By Lori Brown
GRAHAMSVILLE — October 12, 2010 — The Tri-Valley Bears played a stellar game on Friday night to shut out the visiting Pines Plains Bombers, 28-0, in a Class C, Division II football game.
The Tri-Valley Central School PTO donated the temporary lights for the game as well as for the soccer games played on Thursday night by the T-V boys’ and girls’ teams.
T-V (2-4, 1-1 Div. II) won the toss and elected to receive the ball first. The Bears then wasted no time in moving upfield. With help from teammates Aric Boyes and Joe Mickelson getting first downs, Peter DiMilia ran the ball in for T-V’s first touchdown.   Anthony Beale added the extra point with a successful kick through the uprights to give the Bears a 7-0 lead.
Late in the first quarter, the Bears had possession of the ball at their own 26-yard line after the Bombers punted. Aric Boyes had ran for 20 yards and Greg Swarthout caught a 24-yard pass from DiMilia as T-V advanced to midfield. Moments later, Joe Mickelson caught a 24-yard pass to give T-V a first and goal at the Pine Plains 2. DiMilia rushed for his second touchdown with only 29 seconds left in the quarter. Beale added the PAT kick to make it a 14-0 game.
Pine Plains (2-4, 1-1 Div. II) gained a first down at its own 45- yard line before the quarter ended.
T-V reclaimed the ball early in the second quarter after stopping the Bombers on fourth down.
The Bears proceeded to move downfield. Tyler Lopez capped the drive with a 26-yard TD run for a touchdown with 8:03 remaining in the quarter.
Beale had made his third extra-point kick to extend T-V’s advantage to 21-0.
After stopping Pine Plains, the Bears again moved downfield. Jon Monforte caught a 29 yard pass and Mickelson had an 8-yard run to give T-V a first-and-goal.
But the Pine Plains defense put pressure on the Bears and held them out of the end zone.
T-V regained possession of the ball after the Bombers couldn’t advance upfield. The Bears worked fast to try and score again, but Pine Plains defender R.J. Shepherd intercepted a DiMilia pass.
DiMilia scored the Bears’ last touchdown of the game with 8:41 left in the third quarter. Beale’s PAT kick made the score 28-0.
“The game was lopsided, after Monday’s game, I thought it would be a little more competitive,” said Pine Plains Coach Jim Jackson, referring to his team’s Class C, Div. II win over Fallsburg last Monday. “Defensively, we played really good, but offensively, we couldn’t get it in [the end zone].
“Mark Kotzur played really well running the ball on defense,” Jackson continued. “Quarterback R.J. Shepherd played well on defense and moved the ball on offense.
“It is a joy to play here,” Jackson added. “Tri-Valley has a great bunch of athletes and coaches.”
Pine Plains slated to host Millbrook this Saturday in a Class C, Div. II game.
“Pine Plains came off a big win against Fallsburg, so we knew they would be ready for us,” T-V Coach John Rusin said. “We were kind of concerned because we only had one practice this week. We went over game planning.
“We ran the ball successfully,” he added. “We had good passing and defense maintained responsibility.
“Pine Plains has good kids, they play respectful and it was a good- natured game,” Rusin commented. “We played a very well-rounded, successful game tonight. I want to thank the PTO for putting the game under the lights together. The lights helped bring our community together.”
T-V is slated to host the Fallsburg Comets in a Class C, Div. II game this Saturday, Oct. 16.
“If we win this game [against Fallsburg], I believe we will advance to sectionals,” Rusin said.