Class C’s third seed was Liberty. The Indians opened their season with three losses and found themselves 1-4 after five games. That fourth loss came at the hands of top seeded and state-ranked Ellenville, 36-6, their opponent Saturday.

“Upon further review,” as they say in the NFL, we see that two of those losses were to state ranked Class D teams, unbeaten Delhi and now once-beaten Eldred. Add to that the fact that the second loss of the season came at the hands of Sullivan West (32-8), and one has to reconsider Liberty’s true potential.

Liberty will again have its hands full with Ellenville in Saturday‘s title game, but the underdog's chances might not be as overwhelming as we initially thought.

The only scar on defending champ Ellenville’s 2009 record, however, is that 25-12 loss to Class B power Highland. The Blue Devils led, 12-3, at half in that one. Then Highland, with its depth, poured it on in the second half.

Ellenville has a beast of a front line spearheaded by senior all-state OG and DT A.J. Borriello, the son of coach Tony Borriello. Senior Donald Corso also goes both ways. Meanwhile the offensive backfield has several weapons, the biggest being workhorse RB Doug Lewis who has rushed 68 times for 1,141 yards and 15 TD. FB Andrew Platt and RBs Ameer Maxwell and Amiel Maerling will also get into the act.

When soph QB Robert Borriello (also the coach’s son) throws the ball deep, junior Jose Aldarondo (10 grabs for 297 yards and four TD) seems to be his favorite hookup. Overall Borriello has completed 30-of-55 passes for 554 yards and seven TD.

On the other sideline, first year head coach John Wilhelm worked his way up the ranks to get his position. An Ellenville grad he once played defensive back for Tony Borriello.

“This is going to be a fun, fun week for us to get ready for them,” Borriello said after last week’s semi-final win over Millbrook. “They’ve made a turnaround. Liberty is a different team now. I’m ecstatic for John. He’s waited his turn and this (Ellenville-Liberty) rivalry goes way back. It’s going to be good.”

Against favored Sullivan West, Liberty rode the back of a crazy 17-point second quarter which saw a pair of bad Bulldog snaps on punting attempts lead to safeties. Those four points turned out to be the winning margin. Westies’ QB Ryan Alsdorf ran the ball 17 times for 122 yards, but there were problems with the passing game after ace receiver Austin Erlwein had left the game in the first quarter. Alsdorf threw 20 times but three of those passes were intercepted by Liberty’s ubiquitous Mike McLean. Two of those picks came at the Liberty 17 and 10 yard lines.

Sophomore QB Marshon Williams’ growth is directly related to Liberty’s second half success. Against the rugged Sully West defense, he gained 55 yards on 21 carries but held onto the ball so that the Bulldogs benefited from only one Indian turnover. That was an interception that fortuitously set up the first safety.

Williams’ seasonal passing stat line shows him as 40-for-91-for 644 yards and six TD. As a rusher he is 108-for-439 yards and four TD. He is the team’s workhorse out of the spread. Senior Brandon Tompkins has carried the ball 59 times for 391 yards and eight TD. McLean, also a senior, has caught 10 passes for 256 yards. But we look for talented junior Jovaughen Clark to get some more touches this Saturday. Against Sullivan West he ran four times for 31 yards and caught one of Williams’ two completions for nine yards.

Tompkins, a three-year starting LB, anchors a defense that really gelled last weekend. He had 22 tackles against Sully West. Junior Eddie Soto is another rock ‘em sock ‘em LB. McLean and Williams play in the secondary. Seniors Kris Merklin, Darren Klein and Nelson Saravia are the leaders on the line.

Tompkins summed up everything after the victory over Sully West: “When we’re at practice we take care of what we need to do. We started out rough this year, but we kept on believing. We worked so hard in the summer and for things to finally pay off. What more could I ask for? We’ve made it farther than anyone thought we could.”

--- RICK STONE