It’s tough to put the 2017 high school football season into just a few paragraphs.

We had so many memorable moments, but a few that really stand out have to be back-to-back state championships for Troy in Class AA and Cambridge in Class D.

Last Friday, Cambridge officially became the first Section II school to win back-to-back state titles at the Carrier Dome. On Sunday, Troy became the first Section II school to win back-to-back titles at the Carrier Dome going undefeated in both seasons.

Each team had memorable moments throughout their respective runs.

For Troy, going back to the state quarterfinal and Mike Fazio’s game-winning field goal was amazing. He was the back-up kicker and back-up quarterback put in a huge situation and came through. People will be talking about Joey Ward’s performance in the state final for years to come. He was a monster spinning away from tacklers and the final touchdown of his high school career landed him on ESPN.

For Cambridge, after getting beat by Greenwich during the regular season, coming back and beating them in the sectional Super Bowl was key. A stat in that game that stood out through the rest of the season was Colton Dean’s 4 TDs in the first half. That was the first time he had played fullback this season for Cambridge and he continued at fullback right through the state final.

You can’t talk about the 2017 season without talking about the Holy Trinity Pride. This is a team that played in their first-ever sectional semifinal game and they ended up in the Class C state championship at the Carrier Dome as well. Holy Trinity’s adversity started the previous year, when their equipment room was burned down the night before their first sectional appearance. The community rallied around this team, helped them out and the Pride carried that with them right through this season.

Game of the Year

The game of the year had to be the Class B Super Bowl between Schuylerville and Glens Falls. Glens Falls was the defending state champion and they beat Schuylerville during the regular season. The Black Horses came to play in this one. They started the game up 15-0 and had a lead at halftime. They forced Glens Falls to keep coming back. Schuylerville scored late in the game to take the lead, which looked like it could be for good, but Glens Falls got into field goal range and Sam Hogan booted a 35-yard field goal with a second left in the game to tie it and send it to overtime. Hogan, then hit a 39-yarder to win it in OT for Glens Falls.

Runner-up for game of the year was probably one we watched live on Spectrum News during the regular season between Burnt Hills and Averill Park. AP went for two and the lead late in the game, but Burnt Hills came up with a big stop. Both teams played great and that was a thriller.

Way-too-early 2018 Predictions

It’s so early to talk about teams to watch next year because so much can happen, but I would say in Class AA it would have to be Shaker. Like basically every other team the Blue Bison graduate a very good senior class, but they bring back skill position guys like Ravion Burt, Joe Toutai and Connor McHugh. Their defense will take a big hit, but Shaker teams are always built around the run game and defense, so I am sure they will figure that out.

In Class A it’s going to have to be Burnt Hills. Since he’s been at Burnt Hills, Matt Shell has had teams that have had younger players making big impacts. It helps because they always seem to be brining players back. They will return Vincent Daviero, Darien LaPietro and DJ Lashley, just a few of the names people know.

In Class B Schuylerville and Glens Falls will both return their quarterbacks in Stratton Sherman and Joseph Giarard III, and both will have some good pieces around them.

In Class C, in many ways you could have said the teams that played in the sectional championship game – Holy Trinity and Stillwater – were young. Holy Trinity loses a lot on their lines and their run game, but they still have Joe Tortello, Nacier Hundley and Nelon Priest. We will have to wait and see if the Pride has to move up a class next year.

Stillwater was young also and even had some freshmen on their roster. I would expect them to be good next year returning a lot of very good players including their starting QB, James Galarneau.

Class D will be interesting to see who plays in that classification and who moves up to Class C. It sounds like an easy answer, but Cambridge will be there again next year. They lose a ton to graduation, but Doug Luke’s teams always just rebuild.

Congratulations to all of our teams it was a fun season.