Leading off today: Never mind blogging about Friday's high school playoff action. All by itself, Section 2 had enough going on to justify a book.
For starters, there was Troy rallying from 16 points down at the half to beat Queensbury 42-36 in the Class A semifinals.
Troy rattled off 26 straight points to pull ahead, only to watch Kevin Collins drive Queensbury down the field in eight plays and score on a 5-yard run with 1:28 to play.
To say the Horses responded in no time at all is barely an exaggeration. Quarterback John Germinerio hit receiver Dajuan Hudson on a slant, and Hudson outran defenders for 64-yard touchdown with :54 left. Germinerio also got the conversion pass for the final margin. A 2-point conversion pass completed the scoring.
"We fought back and forth, they got the last one," Queensbury coach John Irion said.
Troy's opponent in the final will be Amsterdam, presumed dead in the water after opening with losses to Cazenovia (by a 47-0 score), Queensbury and Troy.
Well, Amsterdam is alive and kicking after routing Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, the state's No. 2 Class A school, 37-7. Bryan Stanavich ran for two touchdowns, caught a third and threw for yet another.
Amsterdam set the tone early. Facing 4th-and-1 on its opening possession, Trey Holloway (9 of 11 for 101 yards) took a QB keeper 71 yards for the first score of the game.
In Class B, No. 14 Glens Falls took out No. 6 Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk 21-0 as Josh Griffen compiled 200 yards of offense and threw a touchdown pass.
Joseph Girard III picked off a pair of passes, and the defense stopped Ravena on three fourth downs inside the 25-yard-line.
Glens Falls will play No. 4 Schuylerville, which posted a 42-0 rout of a Schalmont team that spent most of the season top-ranked in the state. It was the unbeaten Black Horses' first win over Schalmont in six tries and also ended Schalmont's streak of Section 2 championship game appearances at six (including five wins).
Schuylerville finished with 441 rushing yards, led by senior Skyler Bateman's 125 yards on 13 carries. Will Griffen and Zack Pierce each added 116 yards and two touchdowns, and Joe Vanderhoof (66 yards) also scored two TDs.
"Like always, I have to give credit to the offensive line," Griffen told The Post-Star. "Those five guys are out there working their butts off, they're setting the line of scrimmage three yards forward every play. When you have a line that overpowers the opposition, that helps out a lot."
More Class A: Not that a team with 60 consecutive victories needs much in the way of assistance, but Burnt Hills' loss presumably makes Maine-Endwell's path to a fifth straight state championship that much easier.
Yorktown nearly made the Spartans' task even simpler, managing to stymie No. 3 Rye for almost the entire game until the Garnets capped a rally from two TDs down and won 15-14 on senior Santi Mascolo's field goal from 37 yards out with 2:00 to go.
Chase Pratt intercepted Yorktown's Jose Boyer with just over a minute remaining to wrap up the win.
The winning drive in the Section 1 semifinal was kept alive by a fourth-down pass interference penalty in the rematch of Rye's 31-20 win last month.
Besides recording his 12th sack of the season, Rye's Matt Bruno took over at quarterback in the second half and rushed 10 times for 91 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown with 8:00 left that pulled the Garnets within striking distance.
