Delaney: Raiders respond to wake-up call

Not only did the Canastota field hockey team have to play top-seeded Mount Markham in a Class C semifinal on Saturday morning, the game started at 9 a.m. A six-game field hockey marathon was scheduled at Sauquoit Valley High School’s turf field on Saturday, but only half the games were played because of rain.

Fourth-seeded Canastota scored two first-half goals to take the opener. The Raiders (11-5-4) advance to Wednesday’s 7 p.m. Class C final against No. 3 Cazenovia at Homer. Cazenovia advanced with 2-0 win over Holland Patent in the other ‘C’ semifinal. Class D No. 1 Little Falls moved on with a 1-0 win over Hamilton. The Mounties (17-2) will play the winner of today’s Cooperstown-New York Mills game in Wednesday’s ‘D’ final at 5 p.m. at Homer.

Canastota’s bus left at 7 a.m. and the Raiders had plenty of time to tend to taping and their pre-game routine before Mount Markham arrived. The team had a pasta dinner on Friday evening but the players gave going to the school’s football game to get their sleep.

“I told them ‘you’re in bed by 9 p.m.,’” Raiders coach Trish Micaroni said.

Micaroni has 8 a.m. Saturday practices during the season so the start time wasn’t completely foreign. Early in the first half, though, Micaroni saw some effects of ‘bus legs’ and called a timeout. It worked. After the pep talk, Canastota scored twice.

“It’s the dedication of the kids. It’s important to them.”