Lansingburgh head coach Al McNall celebrates a touchdown during Friday's wild 52-35 victory over Hudson Falls. The Knights are heading to a Section II Super Bowl for the seventh time this decade. (Photos by Tom Killips - The Record).

Hudson Falls' Dakota Drake rushed for a Herculean 304 yards (37 attempts) and four touchdowns, but the Knights' offense just couldn't be stopped.

T.J. McLaughlin went 5-for-5 for 122 yards and two touchdowns and the Knights used eight different running backs to pile up 275 rushing yards on 42 attempts.

Lansingburgh (8-1) will face Schalmont (7-2) in the Section II Class B Super Bowl, to be played Saturday at Schenectady High School at 1 p.m.

It was a game featuring many injury replacements. Lansingburgh starting left tackle Mark Tracey injured his knee (likely MCL issue) in practice, so left guard Jake Luce shifted to tackle and sophomore Corey Fernet, called up to varsity from the JV squad just last week, made his first career start in Luce's stead.

Lansinguburgh's Jake Shaw, whose eye was injured in a freak badminton accident this week in gym class, is also out. (That is an insane sentence, but not a typo). The Knights certainly missed the junior placekicker and defensive end, but wound up making the five two-point conversion attempts they tried.

McLaughlin took his shot at placekicking and had two extra point attempts blocked. If the Knights want to win the field position battle against Schalmont next week they will also need to work on the kickoff team as well.

Lansingburgh's Terrance Kemp skips over outstretched defenders during Friday's game. His 80-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter sparked the Knights' second half surge.

Lansingburgh's Tyrone Nichols applies the stiff arm to Hudson Falls' Frank Savasta (7). Nichols finished with 93 rushing yards, two touchdowns and a two-point conversion run.

T.J. McLaughlin looks upfield during Friday's game. He finished with 58 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns and four two-point conversion runs.

Hudson Falls' Aaron Dudley is spun around by Lansingburgh's Quincy Michael (11) and Marcus Little (r) during a kick return. Lansingburgh's Nate Gause (50) looks on.

"Coach said this is goal No. 2, getting to the Super Bowl," said McLaughlin. "The first one was winning the division, the second one was getting to the Super Bowl and now we have to win it."

The Knights will have their hands full with Schalmont's Vince Gallo in the big game, as he tore up the Cohoes defenders for 300 yards in a 55-14 victory for the Sabres.
But if Friday's game was any indication, no matter how much trouble the Lansingburgh defense has with an opposing running back, that offense always finds a way to put points on the board.

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Rensselaer's Jason Brown (65) drags down Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons' Justin Relyea (1) during Friday's game. Rensselaer made it interesting, but scored 29 unanswered points in the second half to escape with the 50-22 victory. (Photos by J.S. Carras - The Record).

A gang of Rams tacklers led by Kalen Judge (8) and Nate Butler (42) wrap up Bishop Gibbons' do-it-all quarterback Derrick Pitts.

Nate Butler (left) makes room for Jashem Hamilton (24), who rushed for 45 yards on four attempts and scored a pair of touchdowns.

"We have our work cut out for us," Rensselaer head coach Joel Preston told our Ryan Kircher. "Greenwich gave us a real fight the first time we played them, they’re going to ready. Tonight is something we needed. We needed to be in a tough game and we were."

In the other Class D semifinal Friday night, Greenwich ousted Spa Catholic 50-0, setting up a rematch between the Witches and the Rams. Rensselaer won 20-7 in Week 1.

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Check out the full stories in Saturday's edition of The Record. For the latest brackets, click here.

We'll be there for you Saturday as Troy High hosts Gloversville and Hoosick Falls takes on Granville in a Class C semifinal at Stillwater High School.

Who knew The Record's weekly high school football picks chart could create so much controversy?

Three of our staff members picked Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons this week over Rensselaer - the New York State Sportswriters Association also ranked Gibbons ahead of Rensselaer in the initial Class D poll - which led Rams running back Mico De Los Santos to pose me this question when I approached him after the game:

"Who did you pick? I'm not talking to you if you picked them!"

De Los Santos took the picks to heart and let it all pour out on the field, gaining 278 all-purpose yards in a 49-14 statement victory over the Golden Knights.

The Rams proved themselves to be top dogs in Class D - at least for now. Their next big game is at Class C opponent Hoosick Falls on Friday, Oct. 2, which will give us a really good idea of the talent level of this Rams team.

Still, Saturday's victory over another undefeated Class D power meant a great deal to the Rams, especially in light of the public snubbings.

"The only reason it was big was because of what the paper has been saying," De Los Santos said. "All these people picked them to win. They shouldn’t have picked them. We got hyped off of that. Everybody got mad. We weren’t even going to talk to any papers. Everyone was saying that. It really was a big game and we made a big statement."

De Los Santos leaps over Bishop Gibbons' Ryan Maxwell during Saturday's game at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons High School. (Photos by J.S. Carras - The Record).

"It was definitely a big game," said Rensselaer head coach Joel Preston. "The kids read into those state rankings that really don’t mean anything. They saw Gibbons ranked above us and they got a little chippy."

Preston also wished to clear the air about a controversial fourth quarter play. The Rams held a big lead and had the ball on Bishop Gibbons' 32-yard line late in the game. Rensselaer sent out the punting team, only to have the punter attempt a fake and pass the ball toward the end zone.
It fell incomplete, but Preston insisted the Rams were not trying to run up the score.

The Rams practice a play, as does every team in the area, where they send a gunner out to the sideline in punting situations. If left uncovered, the punter throws to a wide-open receiver running down the sideline.

The Rams players did what they practiced, no harm meant.

"I didn’t call that play on the fake fourth down," Preston said. "I had every intention of punting and giving them the ball, pinning the ball deep and letting the clock run. That’s an automatic read, where if no one is on him, we practice that and he throws it automatically. I certainly don’t want to run the score up on anybody."

De Los Santos practices his Heisman Trophy pose during Saturday's Class D game against Bishop Gibbons.

I was also impressed with junior lineman Jason Brown, who addressed the team after the game. Although the Rams passed only three times - Timmy Foust was a perfect 3-for-3 for 98 yards and a touchdown - Brown praised the line for keeping Foust's jersey an unblemished white.