Ron Moshier: "A" National football flexes muscle

Whitesboro football coach Tom Schoen’s called it a “murder’s row.” In other words, “There’s not an easy game in our division.”

 

That’s for sure. Yes, that division, Section III football’s Class A National, flexed its considerable muscle again in Friday night’s quarterfinals. Three of the National Division’s four playoff teams – Camden, Whitesboro and New Hartford – won handily, two of them on the road.

 

New Hartford won at top-seeded, state-ranked, and previously-unbeaten East Syracuse-Minoa 28-6. Whitesboro, whose Warriors had allowed 28 and 35 points and had lost their last two regular-season games, traveled to Cortland and shut out the state-ranked Purple Tigers 21-0. And Camden rolled to a 42-6 victory over Jamesville-DeWitt. The only Class A National Division team eliminated from title contention by an American Division team was defending section champion Carthage, whose Comets were upset 14-6 by a Fulton team they had beaten 37-6 in a nonleague, regular-season game.

 

Now, a New Hartford team that’s 6-2 and riding a five-game winning streak plays Fulton (4-4) in a Class A semifinal game at a neutral site sure to be geographically closer to the Utica area, most likely Rome’s RFA Stadium. Camden’s Blue Devils (5-3), who also have won five straight, will have to beat Whitesboro (4-4) for the second time in three weeks – Camden won 35-21 in the teams’ regular-season finale. That rematch also will most likely be played on this side of Section III.

 

With all due respect to Fulton’s Red Raiders, you can bet one of the three remaining “murder’s row” members of the National Division – Camden, New Hartford, or Whitesboro – will walk away with a Section III Class A title.