TALKING SPORTS

Bears edge Bombers in sectionals battle royale

BY TED WADDELL
Posted 11/9/22

GRAHAMSVILLE, NY — In a sense, it was a battle royale between a couple of quarterbacks. While not the tallest timbers out there on the field, they were mighty impressive in stature as they led their respective teams in scoring.

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TALKING SPORTS

Bears edge Bombers in sectionals battle royale

Posted

GRAHAMSVILLE, NY — In a sense, it was a battle royale between a couple of quarterbacks. While not the tallest timbers out there on the field, they were mighty impressive in stature as they led their respective teams in scoring.

On Saturday, October 29, the home team Bears of Tri-Valley (6-2) were helmed on the turf by Austin Hartman, while Sidney Stracher called the plays for the Pine Plains/Rhinebeck Bombers (3-4) in a sectional matchup.

In the quarterback department, it was a tale of opposites, as Hartman pounded it out on the ground, while Stracher mounted an aerial assault on the Bears’ defense: Hartman rushed for 277 yards in 24 attempts, compared to Stracher’s 57 on 16. While in the air, he posted 322 yards on 27 attempts, and Hartman picked up 59 yards on 12 tries.

The Bears drew first blood at 8:24 in the first frame, as Dylan Poley picked off a Stracher pass and sprinted it into the endzone, to put the home team up 6-0.

Not to be outdone, Stracher completed a 41-yard pass to Christopher Macri at 4:51, and followed that up with a 2-point conversion run.

With 1:23 left in the first quarter, Hartman broke through the Bombers’ defensive line for a score from the 2-yard line, to end the opening frame with Tri-Valley up 12-8.

In the second frame, the Bears posted back-to-back TDs, followed by a Bombers TD: a 23-yarder by Hartman at 9:36; a Hartman 8-yard pass to Ian Mullen at 0:33; and, as the clock ran out, Stracher connected on a 37-yard pass to Giovanni Ramirez. 

At the half, Tri-Valley was up by 10 (24-14). 

The action was fast and furious in the third quarter: at 7:55, Hartman scored on a 25-yard run, with a point-after kick by Zach Kataychik. At 3:35, Stracher completed a 10-yard pass to Ramirez, and then connected with Christopher Machi on a 2-point conversion. 

Seconds later, at 3:14, Tri-Valley’s Kataychik electrified the hometown crowd with a 92-yard kickoff return, which he followed up with a point-after kick.

At 1:18, Stracher hooked up with Ramirez for a 50-yard TD, and then completed a conversion pass to the same receiver, to make it a 38-30 game in favor of the Bears.

In the final frame, both squads scored: Hartman punched it across the line at 3:07 from the 2-yard line, and Kataychik split the goalposts; as the game clock ticked away, at 1:24, Stracher completed a 2-yard pass to Ramirez, and then a 2-point conversion pass to Liam Bower to wrap up the scoring, giving Tri-Valley a 45-38 victory.

Said Kevin Crudele, coach of the Bears’ football team, which was on the rebound from last week’s loss to the Sullivan West Bulldogs, “We wanted to come out and play Tri-Valley football on our home turf.

“We knew that our passing defense needed a little work… their two receivers (Ramirez, a senior, and Macri, a freshman) are outstanding players.”

And of Hartman, Tri-Valley’s starting quarterback, and the rest of the Bears, he said, “Austin is a special player, small in stature, but ferocious. We have a ton of seniors out there, all hardworking guys who eat and breathe football.”

football, bears of tri-valley, pine plains/rhinebeck bombers

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