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Crosstown rivalry ROTTERDAM
Town’s 2 teams in rare matchup
Mighty Warriors, Sabres players compete for sectional soccer championship
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    Soccer matches don’t get any bigger for Rotterdam.
    This season’s Class A sectional championship between the Mighty Warriors and the Sabres varsity soccer teams has ignited competition between the districts. So when the teams square off against each other this afternoon in South Colonie, there will be only one question left to ask: Who will be left in town when the game starts?
    “Pretty much, everyone in Rotterdam is going,” said Adam Gray, a senior who plays center defense for the Schalmont Sabres.
    Both schools were abuzz with talk about the game Friday, as each team took their home-field practice before heading to neutral ground for the title match. And while the teams normally compete against each other in at least one non-league game, they’ve seldom played against each other with so much on the line.
    “Any time these teams play it’s significant,” said Coach Joshua Gregg, who led the Mohonasen Mighty Warriors to their first sectional final since 1982. “But this is huge for them. It doesn’t get any bigger than this.”
    There was a tune-up in mid-October, when the Warriors topped the Sabres in a nonleague game at Mohonasen’s campus off Curry Road. The atmosphere was electric.
    “There were a ton of Schalmont fans and there were a ton of Mohonasen fans,” Gregg said, as his players practiced late Friday afternoon. “And this weekend’s game is going to be twice as big.”
    Ordinarily, the two districts are in different athletic divisions. Schalmont Athletic Director John Gallo said the smaller Schalmont district usually competes against similar size schools, but occasionally enrollment lands it in Mohonasen’s division.
    This year that happened and they have equally competitive soccer teams. Mohonasen is in Suburban Council South and Schalmont is in the Colonial Council.
    In the earlier days of those districts — in the late 1950s and ’60s — the schools were matched in size and competed head-to-head constantly. The late Al DeCarlo was a dominant Schalmont basketball player who for years served as chief of the Rotterdam Police Department.
    Gallo said the current competition has been great exposure for Rotterdam’s soccer programs.
    “It’s good to see for Rotterdam,” he said. “It puts a great light on the town.”
    Gregg, who played varsity soccer for Schalmont until graduating in 2000, never had to go up against Rotterdam’s other team. At the time, the two districts didn’t even play each other in non-league games.
    But this year is a much different story. Gregg said players on both teams exchanged a fair amount of playful jawing.
    “There’s been some talk back and forth,” he said.
    Mohonasen senior A.J. Przekop said the rivalry between the two soccer teams is always strong because many of the players know each other from Rotterdam’s other youth leagues. But the rivalry this year has proven to be even greater.
    “The crowd will be huge,” he said. “Everyone who knows anyone from the town will be there.”
    Forward Trey Jasenski agreed. He said many of the Mohonasen seniors will play their last high school game against Schalmont and none of them want to walk away with anything less than the championship.
    “It’s for bragging rights pretty much,” he said.
    Three miles away, first-year varsity Coach Jason Beck was finishing a hard practice with the Sabres in anticipation of a tough haul against Mohonasen. His team was at the short end of the earlier close game.
    “This is the reason we do it,” he said. “These are the games we practice for.”
    Goaltender Mike Azzaro said, “It’s going to be a good game,” he said. “Win or lose, it will be a fun game.”


PETER R. BARBER/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER
At left, Schalmont goalie Mike Azzaro blocks a shot during a drill at practice on Friday. At right, Trey Jasenski of Mohonasen gets past teammate Aaron Parisi during their team’s Friday practice. The squads are set to meet this afternoon in the sectional championship.