South Division
Chatham, 3-0, 3-0, 105, 48, 20
Watervliet, 2-0, 2-0, 85, 13, 13.5
Fonda-Fultonville, 2-1, 2-1, 100, 71, 15
Coxsackie-Athens, 1-1, 1-1, 58, 59, 0
Canajoharie, 0-1, 1-1, 42, 46, 0
Voorheesville, 0-1, 1-1, 35, 33, 0
Catholic Central, 0-2, 0-2, 27, 82, 0.5
Taconic Hills, 0-2, 0-3, 38, 117, 0

Class D
Cambridge, 2-0, 2-0, 61, 15, 11.5
Rensselaer, 1-0, 1-0, 34, 22, 7
Fort Edward, 1-1, 1-1, 76, 49, 6
Warrensburg, 1-1, 1-1, 33, 68, 6.5
Whitehall, 1-1, 1-1, 43, 49, 7.5
Bishop Gibbons, 0-1, 0-1, 7, 20, 1.5
Salem, 0-2, 0-2, 22, 53, 1.5

*QP=quarter points, Section II's postseason spot tie-breaker

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