Shane Lyon leaps to make a catch over Albany Academy's Jasiri Currie during Saturday's Class B quarterfinal playoff game. (Photos courtsey The Saratogian).

Jeff Scott covered the Schuylerville at Albany Academy game for The Record and The Saratogian on Saturday. Here is an excerpt from his story. For the full scoop, check out Sunday's edition of The Record or The Saratogian.

ALBANY -- When you’re on the football field, 48 minutes can seem like a long time. Sometimes, though, 48 minutes aren’t enough.

Forced to go through the air with time running out, Schuylerville saw its drive for a probable winning touchdown end with an interception inside the 10-yard line with seconds to play. The result was a 21-17 victory for Albany Academy in a hard-hitting Class B quarterfinal Saturday.

"We just ran out of time," said Black Horses head coach Greg O’Connor. "We lost a couple of guys during the week at practice, and we had a couple guys go down today [Shane Lyon and Mike Vargues]. We were running out of bodies, but we didn’t quit. I’m proud of my guys."

Albany Academy senior linebacker Paolo LaPietra (34) tackles Schuylerville's Mike Vargues during Saturday's game.

The Black Horses had taken a 17-15 lead on Ray Rodriguez’s field goal with 8:41 left. But the Cadets came back with what turned out to be the winning score, going 47 yards in seven plays, with Zay Richardson (28 carries for 152 yards) taking it in from the 2.

"I knew we wouldn’t quit," said Richardson, whose 1,557 yards and 27 touchdowns ranked him as the leading Section II rusher going into the game. "I worked hard all summer, and we’ve worked hard all season as a team. I’m the guy we like to go to, and I just try to deliver."

Schuylerville's Mike Vargues talks things over with head coach Greg O'Connor during a timeout during Saturday's game against Albany Academy.

The rest of Saturday's Section II football roundup:

Class B
Hudson Falls 48, Hudson 14: Artem Trerise ran for 97 yards on 10 attempts and Aaron Dudley scampered for 95 yards on eight carries as the Tigers (4-4), the No. 2 seed in the West Division, topped the Reinfurt Division’s No. 3 Bluehawks (3-5) in Class B quarterfinal action.
Hudson High’s Avery Ferrusi ran for 179 yards on 17 attempts.

Class C
Fonda-Fultonville 38, Mechanicville 7: Wally Kowalski ran for 97 yards as the Braves built a 25-point lead by halftime in a Class C quarterfinal victory over North Division No. 3 seed Mechanicville (4-4).
South Division No. 2 Fonda (6-2) will play at North Division No. 1 Hoosick Falls (8-0) Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Stillwater High School in a Class C semifinal.
Adam Dunn caught a touchdown pass from Sam Connors for Mechanicville’s lone score.

Class D
Fort Edward 41, Bishop Gibbons 0: The Flying Forts (4-3) defeated the Golden Knights (2-5) for the second straight week, in this case, a Section II Class D quarterfinal round game.

Crossover games
Cohoes 41, Ichabod Crane 34: Tyree Dawkins had 215 yards rushing, two touchdowns and a punt return for a touchdown in the victory for the Tigers.
Cambridge 41, Granville 0: Matt Best ran for 95 yards on 11 attempts, scoring a pair of touchdowns for the Indians (7-0) in a crossover victory over the Golden Horde (4-4).
Billy Pine completed 5-of-8 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns. Jesse Lybert caught three passes for 98 yards, two of which went for touchdowns.
Cambridge, the No. 1 seed in the Section II Class D bracket, will play No. 4 Fort Edward (4-3) in a semifinal game Saturday.

The Troy High School cheerleaders pose for the crowd during Saturday's Class AA quarterfinal game between Troy and CBA. (Troy photos by Jeff Couch - The Record).

To take a look at how the brackets are shaping up, click on the following links:

Class AA
Class A
Class B
Class C
Class D

Week Nine - semifinal schedule (crossover games for Week Nine will be announced soon)

Class AA semifinals
Fri., Oct. 29
(E3) Shenendehowa at (E1) Ballston Spa, 7 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 30
(L3) Niskayuna at (L1) Troy, 1:30 p.m.

Class A semifinals
Fri., Oct. 29
(N3) Queensbury at (N1) Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, 7 p.m.
(S3) Bishop Maginn at (S1) Lansingburgh, 7 p.m.

Class B semifinals
Sat., Oct.30
(R2) Albany Academy at (W1) Schalmont, 7 p.m.
(W2) Hudson Falls at (R1) Ravena, 7 p.m.

Class C semifinals
At Stillwater High School
Sat., Oct. 30
(N2) Greenwich vs. (S1) Chatham, 2 p.m.
(S2) Fonda-Fultonville vs. (N1) Hoosick Falls, 7 p.m.

Class D semifinals
At Schuylerville High School
Sat., Oct. 30
(3) Whitehall vs. (2) Rensselaer, 1 p.m.
(4) Fort Edward vs. (1) Cambridge, 7 p.m.

