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Page 6-February 5,1987-Fort Covington Sun-Fort Covington, N. Y. SUN SPORTCENTER By Sandy Cook BOYS BASKETBALL HOCKEY RIFLE It's been a struggle for the SRCS boys varsity basketball squad so far this season. Lately, however, the club has shown steady improvement. Coach Kevin Walbridge's club now seems ready to post a few more wins and pull off a surprise or two. They darn near posted the upset of the year in Division II play, battling top-ranked. Brushton-Moira neck-and- neck before bowing, 52-40 at the Shamrock gym last Thursday. In a rare Saturday contest, Salmon dropped a close one, 39-37 at home to Colton-Pierrepont. Those two decisions give the first-year varsity coach and his crew a record of 1- 7 as of press time. That mark is certainly not indicative of the way they've been playing in the past few games, though. Walbridge seems pleased with the way the club has come together as a team of late, and is especially happy with the emergence of players such as Russell Bartlett and John Cushman as forces to be reckoned with. Chris Ro- gofsky, lost for a few weeks due to an ankle injury, looks like he's about ready to return to action...and that means even more trouble for Sham- rock opponents. Team captain Sean Inglee and Shawn Mar- tin have been holding down the outside spots well, and Dave Stowell chips in points and hard rebounds frequently. Overall team depth made the difference in the loss to- the Panthers. Under new coach Gary South, Brushton- Moira has been immediately taken from usher to bride- groom in Division II. They pummelled the Shamrocks by better than 30 points in a meeting back in December. It's a tribute to Coach Walbridge and the Salmon River five to note how far they've come since that dis- aster. This time, playing before ai packed house at SRCS, the ranthers did win, but didn't dominate as before. After taking a 17-8 first quarter lead, B-M was out- scored 11-9 in the second stanza. At one point, the Shamrocks had cut the lead to two points, but couldn't close the gap all the way. The lead was 26-19, Brushton, at the half. The visitors went to the talents of Rod I\>irier to climb out of their funk. He rang up 8 of his game-high 18 points in quarter three, to help his team to a 38-27 advantage at the third whistle stop. Salmon got three men in double figures. Bartlett led the green and white with 13 points, followed by Inglee and Cushman with 12 each. Stowell added three. Saturday's game went along sluggishly, as though no one really had much ambition to play it. SRCS fell behind by as many as seven in the second quarter, but rebound buckets and foul shots by Bartlett and Cushman pulled them even at 20-all at the half. Again, the home team was outscored ,12-8 in the third frame. This time, however, they couldn't make it quite all the way back. A few key turnovers and a swallowed referee's whistle near the end conspired to spell defeat for the locals. Bartlett again topped the Salmon scoresheet with 13 points. Cushman tossed in 9. Stowell added 7 more, with sharpshooters Inglee and Kyle Mulvana canning four each. It seems a loss may actually have been the spark that ignited the Big Green Machine. Salmon River's hockey team, undergoing a year of transition, had been up and down through the first month and two weeks of the 1986- 87 campaign. Then, they played at Massena. And in- stead of being blown off the ice, as many had predicted, the club played the Raiders very tough, indeed —- losing only 1-0 and giving what, until then, had been their season's best effort. Coach Doug Smoke, along with assistants Dave White and Tyler Sunday saw the club start to jell nicely. The green and white went on a four game win streak that carried through last Wednes- day, a 7-4 drubing of Lake Placid. But the streak ground to a halt on Saturday, when SRCS sustained a 2-1 home overtime loss to Alex Bay. Now, the Shamrock ledger stands at 6-8 in Division II- East. Salmon is firmly en- trenched in third place — eight points ahead of fourth place St. Lawrence and Alex Bay, but seven points behind second place 1000 Islands. Norwood-Norfolk continues to lead by a slim one point margin. In the Olympic Village, SRCS turned up the offensive juice with four goals in the third period to break a 3- 3 tie and sent the Bombers crashing. Owen Benedict paced the Salmon attack with the hat trick. Chris Thomas chipped in a goal and two assists. Ron Lewis and Tom Barnes added a goal and an assist each, while Dean Lat- ulipe notched the other green and white marker. Toby Sun- day