Leading off today: Senior Connor Barber kicked a 30-yard field goal with 1:44 to play, giving
Holy Trinity a 37-35 victory over defending NYSPHSAA champion Glens Falls in the Section 2 Class B football semifinals Saturday.
Joe Tortello was 11 of 18 for 238 yards and four touchdown passes to senior Noah Foster.
"We were built for this. We practiced for this all week, said Foster, who finished with six catches for 166 yards. "You can't let the emotions get to you. You have to stay focused. You have to believe in yourself, and believe in your teammates."
Holy Trinity, a state Class C finalist two seasons ago, started the fourth quarter with a 25-yard TD catch by Foster to go ahead for the first time. Glens Falls answered with the last of sophomore Griffin Woodell's four TD runs -- and five scores overall -- but Holy Trinity pulled back ahead with Barber's first career field goal.
"I just had to stay calm. Do what I do," Barber said. "We had a great snap, a great hold and I just tried to put it right through."
Glens Falls' final possession ended with a sack of QB Noah Girard on a play starting at the Holy Trinity 32.
Glens Falls entered the game ranked No. 1 by the NYSSWA, with Holy Trinity 19th.
"We thought this might be the sectional final, but, either way, it's two good teams going at it," Glens Falls coach Pat Lilac said. "We thought it was going to come down to the wire and it did -- and, unfortunately, we came up on the short end."
Holy Trinity's opponent in the sectional final will be No. 20 Schuylerville, a 14-6 winner Friday over No. 23 Schalmont.
More Class B: Livonia sent a powerful message that the current Bulldogs bear no resemblance to the injury-riddled team that lost to University Prep 38-22 in September. Livonia rode a solid rushing game to a 27-0 win in the rematch to advance to the Section 5 final vs. Honeoye Falls-Lima.
Livonia scored on four of its seven drives and possessed the ball 31 of the 48 minutes to move a step closer to its first championship in 26 years.
Junior quarterback Alexander Minnehan (19 carries, 66 yards) drove Livonia 67 yards in 17 plays in nine minutes to give Livonia a 12-0 lead late in the second quarter.
"Things just fell perfectly," coach John Gammon said. "We had no turnovers. No penalties. We grinded it out. We got a lot of short yardage for first downs. Our kids just played really creative football. We've been doing that all year."
M-W pulls upset in 'AA': Monroe-Woodbury quarterback Anthony Campione hit Sean Neely with a 4-yard TD pass with 1:53 to play as the Crusaders upset seventh-ranked Newburgh Free Academy 20-16 in the Section 9 Class AA semifinals.
Newburgh's last=gasp drive to advance ended at the Monroe-Woodbury 5 before junior defensive back Christopher Gauvin batted down a fourth-down pass.
Campione sat out with an injury Oct. 5 when Newburgh beat M-W (5-4) 21-3.
"Everyone was doubting us," he said. "Even some people in our school."
Newburgh had pulled ahead 16-13 on a Syncere Tatum 1-yard run with 7:38 remaining, setting the stage for M-W's winning drive.
"'Cam' was throwing great balls and the line was blocking," Neely said. "It all just came together on that last drive."
More Class AA: Sophomore Charlie McKee scrambled and hit Thomas Schmitt with a 19-yard TD pass as time expired to carry 25th-ranked Oceanside to a 34-33 win over No. 17 Massapequa.