Burnt Hills Football Earns Trip to Carrier Dome; Cambridge Falls Short

Using another dominating performance, Burnt Hills whipped Cornwall, Section IX, 35-14, in a New York State Class A semifinal football game Friday night at Dietz Stadium in Kingston.

Once again it was the one-two punch of Tom Ruppel and Daniel Porter to help the Spartans earn another trip to the Carrier Dome.

Ruppel led the charge with three touchdowns and 215 yards rushing while Porter added a touchdown and 140 yards on the ground.

And let's not forget Eric Dillon who intercepted a pass, recovered a fumble and fell on an onsides kick.

Burnt Hills, 11-1 and ranked sixth in the state Class A poll, will now meet Maine-Endwell (fifth in the state) in the title game at 2 p.m. Friday. Maine-Endwell knocked off Rochester Aquinas, 19-16, in the other semifinal. Aquinas was the top-ranked Class A school in the state.

After a scoreless first quarter, Ruppel got the Spartans going with touchdown runs of 12 and 73 yards and then quarterback Ryan McDonnell scored from one yard away with 12 seconds left in the first half for a 21-0 advantage.

Cornwall finally got on the scoreboard when Joe O'Rourke caught a 28 yard touchdown pass from Mike White to cut the deficit to 21-6.

But the Burnt Hills running game continued to punish Cornwall as Porter scampered 46 yards for the score and Ruppel followed with an 11 yard run to put the icing on the cake.

Peter Catal reached the end zone from five yards out to cap Cornwall's scoring.

Burnt Hills head coach Matt Shell praised the team effort and execution and said they have to play that way on Friday.

Class D

Chester 38, Cambridge 22

Scoring 24 unanswered points, Chester (Section IX) beat previously unbeaten Cambridge in the semifinals.

Saxon Smith tallied four touchdowns and gained 145 yards rushing to power Chester, now 12-0 this season.

Cambridge was also plagued by four fumbles and two interceptions.

Aaron Mulready ran 20 yards for the first Cambridge score, Skyler Saunders caught a 36 yard touchdown pass from Ethan English and Will Bromirski returned a punt 65 yards for the final touchdown.

Cambridge finishes with a remarkable 11-1 record.

Article by Mike Collar