Ominous Skies

....  as seen on route 26 just slightly north of Upper Lisle on my way home from work earlier today.

The trees that still have leaves on them are very vibrant in color these days, and the sky as I was driving in was bordering on being schizophrenic.  Most of the sky was quite ominous and threatening looking, yet off to the west where the sun was on its way down towards the evenings horizon, it was clearer and the sun was popping in and out of cover.  During the moments when the sun did pop out, it really popped and just lit up the sky with that late day glow which was being seriously enhanced by the contrast of the brightly lit trees against the dark and scary opposing sky.  It was kind of cool.  :)

Click the photo's to view them larger.

NV Varsity Football at Owego

The Newark Valley Cardinals Varsity football team travelled down route 38 to take on the hosting Owego Indians in a little localized rivalry.  Valley was coming off of a tough loss to Chenango Forks the previous week and were looking to avenge that loss.  Owego was celebrating it's homecoming, had the home field advantage, and this was a "Friday Night Under The Lights!" affair.  The Indians were equally stoked for the matchup.  The first half of this game was a really good one too!  Both teams scored a couple of times and both teams held the lead for a while as well.  Going into the half Owego was clinging onto a single point lead of 13-12.  This was shaping up to be a pretty good game.

Owego had demonstrated early on that they had a passing game and they weren't hesitant to use it to their advantage.  The Cardinals are loaded with pretty solid runners and with the line providing some good blocking Valley opted to stick with more of a ground and pound game.  Owego's aerial assault was surprisingly efficient on a couple of instances where sheer speed of execution was key. The ball would get snapped and the #21 at QB, Patrick Bilbrey, would just as quickly offload it to one of a couple of different receivers that he had at his disposal.  The shorter, screen type plays seemed to work best for Owego although they did strike paydirt on a couple of longer strikes.  One receiving weapon in particular was the #5 sophomore of Will Gladney.  Keep an eye on him folks - he made a couple of one handed grabs that were really (really) something else - he's a good ball player.  The Indians also had a deceptively speedy and quick back wearing jersey #40 of Stavion Canavan.  This kid looks kind of like a beefcake (stocky) - but he moves like a cheetah.  He was fun to watch and was also a contributor to the success that Owego had on the field.

On the Valley side of the ball - it was turning out to be a night of single digit assassins.  <grin>  The Cardinals captain of the ship, #5 Vinnie Darpino burned the Indians badly on a couple of terrific runs that resulted in TD's.   In special teams play #8 Christian Chase was quickly becoming "the man!" on kick off and/or punt run backs as he repeatedly put the Cardinals into good field position.  Chase also had an interception on the night.  David Crow wearing his #7 also had a big night with some solid yardage gained on a couple of really good runs.  Crow also swung the hammer that drove the very last nail into the coffin for Owego late in the game with a huge interception that sealed the deal on this one. 

I would be remiss not to mention the tandem of Dexter Hamilton and Nick Schermerhorn who both had a huge game.  Sporting the #'s 22 and 20 respectively they didn't work in to my "single digit assassins" motif.  I'll let you guys come up with a nick name for them ...  the "doomsday duo"?  :)  In any case - the Cardinals headed back home with a 33-13 win!

Valley moves onto a 4-2 record for the season now and will be continuing with the road show (?!) going out to Spencer Van Etten for yet another Friday Night Under The Lights game.

I'm hoping to have all of the keepers from this one up to the galleries by sometime this evening (Saturday, 11 Oct. '14).  I'm about half way through the batch now.. 

***** GO VALLEY!!!!!  *****

NV Varsity Football @Chenango Forks

Valley's Varsity Cardinals knew they were going to face a tough competitor today when they traveled out to the home of the Chenango Forks Blue Devils.  Forks is a long time, well established powerhouse in Section IV football around here.  They are multiple times state champions and, in short, they know football and they play it very very well.

