On Tuesday night, the final plaques of 6 sectional championships were handed out at Bethlehem High School in Albany County.   After getting to watch all 6 championships from the press box, covering them for the NFHS Network's live streams, it's time to recap the games from my viewpoint.

CLASS AAA: 

The Shaker Blue Bison repeat as Class AAA champions thanks to not letting the pressure get to them.   The equalizing goal by Guilderland in the second half wasn't a problem for the Blue Bison, as they took the Dutchmen's moment and squished it with two quick goals that became the decider in this high energy match. Kofi Safrow and Owen Brant are solid both sides players who create opportunities on both sides of the field and now are faced with the task of doing what they couldn't do last year -- defeat Baldwinsville.   They came close last year, losing in overtime.

CLASS AA:

Columbia looked unstoppable.  Until they got to the Sectional Championship.   Credit the Bethlehem Eagles, who stayed one step ahead of the Blue Devils and flipped the script on what happened in the regular season when they were on the path towards the perfect season for Columbia.  Nothing the Blue Devils tried worked against the Eagles, and it's no share of the title this time around for the Eagles, it's onto states.

CLASS A:

This game provided a lot of drama, and an unfortunate ending to a great game.  First, Schamont was nearly dead until they seized advantage through a free kick that found its eventual path into the net for the equalizer with just minutes remaining in regulation.  Until then, Ichabod Crane was doing everything they needed to secure a consecutive championship.  Overtime brought chances, but nothing would go in... until the second overtime. 

From my angle and with the naked eye without knowledge what was seen on the side, it looked like a clean save by the Ichabod Crane keeper Joe Payone.  But it apparently wasn't.   The explanation from the Section 2 Soccer Coordinator was that Payone's roll and grab of the ball wasn't clean, and while it was skirting the line the bobbled pickup from Payone caused the ball to clear the line and be just enough in for the score.  

Rewatching the moment and focusing on the ball, I can see how that conclusion happened.  That ball when Payone rolled to pick it up was already partly across the line.   

What really was unfortunate was not getting the immediate reaction to the goal score, with it coming about 5 seconds later when the Schalmont team came out onto the field in celebration.  With the confusion, it resulted in a rather awkward call on the air as we were just searching for answers and explanations up in the press box.

Credit the Sabres for never quitting, because that's what earned them the Class A Championship.   

CLASS B:

Greenville brought the physicality, but the Mechanicville defense did all it needed to do to prevent the score.  The last game of the day wasn't exciting for the goals scored, but for how one moment could change the game.   

And that play came in the first half after great ball movement by Mechanicville to get it deeper in, and then a misplay by the keeper left enough room for Cruz Goverski to bury the score.  Then it was all on the defense to keep Greenville from flipping the script on last year's sectional championship.

CLASS C:

Waterford is a solid team, even if they were missing the high scoring that Josh Catanzarita brought their team last season.  But Loudonville Christian is a fast, athletic squad that used both to power past the Fordians on Tuesday night in Bethlehem.

And it wasn't even close.  The Eagles speed created opportunities, including on the first tallies of the game where that speed gave separation for the goal chances, and then in the second half presented a solid showcase of teamwork as they netted a pair of goals that were tic tac toe passing and shooting to beat the Waterford keeper. 

And we already knew the Eagles would be a force, based on how they started the season with three straight 10+ goal games, and ended the season by dismantling the Fordians 9-0.   

CLASS D:

210 minutes.

That's how long the Fort Ann Cardinals and the Northville Falcons played scoreless soccer this season.  100 minutes in the first meeting back on September 30th between the 80 minute regulation and the two 10 minute overtimes painted the picture for this renewal of this rivalry between schools.

It was going to be tough to beat the keeper in an 11 vs. 11 game.

Very tough.

Give a lot of credit to both keepers, but a big props to Hunter Wade for Fort Ann.  He stood on his head, deflected shots, did everything he could to prevent Northville from winning this game outright in regulation.  He was peppered with quality shots on goal by the Falcons -- they outshot Fort Ann by a massive margin and overwhelmingly had the corner kick advantage -- but Wade stood his ground and survived near misses, until penalty kicks. 

And the only kick that mattered in the penalty kicks was the first.  When Fort Ann's first attempt sailed high and over the cage, Northville had the upper hand and when they made all 5 of their kicks, it earned the Falcons the ticket into states.

Fort Ann gets to share the Section 2 Class D Championship, but the better team on the field is still alive for the state championship attempt.