What makes next week's schedule so interesting is that eight of the 10 games are rematches of regular season games. Only the teams playing in the Class B semifinal games have not played each other already this year (although Academy and Hudson Falls did meet in Week Two and Academy played Ravena in Week Seven).

I will have game caps for all of these games later in the week with a look back at the prior games between all of these teams and what we may expect to happen in the semis. What are your thoughts?

One of the Troy High School waterboys looks on as quarterback Brian Marsh diagrams plays with his offensive lineman during a break in the action at Saturday's Section II Class AA quarterfinal against CBA.

Section II high school football standings, 2010

Class AA, League, Overall
Empire Division, W-L, W-L, PF, PA, QP
Ballston Spa, 5-1, 6-2, 213, 141, 30
Saratoga Springs, 4-2, 4-4, 165, 152, 31
Shenendehowa, 4-2, 6-2, 210, 102, 26
Christian Bros. Acad., 3-3, 4-4, 187, 146, 25.5
Guilderland, 3-3, 5-3, 221, 162, 21.5
Bethlehem, 2-4, 3-5, 128, 210, 13
Albany, 0-6, 0-8, 60, 266, 0
Liberty Division
Troy, 6-0, 8-0, 333, 61, 41
Shaker, 5-1, 6-2, 211, 144, 32
Niskayuna, 3-3, 5-3, 244, 181, 22
Schenectady, 3-3, 3-5, 176, 191, 22.5
Colonie, 2-4, 3-5, 75, 195, 12
Columbia, 1-5, 1-7, 112, 249, 12
La Salle, 1-5, 2-6, 108, 253, 5.5

Class A
Northwest Division
Burnt Hills, 5-0, 8-0, 375, 67, 35
Amsterdam, 4-1, 6-2, 253, 184, 23
Queensbury, 3-2, 6-2, 178, 115, 22.5
Gloversville, 2-3, 2-6, 152, 256, 13.5
Glens Falls, 1-4, 3-5, 182, 227, 9
South Glens Falls, 0-5, 1-7, 147, 261, 2
Southeast Division
Lansingburgh, 4-0, 7-1, 257, 122, 26.5
Averill Park, 3-1, 5-3, 228, 198, 20.5
Bishop Maginn, 2-2, 5-3, 236, 213, 13.5
Scotia-Glenville, 1-3, 3-5, 134, 159, 8.5
Mohonasen, 0-4, 1-7, 137, 289, 1

Class B
Reinfurt Division
Ravena, 4-0, 7-1, 232, 125, 25
Albany Academy, 3-1, 6-2, 297, 139, 21
Hudson, 1-3, 3-5, 161, 205, 11
Cairo-Durham, 1-3, 1-7, 69, 311, 0
Cohoes, 1-3, 2-6, 115, 289, 6
West Division
Schalmont, 5-0, 8-0, 311, 38, 34
Hudson Falls, 3-2, 4-4, 255, 198, 23.5
Schuylerville, 3-2, 5-3, 257, 98, 21.5
Cobleskill, 3-2, 4-4, 169, 134, 19
Broadalbin-Perth, 1-4, 1-7, 123, 391, 7
Johnstown, 0-5, 0-8, 59, 339, 0
Independent
Ichabod Crane, 0-0, 1-7, 127, 256, 0

Class C
North Division
Hoosick Falls, 6-0, 8-0, 259, 39, 34.5
Greenwich, 5-1, 6-2, 277, 113, 35.5
Tamarac, 4-2, 5-3, 184, 196, 24.5
Mechanicville, 4-2, 4-4, 125, 180, 23.5
Granville, 4-3, 4-4, 208, 213, 30.5
Lake George, 3-4, 3-4, 141, 87, 20
Stillwater, 2-4, 4-4, 181, 231, 14
Corinth, 0-6, 2-6, 149, 238, 6
Hoosic Valley, 0-6, 0-8, 39, 339, 0.5
South Division
Chatham, 5-0, 8-0, 311, 117, 34
Fonda-Fultonville, 5-1, 6-2, 226, 124, 34.5
Voorheesville, 3-2, 5-3, 182, 121, 18
Watervliet, 4-2, 4-4, 141, 134, 27.5
Canajoharie, 3-3, 5-3, 127, 119, 19.5
Coxsackie-Athens, 1-4, 3-5, 196, 143, 3
Taconic Hills, 1-5, 2-6, 109, 209, 8.5
Catholic Central, 0-5, 2-6, 130, 220, 1.5

Class D
Cambridge, 6-0, 7-0, 286, 26, 39
Rensselaer, 5-1, 5-2, 135, 81, 26
Whitehall, 4-2, 5-2, 200, 126, 28.5
Fort Edward, 3-3, 4-3, 236, 144, 20.5
Bishop Gibbons, 2-4, 2-5, 61, 173, 14.5
Warrensburg, 1-5, 1-6, 79, 251, 9
Salem, 0-6, 0-7, 54, 240, 2

*QP = quarter points

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