By Ted Waddell
KINGSTON — November 9, 2004 – The Tri-Valley Bears defeated the Bombers of Pine Plains 27-13 on Sunday afternoon at Dietz Stadium in Kingston to win the Section IX Class C title.
Bears star running back Daniel Knox had quite a day for himself, scoring three touchdowns and racking up 158 yards.
At 9:38 in the opening quarter, Knox scored T-V’s first TD. The PAT was good, and the Bears were up 7-0.
Moments later, a long run around the left by the Bears’ Josh Smith seemed headed for paydirt, but was negated by an offensive holding call.
About halfway through the period, Bear quarterback Joe Garigliano was intercepted, which set up a first-and-10 situation for Pine Plains at T-V’s 26-yard line.
A miscue in the Pine Plains backfield sent the ball skittering across the artificial turf, but Jayson Millius managed to recover, seeing up a second- and-41.
On the next play, Millius took it down to the Bears 14-yard line. But on fourth and short, the Bombers came up short of the first down marker, which gave the Bears possession deep in their own territory.
At 5:48, Bears booter Jon Waxman sent a 25-yard field goal through the uprights to give T-V a 10-0 lead.
Ten seconds later, the Bears recovered a Pine Plains fumble, and at 4:18 Knox converted it into a romp along the right side for the second of his three TDs.
A successful PAT kick put T-V in the proverbial driver’s seat with a 17-0 lead.
With nine seconds left in the first half, Dave Tamburrino put the Bombers on the scoreboard. The PAT was good, but Pine Plains still trailed by 10 points, 17-7.
At 3:42 in the third quarter, Waxman added three points with another field goal, putting the Bears up by a 20-7 margin.
About a minute into the fourth period, Garigliano made a critical fourth down on a fourth-and-1 play. Moments later, Waxman’s field goal attempt was way short.
With 42 seconds remaining in the game, Knox scooted across the goal line for his third TD. Waxman’s PAT closed out the Bears’ scoring at 27-7.
But the Bombers weren’t quite ready for the bus ride back to Pine Plains. At the three-second mark, Kyle Odell scored a TD to make it a 27-13 ballgame
Knox was named the game’s Most Valuable Offensive Player (MVOP), while the Bombers’ Millius was tabbed as the Most Valuable Defensive Player (MVDP).
“It was a well-played game all the way around,” Pine Plains Coach Tom Giorgio said.
“We were a little sloppy on our end offensively and that cost us some territory, but our defense played tough, and we made a bunch of fourth down stops,” he added.
“Tri-Valley had a great game plan, and they used their size to overpower us… Dan Knox is a good runner with a great cutback.”
T-V Coach Dave “Coach Vig” Viglione said Pine Plains “played a heck of a game… they really came to play today.”
“We got up on them early, but they came back and showed a lot of determination,” he said.
Viglione said that while the Bears didn’t throw as much as they planned, their ground attack was on target.
“We had to grind it out today,” he said.
Knox’s take on the win?
“It feels real good,” he said.
With the victory over Pine Plains, the Bears are headed off to the Regionals. This Saturday (November 13), they will take on Section I Class C champion Dobbs Ferry. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Mahopac High School.
“Our kids deserve the chance to be there,” Viglione said of the regional game. “It’s going to take our best effort to beat them.”