set up three goals and Kyle Jacobs handed out two assists in Salmon River's second win over a Division I club this* year. Mitch Cook stopped 26 Placid shots — and some weren't so placid. Perhaps the skating Sham- rocks should have saved a couple of those goals for Saturday. As quickly as the offense had started on Wed- nesday, they were shut down that much at home on Sat- urday. Alex Bay played an aggresive game, knocking Salmon icemen off the puck and creating scoring chances. But, matter-of-factly, neither team had much offense this day, as witness the 14 saves by Salmon goalie John La- France and only 18 shots by his teammates. The visiting Ghosts drew first blood with a goal in the opening period. SRCS didn't get that one back until Bene- dict tucked in a Toby Sunday feed early in period three. The teams battled on through the end of regulation time — but Alex Bay picked up a double minor penalty plus a misconduct. Unfortunately, the advan- tage didn't work for the green and white. Instead, it would be Paul Hutchinson of AB lighting the lamp with a shor- thanded goal at 2:10 of the overtime to give the Ghosts their second win in a row and snap the Shamrock four game win skein. BOYS SWIMMING One of the true success stories of the winter sports season so far has been the Salmon River rifle squad. The three-time defending Section X champions, guided by Coach Jack Buchanan, were undefeated (9-0) as of presstime. They've taken on all comers and soundly beaten them— including an exciting win over Queensbury, whom the shooting Shamrocks hadn't beaten in some time. •, Coach Buchanan's marks- men — shooting on their brandspanking new range — have only one Section X match remaining, today against Hermon-DeKalb. The Adirondack Smallbore Rifle League title will be on the line next Tuesday, the locals travel to Pittsburgh to take on Queensbury once again. A Shamrock win clinchs a perfect regular season and the league championship. A victory for the Queenies means a league tie at the top — a tie which would be settled at the ASRL league match, to be held here on Saturday, February 14. The latest win for the green and white came at Massena a week ago. SRCS posted a 1131 — 1097 Jtiutffphs on the enemy range, thus taking care of the Raidenu twice this season. Corey Cartier ted the four best Shamrock shooters with a 286 total. That included a perfect 100 in the prone position and a 99 kneeling. JeiT Jock was next with a 284> and he also hit the century murk in prone. Ren Williams' 281 was bolstered by yet another perfect prone score. Mark Dtcfcz wound up the four best with a 280 total. Salmon's four scorers were all better than the best Mas- sena could do. Russell Phillips (275), Derek Capkllo (74), Joyce garWey (272), and John Leduc (270) all posted highly respectable tallies in the win. An undefeated season is the ultimate for any athlete. That's what the Salmon River rifle team will be shooting for in the next few days. We wish them well. We know they didn't get to be this good without a lot of practice and hard work. Girls Basketball SRCS 51, Brushton-Moira 37 The SRCS Girls Varsity Basketbal team maintained its Division II leadership last Friday night defeating Brushton-Moira at BMC, Claudine Tarbell, back in the starting line-up, led the SRCS scorers with 13 points while Michele Raville was close behind with 12 points. Despite foul trouble, Alison Swamp eight points; Ste- phanie Richards, recovering from a battle with the flu playeji most of the game to add eight points; Heather Durant scored Five, .Heather Alex- ander, four and Ellen Cook, shining on the rebounds, added three. BMC's leading scorer was Carrie Durant with 10 points and Michele Perrin playing a good devensive game, added six. ' BOYS JV BASKETBALL Coach Ray Drenzek and the SRCS JV boys hoopsters continue to give their fans a taste of the good things to come. Currently, the junior Sham- rocks are tied for first place with a mark of 6-2 among NAC Division II squads. It's a real dogfight at the top, as Madrid-Waddington and St. Lawrence also^have but two losses, and Chateaugay and Brushton-Moira have three each. Salmon River contributed to Brushton's woes by handing the Panthers their third straight loss, 45-32, on the Shamrock hardwood last Thursday. Coach Drenzek's forces turned in a completely dominant performance on Saturday, with a 53-25 thrash- ing of Colton-Pierrepont. The win over Brushton- Moira was especially satis- fying. Not only did SRCS gain revenge for a two-point loss at B-M a month and a half ago; the win was their first in the heated rivalry