By Rob Potter
ROSCOE — October 14, 2003 – For the second time this football season, the Roscoe Blue Devils hosted a night football game thanks to temporary lights brought in to illuminate Alan B. Sullivan Field.
To the disappointment of the Roscoe faithful, however, Friday night’s game versus Millbrook ended the same way the September 26 night game against Tri-Valley concluded – with a Blue Devils’ defeat.
Millbrook (3-3, 2-1 Class D) opened up a 20-0 lead at halftime en route to a 26-6 win over Roscoe (0-6, 0-2 Class D) in the Section IX Class D game.
After a two-and-half-hour bus ride from Dutchess County and a fumble that ended their first drive, the Blazers were ready to go on their second possession.
Following a Blue Devil punt, Millbrook took over at its own 37-yard line with 6:59 left in the first quarter. The Blazers then drove to the Roscoe 4-yard line in four plays. On first-and-goal, tailback Mike Spagnola carried the ball up the middle and into the end zone. John D’Angelo added the PAT kick as Millbrook took a 7-0 lead.
The Blazers took advantage of a Roscoe mistake to score their second touchdown. On a fourth down play at their own 20-yard line, the Blue Devils lined up in punt formation. But a high snap forced punter Justin Bowers to cover the ball at the 7.
Millbrook scored on a quarterback keeper by Jon Shanks three plays later and D’Angelo booted another PAT kick through the uprights.
Steve Kearins scored on a 16-yard run in the second quarter as the Blazers boosted their lead to 20-0.
In the third quarter, Shanks connected with tight end Dan Quirk on a 20-yard touchdown pass.
The Blue Devils avoided being shut out by putting together a nice drive midway through the fourth quarter. John Clancy, who rushed 15 times for 45 yards, capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:59 left in the game.
After losing to Chester the previous week in a Class D game, Millbrook Coach Greg Scott noted that his team wanted to concentrate on running the football more often.
He added that Shanks threw 36 passes versus Chester, completing 18 of them.
“I like the passing game, but in high school football, you have to run the ball and stop the run on defense in order to win,” Scott said.
The Blazers did that with Shanks and Spagnola leading a ball-control offense versus the Blue Devils.
Scott added that he has a great deal of respect for the Roscoe football program.
“[Roscoe Coach] Fred Ahart is a great guy, a class act,” Scott said. “He runs a great program and his kids play tough.”
Ahart in turn thanked Scott and his team “for being gracious” in their win over the young Roscoe squad.
The Blue Devils have only five seniors on the roster. Three of them – Justin Bowers, Robert Eggleton and Brenden Hendrickson – were members of the Roscoe teams that went to Dietz Stadium the past two seasons for postseason games. The other two seniors, Alonzo Ackerley and Shane Bowers, are first-year varsity football players.
“We have a young team, but we’re learning more each game,” Ahart said. “We had a nice touchdown drive tonight and some very good blocking on that drive.”
Notes: The lights for the game were donated by the Roscoe Kiwanis Club and prior to the game, several people were thanked by RCS Superintendent George Will for their roles in bringing Friday night football to the small school.
Those honored with plaques were Roscoe Kiwanis members Don Eggleton and Paul Miesner; Doug DeVeau, who accepted an award on behalf of the Rolling V Bus Company (Rolling V donated the fuel used to power the generators on the light stands), RCS staff members Tom Lavinski and Tom Tate and “the voice of Roscoe football,” P.A. announcer Chuck Husson.
Roscoe will look to post its first win of the season on Saturday when it hosts Chester at 1:30 p.m. in a Section IX Class D game.