RICK STONE SAYS: I’m still trying to recover from my week four showing. My current record is a less-than-stellar 67-17 (last week I went 14-2 which wasn’t all that great considering the blowouts).
On Friday night MINISINK VALLEY has recovered from its back-to-back openers against NFA and M-W and will defeat banged up Kingston … MONROE-WOODBURY makes Pat D’Aliso SNF’s winningest coach with a Class AA-l win over Middletown … Like Kingston, Pine Bush is banged up which gives VALLEY CENTRAL a good shot at a mild upset … In a big Class B matchup MARLBORO gets the edge over Red Hook because the Dukes are playing on their new home turf where they‘ve gotten their only win to date … Defending champ and state-ranked HIGHLAND, the cream of Class B will top second place New Paltz … LIBERTY is fighting for a Class C playoff spot and must beat Pine Plains … CORNWALL comes off a bye week to meet a Port Jervis team that shocked everyone with its blowout of Goshen. The Raiders are trulygetting their act together, but Cornwall’s offense might be too difficult for them to contain.
Saturday has 10 games on the docket. ELDRED should have little trouble with 1-4 Hancock (Section Four) which has been giving up an average of 40.6 ppg … In the Class C biggie, homestanding ELLENVILLE, unbeaten and state-ranked, shouldn’t roll over Millbrook they way it did last year but the Devils should prevail in this one nonetheless … Goshen isn’t as bad as last week’s 45-13 loss to Port Jervis would seem to indicate. The Glads need a league win and should come to play with an attitude, but rugged SAUGERTIES will end up on top and with a Class A playoff spot clinched … NEWBURGH is about the last team winless Washingtonville needs to meet this weekend … Tri-Valley and Spackenkill are in a figurative life and death struggle along with Liberty for the final playoff spot in Class C. The homestanding Spartans are a slight favorite according to Las Vegas odds, but I‘m looking for TRI-VALLEY to pull off a mini-upset here … Finally Class D sees a league game. In it CHESTER will again top Livingston Manor-Roscoe … O’NEILL finally got untracked last week and should get past Burke Catholic. Those two plus Red Hook and Marlboro are all tied with 1-2 Class B records … SULLIVAN WEST now finishes its regular season against teams with a composite 2-12 record. This week the Bulldogs get winless Onteora … WALLKILL was able to avoid a bye week since Section One’s Class C Dover (1-3) was also scheduled to be idle. The Panthers, needing to build up a head of steam for Port Jervis and then Cornwall, will win this one comfortably … WARWICK has another week to chalk up some gaudy stats as the ‘Cats travel to Roosevelt. Warwick will then meet Monroe-Woodbury and Minisink Valley.
RICH ARNOTT did so well last week (15-1) that he wants to challenge the Rixter again. This is what Rich has to say:
MINISINK VALLEY over Kingston – The Tigers have a few players banged up and the Warriors have picked up steam lately … MONROE-WOODBURY over Middletown – The homestanding top-ranked AA Crusaders will keep doing what they do best on autumnal weekends and this win will mark Coach D’Aliso’s SNF record-breaking 195th … VALLEY CENTRAL over Pine Bush – The Vikings may be in better condition for this contest although games between these two teams are hard to predict … MARLBORO over Red Hook – Another win for the Dukes on the new field over a struggling Raiders squad … HIGHLAND over New Paltz – Nice job by the Huguenots the last two weeks but the Huskies should clamp down defensively and score enough to take this encounter … LIBERTY over Pine Plains – The Indians pick up a necessary Class C victory and look forward to a possible playoff spot … CORNWALL over Port Jervis – It appears as though the Dragons have too much offense but this game is at Glennette Field and the Raiders will dig deep on a Friday night … ELDRED over Hancock – Somebody break up the Yellowjackets! They have kicked some royal derriere in the first five weeks and they’ll swarm all over these Cats too… ELLENVILLE over Millbrook – The Blue Devils defense will have to show up from the opening kickoff onward or else we could see an upset … SAUGERTIES over Goshen – The Sawyers get back on the winning side of the tracks and will focus on playoff seeding … NEWBURGH over Washingtonville – NFA keeps up its winning ways … SPACKENKILL over Tri-Valley – The Spartans generate enough offense to get it done for a Class C ‘W’ … CHESTER over LMR – Coach Stover’s Hambletonians take step one in Class D play but the Devilcats are a better team this year … O’NEILL over Burke Catholic – Will the real O’Neill please stand up? Will the Raiders show up as last week’s team that took care of Marlboro, or will we get the Week Four edition that struggled against New Paltz? … SULLIVAN WEST over Onteora – The Bulldogs win this one as the Indians look for positives … WALLKILL over Dover – The Panthers could dominate this Section One team that has given up some points this season … WARWICK over FDR – The Wildcats make the record 6-0 for the first time since 2002.
BOTTOM LINE: So our FEARLESS FORECASTERS disagree on only one game (like last week). Rick and Rich also agree that we’re due to have a Tespu sighting soon. (Yawn)
