By JUSTIN PORRECA
Sports Editor
As they marched to the 50-yard line for the mandated show of sportsmanship, the good game high-fives, for the last time in the 2015 season, they were glowing—lit up like the Rockefeller Christmas tree.
Anticipation was mounting all season, week-by-week, for Albany High to secure its first win and first Section II Double AA victory since 2007. They captured that very win and two more happened to follow. The Falcons finished the season on a three-game winning streak—a first since the 2007-2008 campaign. Overall, through ten games, they finished 3-7—the most wins they’ve had in a season in eight years.
The Rocky Balboa of Section II Class AA football in the Capital Region fought through a gauntlet of formidable foes in their first seven games. Albany High went toe-to-toe with the 2014 Section II Class AA Super Bowl champion, Shenendehowa Plainsmen and the newly-crowned 2015 Super Bowl champion, Saratoga Blue Streaks. Both of those heavyweight bouts were stopped by the third quarter—but these loses never crippled their sense of confidence. Through it all—they still had the eye of the tiger.
They stood beaming under the bright lights on their new turf field, with Kool and Gang’s, Celebration, echoing the airwaves. Albany High’s euphoric student fan-base rushed their players at midfield to celebrate the team’s final 2015 victory—but times weren’t always rosy and festive—through the first seven games there were potholes and dead ends on the Falcons road toward late season glory.
Chemistry and strength, two crucial pieces of teambuilding Albany High lacked after their first two crushing defeats. Columbia High School, took it to the Falcons in their first game under new head coach, Joey DiPiazza, dragging them up and down the field in a 34-7 drubbing.
The Falcons new transfer tailback, Ky’Ere Tillery, scored the lone touchdown in that game, but was held to relatively pedestrian numbers. He was far from the superstar status he achieved by the end of the season.
Albany High’s other two stars, Noah John and Jarrell Chaney, looked ordinary against Columbia, and this was just the beginning of John’s rough patch early in the season.
The Falcons laced up, taped up and traveled to Schenectady for a week two showdown—a showdown turned heartbreak.
Late in the fourth quarter, Albany High scored off of a 60-yard one-handed touchdown grab by Chaney from second-string quarterback, Semaji Jones, after John was benched. With the score 13-12, DiPiazza opted to go for a two-point conversion, rather than the tie—it failed.
Jones initially fumbled the snap and then was hit quickly by a slew of Schenectady defenders. Another loss, this one much tougher to swallow given the final score, but the Falcons left this game with a bigger issue—a quarterback controversy.
A sea of students, players and parents formed a circle on the “A” emblem at midfield, bouncing up and down, cheering and raving. For some of the players it was the third win of their varsity football career at Albany High—for some it was their last.
“It felt really good. We struggled for four years and finally it’s all coming together,” said senior tight end Geo Williams. “I was not expecting it last year, but once all the new coaches came I saw it coming.”
This final victory, his final victory in the royal blue and black with the crowd storming the field, is a memento he will cherish years from now—and so will his captain, Queone Sylvester.
He was the lifeblood of the team—the leader—he played center on offense and started at middle linebacker on defense, but moved to defensive end by week ten.
“The most memorable part is when we got our first win on our new turf field and we kept winning right after it. I feel like this program is going to change when I leave,” Sylvester said.
Every week, with steely eyes, fixated on dominating the opposition, he marched to midfield for the coin toss—Albany High is now in search for their next captain and also their next center. Sylvester will be tough to replace, but DiPiazza will focus on finding his center for the future this offseason.
As for the senior leader, this was his final dance in the royal blue and black, but he will never forget his teammates—his Falcon compatriots.
“The most I’m going to miss is how this whole program changed, because of us and I’m going to miss my whole team and how we are all brothers and we fight together, so I’m going to miss all of that,” Sylvester said.
Flashes and potential, a fitting description of the Falcons during weeks three, four and five—something was peaking through, but was still ways away.
