Leading off today: Joe Dalton passed for 162 yards and rushed for another 118 more with two touchdowns as
Ogdensburg Free Academy made history Saturday with a 35-28 win over Burke Catholic in the NYSPHSAA Class C football semifinals at Dietz Stadium.
OFA became the first Section 10 team to advance to a New York State Public High School Athletic Association title game. The Blue Devils will play Newark Valley next weekend at the Carrier Dome.
OFA overcame the effort of West Point-bound Burke senior Garnett Nicolas, who rushed 27 times for 262 yards and scored all four Eagles touchdowns.
The Blue Devils consumed most of the opening quarter with an 18-play, 80-yard drive culminating in a 3-yard run by Jared Barr for a 7-0 lead. But three short Nicolas scoring runs put Burke ahead 21-7 until Kevin Joanette returned a kickoff 91 yards just before the half to trim the deficit to 21-13.
Dalton drove OFA to a tie on the opening possession of the second half, Nicolas countered and then Ogdensburg took over. Dalton rambled 34 yards for a score late in the third and Barr carried 11 yards for the game-winning points midway through the fourth.
• Newark Valley downed Bishop Kearney 34-14 as David Crow (159), Brett Stewart (118) and QB Chad Wright (117) paced a 433-yard rushing attack.
More NYSPHSAA semifinals: Aaron Sampson traveled 32 yards with a football that popped out of teammate Quinn Girard's hands, scoring a first-quarter TD that sparked Glens Falls past Pleasantville 49-14 in the Class B semifinals.
Sampson ran for 120 yards and three TDs. Glens Falls QB Joseph Girard III torched Pleasantville for 304 passing yards and five touchdowns on 17-for-22 accuracy to get the Indians to their first final since 2012.
They will face Chenango Forks for the state title on Saturday in Syracuse.
Forks, the winner of the past three Class C championships and 22 consecutive games, outmuscled Dunkirk 41-8 as L.J. Watson carried for 174 yards and four scores, the last of which came three plays after he intercepted a pass.
The Class AA final will pit Troy against Victor.
Troy edged New Rochelle 20-14, riding a pair of rushing touchdowns by junior running back Joey Ward (24 carries, 116 yards) to a two-score lead at the half. After the opening kickoff, Troy assembled a nine-play, 81-yard drive capped by an 11-yard scoring run by Ward.
Victor scored on its first two possessions and then broke open a close game with four TDs -- three by Zack Estabrooks -- after the intermission to beat Syracuse CBA 42-13.
The Blue Devils drove 43 yards to a short Estabrooks run and a 22-13 lead in the third quarter. He scored again after a CBA three-and-out and then made it 35-13 on a 5-yard TD run with 9:07 left to play.
Hayes wins a classic: Sofian Massoud broke up a 2-point conversion attempt with :26 to go to give Cardinal Hayes a 41-39 win over Archbishop Stepinac for the first CHSFL Class AAA championship in school history.
Hayes QB Christian Anderson ran for two critical first downs and connected with Shameen Jones for a 29-yard touchdown, but a blocked extra point left the lead at 41-33. Stepinac's Michael Nicocia (18-for-29, 317 yards) then drove his team down the field and hit Shawn Harris for a 43-yard touchdown.
"My heart literally dropped right there," said Anderson, who threw four touchdown passes.
