Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015: South Park ends Maine-Endwell streak at 62

   The four-time defending NYSPHSAA football champions committed seven turnovers and could not hold back a resilient Buffalo South Park, which rallied to a 43-26 victory in the Class A semifinals at Cicero-North Syracuse on Friday.

   The Sparks snapped the Spartans' state-record 62-game winning streak. The Spartans had last lost in 2010 to Whitesboro in the state quarterfinals.

   Two South Park takeaways resulted in touchdowns. Tyree Brown rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns, threw for 203 yards and a TD and also pulled down two interceptions to break Maine-Endwell's unprecedented run of success.    Maine-Endwell lost four fumbles and Balmer was intercepted three times.

   "It's a little overwhelming at the moment but exciting just the same," Sparks coach Tim Delaney told The Buffalo News. "I'm so excited for our kids and everyone involved in the program and everyone that supports us."

   Maine-Endwell roared to a 14-0 lead in the first 6:26 before Fred Foster strip-sacked Kyle Balmer on his first pass attempt. David Thomas scooped up the ball for a 68-yard touchdown return. Brown then hit Daryl Moore for the 2-point conversion to make it 14-8 and tied the game with :05 left in the half on a 4-yard run.

   Brown scored on a 9-yard run midway through the third quarter, Balmer countered with a 65-yard scoring carry and Brown struck again in the form of a 70-yard pass play to Thomas came with 1:43 left in the third quarter. Thomas split two defenders to make the catch at the 35 and continued in virtually unchallenged.

   Then, 44 seconds into the fourth quarter, Moore stripped the ball loose during a sack and scooped up the fumble for a 47-yard TD to make it a two-touchdown game.

   No school from the Buffalo district had ever so much as won a Section 6 championship before this year. Now, South Park goes to the Carrier Dome to play Our Lady of Lourdes for a championship.

   "We're just all excited," Delaney said. "It's just a great feeling knowing everyone's hard work has gotten us to this point. We get to play one more game, for the state championship."

   Our Lady of Lourdes is another first-time finalist after defeating Amsterdam 47-27 at Dietz Stadium. Dean Rotger threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score, and Joe Scaglione rushed for three touchdowns to lead the Warriors.

   Rotger's 15-yard throw to Billy Wagner put Lourdes up 35-21 with 1:02 left in the third quarter.

   "My whole life I've wanted to do this," Rotger told The Poughkeepsie Journal. "And to be able to say I'm going to the Carrier Dome for the state championship is a tremendous feeling."

   Class D semifinals: Jesse Manuel rushed for 302 yards and five touchdowns, and Tioga qualified for the Class D state football title game for the first time by beating Bishop Kearney 38-36.

   The Tigers had bowed out in the semifinals the previous four years.

   Senior Adam Zwierlein rushed for 141 yards and made a crucial tackle for the winners.

   "We've been working at this for four years for our seniors," Zwierlein told the Press & Sun-Bulletin. "To have all that work pay off is amazing."

   Manuel's fifth TD of the night gave Tioga a 38-20 lead in the opening moments of the fourth quarter, but Kearney rallied behind QB Todd LaRocca, who finished with 276 yards and two TDs through the air.

   Two Kings TDs and a recovered onside kick left Kearney inside the Tioga 35 and poised to win. On fourth-and-7 with under 3:00 left, though, Zwierlein tripped up a scrambling LaRocca for a 5-yard loss and a turnover on downs.

   "I reacted," Zwierlein said. "I knew if I missed it -- game over."

   Said Tioga coach Nick Aiello: "We got the one tackle we needed on him and that's all the matters."

   In the other semi, Ticonderoga turned five of six Tuckahoe turnovers into touchdowns in its fourth straight shutout, a 32-0 victory in Kingston.

   Senior Brody Rocque ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns on 34 carries -- 22 of those attempts coming in a dominating second half for the Sentinels. Leading 12-0 at halftime, Ticonderoga pulled away by recovering fumbles on the second play of three straight Tuckahoe possessions.

   In the first half, Rocque forced a fumble, recovered one and intercepted a pass.

   "That's just right-place, right-time type of stuff," he told The Post-Star. "If that was somebody else, they would've made the same exact plays -- it just happened to be me today."

   Long Island highlights: Newfield rolled to a 58-34 victory over Half Hollow Hills West in the Suffolk Division II final on the strength of four scoring plays of 50 or more yards. The Wolverines took control in the third quarter, outscoring Hills West 27-7.

   Denzel Williams' interception of an Anthony Lucarelli throw on the second play of the half for Hills West (9-2) set up Newfield on its own 31. Two plays later, Justin Ottenwalder took a short pass from Ryan Klemm 75 yards into the end zone.

   Jesse McKeever forced and recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, returning the ball to the 1-yard line to set up Austin Gubelman for the second Newfield TD in 17 seconds.

   In the Nassau IV title game, Locust Valley downed Seaford 20-6 as senior fullback Tom Talenti ran 15 times for 198 yards and a pair of TDs.

   "The offensive line was moving people once again like they've been doing all year," Talenti, who had four carries of at least 40 yards, told Newsday, "and I was just hitting the holes hard."

   Swimming and diving: Newark junior Ali House won the NYSPHSAA girls diving championship at Ithaca College.

   House, the 2014 runner-up, led a dominating Section 5 showing that included nailing down the top three spots and six of the top eight. Senior Katie Applin (Dansville) placed second and junior Erin Norton (Victor) took third.

   "I've been going to these events for 34 years and I've never seen anything like this before," Section 5 swimming coordinator Norm Schueckler told the Democrat and Chronicle.

   Left over from Friday: St. Francis forced five turnovers and held three-time defending champ Canisius to 98 yards of offense en route to a 42-7 win for the Monsignor Martin Association football crown.

   Tauren Davis recorded three sacks and Garth Pinnock picked off two passes and caught a TD pass.

   Milestone: Tully girls volleyball coach Denise Abbott recorded her 500th career win as the Black Knights defeated Cincinnatus 3-0 in their non-league, season-opening girls volleyball match on Thursday. Abbott is in her 26th season at Tully and has a record of 500-67.