Kicking off: A pair of state 2008 NYSPHSAA football champions saw their season end Friday with losses in sectional semifinal games. North Tonawanda, ranked No. 3 by the New York State Sportswriters Association, toppled No. 8 Orchard Park 21-7 in Section 6 Class AA action.
In Class A, Poughkeepsie stunned No. 7 Rye on the game's final play — Josh Graham's 49-yard touchdown pass from Jarrid Williams on fourth down — for a 25-20 victory in Section 1.
Rye, which had won six straight Section 1 Class B titles, gave up three TDs in the final 3:30 as Poughkeepsie completed a rally from a 17-0 deficit. The final play was a fourth-and-10 throw 20 yards downfield to Graham, who split two defenders and raced to the goal line.
Rye was flagged for three pass-interference calls in the fourth quarter. Two came on Poughkeepsie's 89-yard drive capped by Josh Wright's 1-yard run to cut Rye's lead to 20-13 with 3:30 to go. The Garnets went three-and-out on the ensuing possession, and Poughkeepsie drove 66 yards with the help of an interference call on fourth down from the Rye 37. It led to a 23-yard Williams TD run.
Still leading 20-19, Rye recovered an onside kick and failed on a fourth-and-6 conversion near midfield with 27 seconds to play.
"We felt we could run some time off the clock and hopefully get a first down," Rye coach Dino Garr told The Journal News "A lot could go wrong on a punt. It could have gotten blocked or a bad snap or whatever. Do I second-guess myself? No."
There was no such late drama in Orchard Park's loss. North Tonawanda built a 14-0 halftime lead and didn't let allow the Quakers to score until there were less than two minutes to play. The Lumberjacks owned a 219-42 advantage in rushing yards.
A year after losing to Orchard Park in the final at Ralph Wilson Stadium, the Lumberjacks will return there to face Lancaster, a 40-7 winner over Lockport.
"We avenged what we did last year and that's what we came out to do," QB Mike Tuzzo told The Buffalo News. "(Orchard Park is) always a great team. It's a wonderful feeling to come out here as seniors, our last game as seniors on this field, and it's one we'll always remember."
First down: No. 10 Rensselaer rattled off the final 29 points and defeated Bishop Gibbons 50-22 in the Section 2 Class D semifinals as Mico De Los Santos finished with 219 rushing yards and four TDs.
"Bishop Gibbons has a lot of team speed, but against teams that don't (have Mico) it is like playing Madden football," Rensselaer coach Joel Preston told The Times Union. "You can send him outside, inside. He has some power moves."
De Los Santos scored on second-half runs of 45, 38 and 14 yards in the rematch of a 49-14 win in Week 3. He picked up 164 of his yards after halftime.
Second down: Backup junior QB Casey Colligan, who hadn't completed a pass this season, led No. 7 Baldwinsville on a 12-play, 80-yard TD drive to lift the Bees to a 22-15 victory over Syracuse Corcoran in the Section 3 Class AA semifinals.