in a few years. That one started out close, with the teams tied at 12 after one quarter. Salmon inched ahead by 6, 26-20, at the half....and by two more, 34- 26, after three frames. Quarter four, however, was all Salmon River's. The stingy Shamrock defense, which stood toe-to-toe and slugged it out with the Brushton offense all night long, really got tight. B-M got only one shot at the basket, and most of the time it wasn't a good one. Offensively, Scott Ben- way and Bruce Cartier banged the boards and tossed in baskets to put the Panthers out of their misery. Frustration fouls began to take their toll on the visitors as they saw the writing on the backboard. Cartier has been Salmon's main force inside all season long. He's a major reason for the rise to the top, and has local fans licking their chops, waiting to see him take after varsity people next year. Ben- way has provided key re- bounds and soft inside passes for more offensive spark. The leadership of Matt Mitchell has been outstanding, as his role of \quarterback\ is in- strumental in setting up shop at both ends of the floor. Mike Benway is a major factor, too — with sharp, quick defense and sure passing and shooting on offense. Jim Tremblay and Dave Beaudin have alternated started roles, and both have played well. Against the Panthers, Cart- ier led all scores with 18 points. Two brothers Benway each bagged 10, while Beaudin hit for three and Mitchell and Tremblay threw in a bucket apiece. Saturday's was the kind of game where Coach Drenzek had a chance to play every- body. It was obvious from the outset the visiting Colts stood no chance, and are continuing to rebuild their program. SRCS led at each break — 18-4, 32-10, and 45- 17. Cartier again topped the list with 16 points. There followed Scott Benway (7), Mitchell (6), Mike Benway (5), Mark Johnson (4), Jeff Latreille (4), Beaudin (4), Pat Ghostlaw (3), Jim Barney (2), and Jamie Warner (2). ~ Coach Bob Alpi's sectional champion Shamrock male swimmers continue to churn up the waters in their league. SRCS is 3-1 as of presstime, at or near the top of the NAC- CVAC swim race. The league overall is tougher this year, so wins are a lot harder to come by than previously. Somehow, though, the wins bred in this program through the years seem to rub off on its successors. Most recently, Salmon Took a bie win over Ausable Valley, 46-37. Coach Alpi's charges got six first places in the meet. Bob Alpi and Charlie Williams were double winners on that day, as both were part of the winning 200 relay quartet (with Jamie Leduc and Eric Bailey), then touched first in individual events — Alpi in the breaststroke and Wil- liams off the diving board. Pat McCaffrey was number one in the 50 free. Pat Pyke copped the blue ribbon in the 100 free. Peter Kerwin rounded out the SRCS first placers with a win in the 500 free. The numbers and the qual- ity of Salmon's swim team make for a highly competitive squad as usual. Get to one of their home meets when you get the chance. North Franklin Sports News By Alice Jock, Secretary The Mosquito Majors par- ticipated in their first tour- nament this year. They were runner up on the \B\ side in the Tri Town Minor Hockey Tournament on Sun., Feb. 1st, In their first game, the Mosquitos played Canton, and lost by a score of 7-0. This put the team on the \B\ side. Their second game was played against Saranac Lake, and North Franklin won by a score of 7 : 0. The Cham- pionship Game was against Malone. Our boys played with a lot of heart to a score of 4-1, Malone's favor. It was a good experience and their coach felt they played their positions reasonable well. The first winner of the 20 Week Club is John Toy, Box 671, Massena, N.Y. Thanks to all the hockey players who returned their tickets and to the people who gave donations. North Franklin does need your support. North Franklin Sports will hold a General Meeting on Monday, Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mary's Parish Center in Fort Covington. All hockey coaches are urged to attend. T-Ball, baseball, and Babe Ruth coaches are also urged to attend. This is the time to start planning for the summer programs. If you would like to coach or help out this summer we need you at this meeting. m Therrien Marine Lance Cpl. Eric E. Therrien, son of Philip E. and Shirley A. Therrien of Bombay, N.Y., has been promoted to his present rank while serving with (bommanct- er Iceland Defense Force, Keflavik, Iceland. *• A 1985 graduate of Salmon River Central High School, Fort Covington, he joined the Marine Corps in August 1985.
