Stillwater—With Stillwater continuing their homestand, a strong game against the Fonda-Fultonville Braves would clinch a Central Division title. The Warriors relied on their ground attack to defeat the beleaguered Braves 45-7.
“Top to bottom this was our most complete game,” said Coach Ian Godfrey. “This a well coached and respected program so we are ecstatic, no doubt.”
It was the kind of game you can only dream of for senior James Galarneau. The Warrior’s starting quarterback rapidly turned into the workhorse back, beginning the scoring when he took a designed quarterback run 78 yards to the house. Galarneau scored three more times in the opening half from 7, 45, and 70 yards out, recording more than 200 rushing yards.
Galarneau said, “They were trying to fly to Mason (Seymour) a little bit and I saw that my offensive line was giving me just enough of a crease to go and that’s what we were doing.”
The Warriors kept the ball safely in the hands of their running back, Seymour in the second half. He added two more touchdowns while Stillwater drained the clock and a field goal made it 45-7.
Stillwater’s highly touted defense also showed up to play. Coming in with the second least points allowed in the section (behind Class D’s Warrensburg/North Warren) they didn’t show much weakness. The Warriors shut down the Braves until the fourth quarter, allowing a rushing touchdown to Giovanni DiCaprio. The key to Stillwater’s success was their dominance on third down. The Braves were held to a mere three for eleven on third down conversions, two of which were early on in the first quarter.
“We knew coming in that offensively they ran through Mancini. He’s a great athlete and getting after him was important…Overall it was a very well executed game,” said Godfrey.
With the win, New York State Class C’s third ranked team takes the Central Division title and remains undefeated. They will play at home next weekend in the first round of the playoffs.
“I think we’ve been through everything and knowing how important it is to have a league title in order to get one of those top seeds and have the playoffs go through us motivated us to come out here tonight,” said Galarneau.
