Red Storm heads to Kingston for state semifinal
By MIKE LYNCH, Enterprise Sports WriterArticle Photos
SARANAC LAKE - For the first time in a decade, Saranac Lake football will play in the Class C state semifinals when it lines up to take on Croton-Harmon Saturday at Dietz Stadium in Kingston.
The Red Storm are fresh off a 14-7 overtime thriller against Watervliet while Croton-Harmon downed Ellenville 42-20.
Both teams have 10-1 records. The winner of this game will play for the state championship in the Syracuse Carrier Dome.
"To get to the state semifinals is a huge accomplishment," Saranac Lake coach Mark Farmer said. "It is not easy and you don't get there without having some good players for sure. The 1998 (Saranac Lake) team lost to Edgemont and one of the stars on the (Edgemont) team was Matt Bernstein who went to the University of Wisconsin and started as a freshman. That's the kind of talent that is sometimes in these games."
The Croton Tigers are from northern Westchester County on the Hudson River.
The biggest challenge for Saranac Lake's defense this weekend will be stopping Croton's running game. Croton runs the Wing-T offense and has two particular strong backs: quarterback Nick Mainiero and fullback Dan Lutz.
This season, the six-foot-one, 205 pound Mainiero has rushed 105 times for 937 yards and 17 touchdowns for an average of 85.2 yards per game.
His biggest game came in September against Blind Brook, when the senior carried the ball seven times for 279 yards and five touchdowns.
In last week's win, he rushed eight times for 55 yards and one touchdown. He completed one of three passing attempts, a 69-yard touchdown.
"The quarterback has a cannon for an arm," Farmer said. "Even though he doesn't throw a ton; when he throws, he can do it."
In the backfield, the 6-foot-3, 220 Lutz gets the majority of the workload for the Tigers. For the season, he has 164 rushes for 858 yards and six touchdowns. Against Ellenville, he ran 17 times for 81 yards and two touchdowns.
In order to control the line of scrimmage, the Red Storm will rely on their depth to keep players fresh. That should help them against the ground game.
The Red Storm will also need to play smart football and stay within themselves. Picking up penalties in a big game can be a difference maker, as they realized last week when Watervliet picked up more than its share.
"It's a football cliche but you have to limit mistakes and not take a lot of penalties," Farmer said. "People that went to the game last week saw Watervliet take a lot of penalties and that hurt them. You've got to limit your mistakes and not take a lot of silly penalties."
Keeping perspective may also be a challenge for some players. With big wins comes a lot of hype and talk around the community. This week, Farmer has been telling his team to stay focused.
"That's what we've been telling them all week and it's tough to do because everybody is excited and people in the community are congratulating them," Farmer said. "But we want them to be a success: go out and play football. The last I checked, the field at Kingston was still 100 yards long. We've got to get past all the patronage of the game and play football."
Of course, Farmer and his players appreciate the outpouring of support.
"We are very humbled by the amount of support people in our community are giving us right now," Farmer said. "We're very grateful and thankful."
There's no doubt, this Saturday, the Red Storm will rely heavily on veterans such as Steve Burpoe, who caught two touchdown passes last week, but they'll also need a big team effort. Often in big games, between talented teams, it's the contributions from role players that makes the difference.
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adk777
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11-21-08 4:31 PM
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That's what happens when you can't get by Peru. Thank God for Class C!!
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Zerrahn
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11-21-08 1:47 PM
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Just a reminder that this is the FIRST Redstorm football team to get to Dietz, 10 years ago we were Redskins.................great job, I will be rooting for you, GO STORM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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TracyMauler
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11-21-08 11:39 AM
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The running back pictured in this story is not Jon Barge but Dan Sweet.
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