Before we get to the heavy stuff, let’s start things off with our weekly SIGSTATS, gleaned from all the sources available to us:

RUSHING: Pete Dimilia (TV) 12 x 195 yards & 3 TD … Trevor Officer (MW) 21 x 177 x 3 TD … Barry Surrett (NFA) 176 yards & 2 TD … Dan Scalo (MW) 18 x 155 x 3 TD … Travis Mann (Chester) 28 x 155 x 1 TD … James Schoonmaker (Wallkill) 23 x 152 x 1 TD … Tim Crown (PJ) 15 x 149 x 2 TD … Austin Erlwein (SW) 136 yards & 4 TD … Brandon Tompkins (Lib) 19 x 129 x 2 TD … Rian White (War) 125 yards & 2 TD … Andrew Haelen (MV) 22 x 121 x 1 TD … Ian Hollaran (Eld) 14 x 114 x 2 TD … Fred Locklary (NFA) 103 yards & 2 TD … Church Pfeil (O’N) 15 x 95 x 1 TD … Brian Hollway (High) 90 yards … Doug Lewis (Ell) 15 x 89 x 2 TD … Tyrel George (NFA) 2 TD … Tyler Lawlor (Corn) 2 TD … Tyree Smallwood (Corn) 2 TD … Brendan Moore (TV) 2 TD.

PASSING: Rian White (War) 17 x 38 x 279 x 3 TD … Aaron Kilner (O’N) 6 x13 x 227x 2 TD … Robert Borriello (Ell) 5 x 6 x 174 x 2 … Shane McNamara (VC) 9 x 24 x 117 x 1 TD … Ryan Alsdorf (SW) 2 TD … Tyler Lawlor (Corn) 2 TD … Matt Relyea (High) 2 TD … Mike Wunder (Gosh) 2 TD.

RECEIVING: John Babin (Warwick) 8 x 135 x 1 TD ... Zach Adler (VC) 4 x 54 x 1 TD … Jose Aldarondo (Ell) 3 x 117 … Ben Cary (Marl) 3 x 66 … Church Pfeil (O’N) 2 x 85 … John Babin (War) caught his record-setting TD pass #16 … John Boccio (Gosh) 2 TD.

DEFENSE: Dylan Kulik (Eld) 15 tackles, fumble recovery & forced fumble … Mark Scott (FDR) 19 tackles … Brandon Tompkins (Lib) 10 tackles, forced fumble & fumble recovery … Bryan Henry (Eld) 8 tackles & 2 INT … Brandon Wagner (SW) 13 tackles … Logan Peterson (NP) 9 tackles and two sacks … Sam Gray (FDR) 2 sacks & interception … Tom Covino (NP) 8 tackles … Matt Bogorad (TV)  8 tackles ... Mike McGriff (Ell) 55-yard INT return for TD … Eric Leewe (SW) 2 sacks … Gordy Pine (NP) 23-yard fumble recovery return for TD & a sack for a safety … Ryan Morgan (MW) 2 sacks.

SPECIALS: Jamal Clark (NP) 59-yard punt return for TD (2 total punt returns for 125 yards).

KICKING: Patrick Laird (MW) 7 x 7 PATS (now 47 x 47 for the season) … Kyle Cazzetta (MV) 2 PAT & 32-yard FG … Brodie Moller (FDR) PAT & FG … A.J. Borriello (Ell) 7 punts for 41.5 avg. … Art Norden 6 x 6 PAT, FG … Jose Ignacio-Rios (Ell) 6 x 6 PAT.

COACHING NOTE: Sullivan West’s Ron Bauer moved up to #4 on the all-time Section Nine Winningest Coaches list with his 143^rd victory. The Bulldog fans also helped him celebrate his 67^th birthday. Bauer’s overall record is now 143-99-5.

BAD CALL OF THE WEEK: The weather prognosticators who promised rain, rain, rain from a “Great Nor-easter.” Remember - these are the same people who champion the great anti-scientific Theory of Global Warming. And wasn’t that a blistering autumn weekend we just had!? This will get me a few emails.

NOW FOR QUOTES OF THE WEEK: “We stuck together and pulled it out,” said Kingston coach Jeramie Collins, who then joked about wrapping his players up to protect them from any more injuries during the week. There are already four Tiger starters out of action. And Kingston isn’t the only team bitten by the injury bug…

“We have some injuries and really had to rely on our younger guys. They really stepped up to the occasion. We are very pleased with the entire team’s performance today.” ---Harry Harrington FDR

“(Liberty’s Brandon) Tompkins is a stud and a classy kid. He and that offensive line kicked our butts. Liberty was very impressive and well prepared. As for us, we’re just getting pushed around again. We’re not good at playing from behind … Our kids are beat up. I told (my son) Peter that he is through for the season (injured shoulder).” --- Sean Keenan, Millbrook.

“I'm sitting there making a decision about putting one of the best athletes in New York state on defense. But (I could have been) the biggest idiot in Section Nine if this kid gets hurt." --- Monroe-Woodbury coach Pat D'Aliso said about letting Dan Scalo play safety.

"(Rian White) is a great quarterback, but as with all quarterbacks, when their feet are moving, they're not nearly as effective." --- Monroe-Woodbury DB Ryan Morgan said about his being moved to hero and sacking White twice after Scalo had gone to safety.

"Rian took a beating. Look at his uniform. It's black, and that's not good when you're a passing team." --- Warwick coach James Sciarra.

“We just had too many turnovers. I thought our defense played well, but we were just on the field way too much. (New Paltz) just shut us down on offense.” --- Marlboro coach Bob Koonz.

"I saw him (Wallkill QB James Harcher) rolling out and I dropped back in my hook zone and I just jumped up and caught it. I didn't see who he was throwing to. I was just reading the pass play." --- Port Jervis’s Chris Van Dunk on his key interception.

“We felt like it was more important to get our kids in the game than to keep the (scoreless) streak going. A couple of our starters might argue that point. But, seriously, we thought it was more important to put other kids in the game once we felt like we had it locked up.”… Highland coach Carl Relyea who had just earned career victory # 119.

“The first three times we had the ball, we drove into their territory and missed two field goals and had a fumble. So all we talked about at halftime was finishing, finishing, finishing.” --- Relyea.

“It was just a great game in the mud.” -- Eldred coach Frank Kean on his team‘s meeting with the Hambletonians in the Enchanted Forest (aka Chester Commons).

DOWN IN SECTION ONE: Since our Section Nine champs annually meet the champs of Section One in the state regionals (held this year on November 13 and 14), let‘s take a look at what‘s going on down there as Section One enters its three weeks of playoffs.

The Class AA first-round matchups are Mount Vernon at top-seeded New Rochelle, John Jay-EF at North Rockland, Carmel at Arlington and White Plains at Suffern.

Class A, full of intrigue all season, has last year's champ, Nyack, visiting former perennial Class B champ Rye, which is now in Class A.  Roosevelt will play at Ossining, Lakewood visits Fox Lane and Somers will host Poughkeepsie.