M-W's Section Nine title...II: Crusaders await quarterfinalwinner in hunt for state crown

KINGSTON - Mike Septh’s head popped out of Monroe-Woodbury’s celebration party just minutes after the Crusaders secured their second consecutive Section Nine Class AA title with a convincing 34-0 pounding of Kingston. “Let’s keep rolling, baby,” he told his team. “We want Syracuse.” With the win the Crusaders are just one win away from heading to the Carrier Dome to play for the Class AA crown. The Crusaders will play the winner of next week’s state AA quarterfinal in the Eastern New York semifinals in two weeks at Dietz Stadium. “Anything is realistic with this team,” said quarterback Greg Sullivan. “We need two good weeks of practice and then we’ll go out and get it.” “Everyone is going to rest and then we’ll see who we play next,” said defensive back/running back Chris Johnson. “We have a shot.” Johnson helped the stingy Crusader defense blank what was supposed to be a potent Tigers’ offense when he picked off a Marc Jackson pass in the fourth period to preserve the shutout. “I can’t even explain how it feels.” Johnson said. Fellow seniors Keith Hale (12 tackles) and Chris Dollbaum (nine tackles) refused to let Kingston do anything offensively. “I thought it was going to be a tough battle to the end,” said Dollbaum. “To come into their stadium and shut them out is just unreal.” Tim Dorsey added six tackles and a sack as Kingston couldn’t gain a first down in the entire first half where the Tigers had only 25 net yards of offense. The game’s most outstanding offensive player, David Landesberg (95 rushing yards on eight carries, two touchdowns), gave the Crusaders all they would need on their opening series. The junior raced 41 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown. Anthony Coccaro’s first of four PAT kicks made it 7-0. It should have been 14-0 on M-W’s next drive, but Sullivan fumbled the ball out of the Tigers’ end zone on fourth-and-goal resulting in a touchback. Landesberg then fumbled away another chance to tack onto the lead when he lost the ball at the Kingston 19 with 8:53 left in the half. Landesberg atoned for his mistake on the Crusaders’ next possession when he knifed through the heart of the Kingston defense for a one-yard touchdown burst and a 14-0 lead. That TD capped a short three-play, 29-yard drive set up by a 17-yard Kingston punt. Sullivan struck on the third play of the second half when he tossed a 58-yard touchdown strike to a streaking Septh. “We have so many weapons it’s hard to get the ball to everyone,” said Sullivan. “Mike (Septh) is a real deep threat and teams need to watch out for him.” In the fourth quarter Sullivan added a one-yard touchdown run and senior fullback Neil Ingenito bulled his way in from 15 yards out to cap the scoring. Now Monroe-Woodbury sits and waits as it has the rotating bye in the state playoffs because Sections 7 and 10 don’t have any AA teams. Section One’s North Rockland and Section Two LaSalle out of Albany meet next Saturday at Dietz Stadium. Then, the winner of that game gets its shot at 10-0 Monroe-Woodbury. Kingston’s Mike Henderson was named the outstanding defensive player. The fact that the defensive back would have 12 tackles was an indication of how well the M-W offense did. “Everyone needs to rest now and fix their boo-boo’s,” said Dollbaum. “We get to sit back and relax and see what happens next week.” “We can use the rest,” winning coach Pat D’Aliso echoed. D’Aliso’s offense chopped through Kingston. The Crusaders started out with Sullivan under center and running the option before later moving to their various spread looks. Overall, the Cru Crew rushed for 273 yards on 42 carries. Sullivan gained 87 yards on 20 carries and completed six-of-nine passes for 146 yards. Septh had four catches for 120 of those yards. “But don’t forget to congratulate (Assistant Coach) Bernie (Connolly), too,” D’Aliso added. “He planned the defense which got the shutout. I try to get the points.” The M-W defense limited Kingston to just 64 net yards of offense.