Curtain Up!

Football Gets Underway As LM/R Devil Cats Down Fallsburg Comets In Season Non-League Opener

LM/R 43, Fallsburg 8

By RICHARD A. ROSS

rross@sportsinsightsny.com

photo album at sportsinsights.smugmug.com

Big plays on tap as LM/R and Fallsburg go at it in their season opener. Clockwise: LM/R senior Troy Correa scores the first of his three TD's on the night on a 36-yard jaunt on the Devil Cats third play of the game. He'd add a seven-yard run and a 34-yard interception return to his night's antics. Correa rushed for 137 yards on just six carries. LM/R senior Jordan Tallman brings Fallsburg sophomore Shakree Gibson to a halt with this hard-hitting tackle. Gibson has his moment to shine in the waning moments as she scores the Comets' lone TD and follows it up with a two-point conversion run. LM/R QB Mike Mills gallops 43 yards on this run which set up another TD in their first half. The 'Cats led 22-0 after the first quarter and 43-0 at the half.

FALLSBURG, NY—When it comes to drawing large crowds and creating a stir, nothing compares to football, especially when it’s a season opener. Thus the onlookers came in droves from school districts across Sullivan County to get a look at Fallsburg and Livingston Manor/Roscoe as they opened the 2011 campaign on a lovely Friday night.

In addition to the members of the Fallsburg, Livingston Manor and Roscoe communities on hand for the show, players from Eldred, Tri-Valley, Sullivan West and Liberty looked on with great interest as they anticipated encounters with either of the two teams about to unveil their “real” stuff as opposed to their conservative displays at scrimmages.

Friday Night lights it was indeed and the excitement in the air was palpable and building as the two teams went through their warm ups and prepared for the kickoff to their seasons that they hope will take them further than their grid journeys carried them  a year ago.

For the LM/R Devil Cats that can mean only one thing: a Section Nine Class D title. After reaching the championship game for the first time since the two schools merged their football program, 7-3 LM/R came away on the wrong side of a 42-10 loss to perennial behemoth Chester. For this year’s team with nine seniors in the fold, nothing short of a title win will suffice.

As is the case with all the teams in Section Nine, league games are what matter and for LM/R that means encounters with Eldred and Chester are the heart of the matter.

The 2011 Fallsburg Comets

With players onboard who just last spring tasted their first state championship glory in baseball, nothing could be sweeter than a momentous football campaign to continue their memorable high school sports careers. Under the tutelage of iconic head coaches like Fred Ahart and Kevin Clifford, this fall could well offer up just such enduring memories.

As for Fallsburg just entering the second year of its football program, the agenda is somewhat less ambitious. Improvement is the byword and the quest for the school’s first gridiron win following last year’s 0-9 campaign.

To that end, Fallsburg enters this year’s fray missing some key players from last year’s squad who have either opted not to come out or who have transferred. That said, you go to war with what you’ve got and the Comets under Coach Adam Ramirez showed great verve and enthusiasm as they took on the experienced and dominant Devil Cats.

LM/R won the toss but elected to defer. Putting its defense on display first, it became eminently clear that Fallsburg was in for some difficulties in trying to move the ball against the aggressive Devil Cats.

Three and out went the Comets but at least there were no turnovers.

Not yet anyway.

LM/R senior QB Mike Mills straight arms Fallsburg's Devon Clark as part of a 43-yard jaunt.

But by night’s end Fallsburg would commit six of them as LM/R’s Chad Rosario and Brad Dreher stripped the ball and forced turnovers. Troy Correa would pick off a pass by Fallsburg back up QB Aaron Hornbeck  and return it 34 yards for a score. Hornbeck was calling the signals in the opener before senior Josh Carter takes over the reins next weekend against Eldred. Carter didn’t have enough practices in to make this start.

After holding Fallsburg on its first series, the Devil Cats began their offensive campaign on their own 20. Three plays later Correa took off on a 36-yard gallop for the game’s first score at 9:06. Fellow senior Kenny Fisk added a PAT and the die was cast early on a first half that would see much more of the same as LM/R would move the ball at will and Fallsburg would hinder its own cause by turnovers.

That first miscue would come on the Comets’ next series with a fumble that was recovered by LM/R senior Mike Mills at the Comet’s 30-yard line. Shortly thereafter Mills hit Fisk in the end zone on a 12-yard pass play to make it 13-0 with 6:19 remaining in the first quarter. Correa ran in the two-point conversion and the ensuing rout was well under way.

Fallsburg moved the ball on its next series abetted by an LM/R facemask penalty but a busted play on a punt attempt gave the Devil Cats the ball at midfield. Mills scampered 43 yards to the seven and Correa ran it in from there. Fisk split the uprights to make it 22 with 1:23 left in the period.

Hornbeck completed a pass to senior Russell Corley for a nice gain and then another to Shakree Gibson which took the ball to the LM/R 17 before a costly fumble  which was recovered by Fisk ended the threat early in the second quarter.

Rosario soon made hay on a 46-yard run after a catch to score with 10:15 remaining in the second frame. Fisk was perfect again and the score burgeoned to 29-0.

Fallsburg fumbled again on its ensuing series. This one was recovered b y LM/R senior Jordan Tallman. Correa took off on a 70-yard run to the Comets’ 18 and two plays later junior Taylor Pagan carried it in from the two. With 1:40 to go Fisk made it three-for-three with his PAT and the score now read 35-0.

Correa’s pic and 34 yard TD return made it 42-0 with 23 seconds remaining. Once again Fisk was right on target and the ‘Cats took a 43-0 lead into halftime.

Aggressive pursuit and gang tackling are LM/R's calling card. Here sophomore Liam Fogarty goes airborne to avoid a piling on penalty as an LM/R defender has already called a Fallsburg runner to a halt.

Coaches Clifford and Ahart would deploy their second stringers for most of the remainder of the game, occasionally inserting their first team defense for a down or two but giving their younger kids valuable playing time.

The second half was by and large uneventful until the waning moments of the game when Fallsburg sophomore Shakree Gibson scored on a 15-yard run with 31 seconds remaining and then carried in the two-point conversion to help the Comets avoid the shut out.

Clifford was pleased with his team’s showing. “Our defense was able to force turnovers as we were gang tackling well. We’re not big so we’ve got to use our speed to the best of our ability,” he noted.  “On offense we have a lot of weapons and a lot of speed. It’s hard for defenses to focus on one person or another,” he added.

Clifford acknowledged that next week’s encounter with Liberty should be interesting. The teams scrimmaged last week but neither showed the other much.

Ramirez summed things up this way. “We’ve got a young team again but turnovers killed us. We had six and four they converted for scores. We’re going to get back to work and just keep plugging along,” he added.

Fallsburg (0-1) was shut out four times last year so getting points on the board was a plus. “We’re getting into rhythm. We’ve got a quarterback who never played before (Hornbeck). He had a little bit of nerves early on but he settled in. Two of our turnovers were inside of their 25 yard line so that really hurt us,” he added. All of the team emerged unscathed  with the exception of a few bumps and bruises.

LM/R stat leaders:  Rushing- Correa 6/137 with three TD’s, Mills 2/56. Passing- Mills 2/58 yards and a TD. LM/R is now 1-0.

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