Class A saw Wallkill get its revenge in the semi-final by heartily besting Port Jervis, 35-12. Two weeks earlier PJ had defeated Wallkill, 21-7. The Panthers never trailed in the semi-final contest, but the Raiders were nipping at their heels in a 7-6 game until Port lost its QB and completely short-circuited late in the second quarter. Wallkill scored two quick TD as a result and then dominated the second half, allowing Port only two first downs.

The Panther turnaround came in large part thanks to the returns of RB Dom Calvanico (who had a sore hip and had played very sparingly during the Wallkill two-game losing streak) and big Eric Paz, the middle presence on the defensive line who had been sidelined for the prior four weeks. Outstanding kicker Pat Toole had also been on the mend.

Now Wallkill will meet again with Cornwall which had its way with the Panthers, 49-7, in week eight. First year head coach Brian Vegliando thinks his veteran team is ready for the battle. A former Panther QB himself, he speaks highly of his own QB, Andrew Harcher, who was named the offensive MVP in the Port Jervis game.

“Andrew has done a good job for us,” the coach said, “and he’s a good athlete. The best thing is that he also has very good wide receivers in Chad Hecht and Ryan Atkins.”

Harcher has completed 59-of-116 passes for 849 yards, nine TD and 7 interceptions. All-star Hecht has caught 20 passes for 307 yards and six TD. Harcher can also throw short strikes to TE Joe Cappuccilli and his running backs, Calvanico and James Schoonmaker, if necessary.

But the bread-and butter of the Wallkill attack is the ground game, especially now that Calvanico has returned to full-time duty. The junior is the perfect spoil for senior FB Schoonmaker (6’ 200) who is one of the section’s two top power backs (Minisink’s Andrew Haelen being the other). Schoonmaker has pounded for 1,010 yards on 159 carries and has scored 12 TD.

Vegliando says that his offensive line is “back on track.” Center Jeff Snyder is flanked by George Hansen, Justin Piniero, Adam Rohl and Rob Fasano. Rohl, a junior, is the only wide-body in the bunch at 6-5, 275.

“Except for Rohl, they’re not big, but they get the job done,” the coach said.

The defense features two of the area’s top defenders in senior LB Joe Cappuccilli and junior DB Joe Ortiz who led the section in picks last year. Port backup QB Jordan Drew made the mistake of floating a second quarter pass into the end zone on the side where Ortiz was patrolling last week. The resulting interception helped do in the Raiders.

“Joe doesn’t have that many interceptions this year because people know who he is and where he is and avoid throwing in his direction. He is our leading tackler, though,” Vegliando remarked.

“But Cappuccilli is the leader of our defense. He also has two TD as our tight end.”

Defensively, senior Nelson Andrades (5-11 295) and junior DE Adam Howard join Paz on the front three. Seniors Dom Dinota and James Droney also play up front.

The Panthers meet Cornwall Friday night at Faller Field (7 pm). The Defending Champs-on-the Hudson matured very quickly, to put it mildly. They had to replace just about everybody from last year’s powerful team, the one that got shafted out of a possible shot at going to the Carrier Dome. “Flag malfeasance.” So how did Cornwall handle all that? Simple. They reloaded.

Coach Marcus Hughes has said that his ‘09 Green Dragons are “the hardest workers I have ever coached.” Ah, the American work ethic is not dead! Last week they sliced-and-diced Saugerties, 38-7, in the semi-final, a definite upgrade over their week three 31-18 victory at Saugerties.

Junior RB Tyree Smallwood typifies the Dragon Work Ethic. In the semi-final he rushed 10 times for 197 yards and three TD. He also returned a kickoff 85 yards for a TD. His season’s stats are 109 rushes for 1,084 yards and 22 TD (which includes five special team TD). He now also leads the section in scoring with 134 points.

Coach Hughes said, “It makes coaching easy when you have a self-motivated player (like Smallwood). He works hard in practice. He runs hard. What you see on the game field you see in practice.”

The Dragons are averaging almost 36 yards a game, so you know that Smallwood has some help. His backfield compadre is fellow junior Tyler Lawlor, the QB who works from the spread. Lawlor, following in the footsteps of all-state player of the year Kevin Arduino, wasn’t overwhelmed by being named the starting quarterback. Instead he has continued the tradition of “Outstanding Cornwall QB’s of the 21^st Century.” As a passer he has completed 49-of-100 passes for 934 yards and nine TD. Even better as a runner, he has gained 644 yards on 86 carries and has scored eight times.

Defenses can’t key on both Smallwood and Lawlor, so pick your poison. Meanwhile the Dragons also have a small army of decent receivers ready to go gather passes just in case the defense goes all out to stop the Cornwall ground game. Three-year placekicker Kenny Kirshner is also available. So far he has three field goals to his credit.

The “No-Name” front line has come of age, too. Juniors Max Bauer and Ryan Staudle stand out on both sides of the ball. Senior RT Corey Tenhagen and junior RG Rob Adams make a solid blocking tandem. Meanwhile Tom Pinder’s defense features senior MLB Joe Terribile whose big improvement during the off-season has made a big impact. The secondary, meanwhile, gets better and better. And please note that Cornwall has 26 underclassmen on this team.

The Dragons are favored to win their fifth straight Class A crown and the sixth in the last seven years.

--- RICK STONE