Forks senior Ryan Bronson is a beast.  The Cardinals had their hands full today with the Blue Devils | Click the photo to view it larger

Forks won the coin toss but deferred and allowed Valley to have first possession of the ball.  This opening Cardinal drive didn't amount to much and the ball was punted away to the home team.  In short order it looked as though the Blue Devils offensive line was able to create lanes and get the run game going - they scored.  Newark Valley got another crack at it and again were shutdown.  Rinse and repeat - this Forks team was living up to the reputation that Forks teams have a history of - they're very good.

Towards the end of the 2nd half though, the Cardinals discovered - either by design, or by chance - that if they played an up tempo game and went no huddle, or very short and quick huddles, that they could, and did, have some success in moving the ball.  Unfortunately they discovered this to late in the half and the clock ran out on them.  But -- this was something to take with them into the break,

Readers digest:  Forks players are pretty good sized (not huge - but big enough), definitely fast, and they are obviously well drilled on their particular skillset (defensive players, offensive players, linemen, running backs, etc ... ).  When these players with these attributes are all on the same page and clicking, it makes for a pretty impressive display of prowess on the field.  Translation - they just overpowered the visiting Cardinals.

Darpino took charge of this game for the Cardinals and demonstrated why he is the team captain | Click the photo to view it larger

Valley didn't seem to be firing on all cylinders though like they have been for the past couple of weeks.  Team captain and QB, Vinnie Darpino had a big game.  He stepped up in a big way and took over at the helm of a badly listing ship and did everything that needed to be done to get something going for the Cardinals.  Returning to that up tempo offensive, Cardinal wide receiver Blake Novi threw an excellent block at one point in the game while Darpino was running the ball that allowed for a good gain in yards.  Darpino did eventually get into the end zone to put six on the board the the Cardinals.  Colemans kick for the PAT was good making it seven.  These would be the only points allowed for Valley though.

So while CF was firing on all eight cylinders, Valley appeared to be firing on only six or seven ...   hard to say.  The Cardinals will need to lick their wounds and re-group this week as once again they go on the road and take on Owego.  Newark Valley moves onto a 3-2 record now on the season.

All photo's (keepers) from this game are now posted out to the galleries.

*****  Go Valley!!!  *****

NV Pee Wee Football at Candor

The 11 & 12 yr old A's SCORE!!!

...  'er, scratch that - THEY WIN!!! 

Touchdown!!!!!  First score of the year for the A's | Click on the photo to view it larger

I could have gone out to Jasper for round 13 of the 2014 WNYOA Summer race series, or I could have "stayed home" and simply gone out to Candor to watch and shoot the mini Cardinals football games.  The races would have equated to 4+ hours of drive time round trip, a tank of gas, gate fee, chow, getting gear all dirty, etc ....    I opted to stay local and go to the football games.  :)

Honestly ...  I left the house a little on the late side and had figured that I might miss some of the C's game.  (back track)  I had read / heard via facebook that the field where the kids were going to be playing was sort of "hidden".  Ummmm -- yeah.  If you ain't a local you ain't gonna find this stealth field.  I did eventually discover it and got on scene shortly before the half.  Still being honest ...  Valley's little ones - they were asleep at helm.  Let's just say that they didn't play very well and the score reflected that.  :(  The 2nd game of the day was the B's (9 & 10 yr olds).  This was, actually in pure football speak, a "good game".  It was a snoozer from my point of view as a guy with a camera.  It was a defensive struggle as neither team scored in the 1st half.  Candor did put some points up on the board in the 2nd, and then they put some more up again and that game was pretty much done - the Tigers won it 13-0.  The game was actually better than the score reflects.

And then there was the A's game . . . !!!  These kids have had a tough season so far.  Coming into this game they hadn't won one yet.  They hadn't even scored yet.  Yeah ...  but plucky as they are, they keep coming back, and they keep trying!  Twice in the first half of play they got good offensive movement going and managed to get the ball down the the 10 yard line.  They were doing it - they could move the ball against this opponent.  Twice they got stopped short of the goal.  And twice the home team scored.  It was 12-0 going into the half.