Week three, there was a new quarterback under center, Jones, the junior transfer from Green Tech. However, his presence as the quarterback didn’t change much offensively, he played too conservatively, didn’t make quick enough decisions, and was prone to taking sacks and throwing ill-advised interceptions.
Albany High went toe-to-toe with Ballston Spa and it wasn’t the Jones show, but the emergence of a budding star—Tillery. The tailback introduced himself with a monster game, 178 yards and one touchdown—this was only the beginning of a great season.
The Falcons lost to the Scotties and then lost once more against Guilderland, put them at 0-4 on the season.
Albany High’s week four battle against Guilderland was the last time Jones stepped foot on the field for the Falcons—and the last he was the quarterback. A dismal performance behind center forced DiPiazza to go back to his original starter—John.
Mentally tougher after the benching, he came out guns ablaze, slinging the ball all over the field to his number one wide receiver, Chaney, building a solid rapport in the process.
After getting crushed 48-26, they had another formidable opponent awaiting them—the eventual Super Bowl champs, the Saratoga Springs Blue Streaks.
The Blue Streaks poured it on, blowing out the Falcons 69-29 in week five, but there were positives to take away from the thrashing.
Tillery had 260 yards on the ground and one touchdown and Chaney had 11 catches for 204 yards and three touchdowns. Albany High accrued 528 yards on offense in the defeat—something was developing—the cogs were in motion.
Cameras flashing—capturing the momentous night, selfies being taken to flood Instagram and coach DiPiazza delivering the final speech of the season to his gleeful players. There are three who standout—the standouts of the team—The “Big Three.”
There’s Tillery, the shifty tailback, with a combination of speed and power—who also enjoys taking blows as much as he does dishing them out to defenders. He finished the season with 1,379 yards on 235 carries with 16 touchdowns on the ground. Tillery also caught six passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns on his way to a first-team Section II All-Conference nod.
“I wish I was able to play like this the first two games, but I just got to keep it up and bring it into next season,” he said.
The tailback had the potential to have a 1,500-yard and 20 touchdown year, had he not had a pedestrian week one and two.
Then there’s Chaney and John—the dynamic duo. The 6’1” wide receiver ended the season with 41 grabs, 855 yards and 12 touchdowns. These stats earned him a first-team nod as well, joining his running back. As for John he went 53-110, for 1,055 yards, 11 touchdowns to seven interceptions.
“I would definitely grade it better than last year. I think I would give myself a good B, B+. We definitely have to keep working and be even better next year,” Chaney said.
For Tillery, Chaney and John this is only the beginning—they’re only juniors, but they still have a lot of work ahead of them in order to achieve greatness—making the playoffs.
“I think we have plenty of room for improvement, all around, I know what I need to improve. I need to work on fundamentals, footwork, reads, everything. I wouldn’t say there would be one area in particular where we definitely need work,” John said.
Progression and success—the Falcons showed it in the final weeks of the season, now it’s just turning it into more wins next season.
Albany High dropped two more, faltering in the second half, to Shenendehowa and Christian Brothers Academy in weeks six and seven and going 0-7 in the process. However, a showdown with Colonie changed all of that.
The Falcons squeaked out a 35-34 win against Colonie in week eight and followed that up with two dominant performances against Mohonasen and Averill Park.
At the end of week 10, the defense, which was an Achilles heel for the team all season, was a force and the offense was a scoring machine—now the Falcons have to carry that momentum into offseason workouts and the 2016 season.
He delivered the final speech of the year, championing his players for their grit, perseverance and will to win. He was proud of his men and what they had accomplished. He dismissed them and they continued the celebration into the locker room.
He was left standing on the field—basking in the glory that he was a part of—his “we” building process was in full-motion. For coach DiPiazza—this is only the beginning of the journey toward a championship.
“Here’s the thing, no matter how much success and how many championships we are going to win down the road, this team—will never be forgotten,” he said “This team will be remembered more than Super Bowl winning teams and I say that because this is the team that turned the slide, it made history and getting us going in the right direction and they’ll never be forgotten.”