Sometime late in the 3rd, or maybe it was even into the 4th ... it happened.  Valley #34, the Spoonhower kid got loose and burst into the end zone!!!!  TOUCHDOWN!!  SCORE!!!!!  The Valley side would have been happy to leave right then and there - that alone was a victory!  But hey - there was still plenty of time left in this game - and now that these kids had had a taste of scoring guess what....?  They wanted more ... !  The kids were pumped up now and boy did they stiffen up on D for the ensuing change of possession.  They shut Candor down - 1,2,3 - you're out - give us that ball back!  A couple of plays go by, some yards gained, need to get the 1st down and keep this possession alive - we're only down by 6 ....   Valley's QB steps back and he floats the ball up (pee wee's just can't rifle it -  they just can't - not physically able to ... lol! ) and one could almost hear the collective inhale and dead silence on the Valley side of the field.  A WIDE OPEN Kalpokas kid (#3) is there and CATCHES it and takes off!!!  The Valley side of the field is going berserk.  The other side is stunned.  Kalpokas runs it in and we got us a TIE game with 5 or so minutes left in regulation.

We got us a game now ... :)

The kids were jacked after the first score when they had to play D.  They were ultra jacked now - they knew that they HAD to get the ball back and they HAD to score one more time to secure this win.  Candor has a big weapon that wears #20.  Valley's D swarmed him, and the Tigers entire line in general like angry bees and again - 1,2,3 - you're out!  "Give us that ball back!!"  With less than a minute or so left on the clock Valley's A team marched the ball down the field and one of the kids was able to rumble it over the line to grab the lead.  They put an exclamation mark on it by converting on the extra point via the #42 of the Tompkins kid to take a now 19-12 lead.  There were 8 seconds left on the game clock.  The Cardinals shut down the last Tigers possession and erupted in triumphant joy at having not only scored for the first time this season, but coming from behind to take a wild win!

I'll have pics from all three games up at the galleries in a day or two ..  stand by!

NV Varsity Football - Cardinals Reign Supreme over Whitney Point

Big doin's in The Valley today!!  It's Homecoming weekend and around here, this is a big deal.  A really, really big deal - parades and everything - it's fun!  Valley's Varsity football team played host to Whitney Point's Eagles in a bird on bird smackdown in the birdcage.  This was no smackdown though - this was domination defined as the home team blew the visiting raptors away and kept them totally grounded.   Valley crushed WP 61-6.

( Click on the photo's to view them larger )

This Newark Valley team has really turned into a well rounded squad with multiple players stepping up and contributing to the effort on both offense and defense.  Admittedly I was a little concerned after the 1st game loss to Tioga that Valley looked a little overly dependant on team captain and QB, Vinnie Darpino.  Vinnie is an exceptional player and has demonstrative leadership ability, but one man does not make a team.  This team, right now, appears to be gelling and is in fact a solid looking, cohesive *team*.  Todays win moves the team on to a 3-1 record on the season now - and all three wins have been huge.  The team goes on the road next week to a local perennial powerhouse in Section IV football - Chenango Forks.

I got quite a number of photo's from the day that will be going up to the galleries over the next couple of days - but in the meantime I thought I would just get these out chop chop.

*****  Go Valley!!! *****

NV Pee Wee Football vs Apalachin

Tough day in Cardinal-ville ... 

Well ....  the visiting Raiders did just that.  They raided the birdcage and went back home with 3 W's on the day.  Tough one for the home team crowd.  The little ones (C's - 7 & 8 yr olds) played their opponents pretty tough in the 1st half but kind of ran out of steam in the 2nd.  The B's ...  :(  they kinda-sorta ...  well - no good way to put it - they got killed.  The 11&12 yr old A's - God bless 'em. They are seriously under manned with only 13 or 14 players in total on the entire team so you know what that means - these kids are playing, almost non-stop, both offense AND defense.  The visiting Raiders by contrast are HUGE both in physical size, and in numbers - they must have had easily 30+ players on their side of the field.  They are also the #1 ranked team in the state at present for the age division.

Anyway -- congrats are in order to the visiting Apalachin Raiders.  I have to score some dinner for myself but figured I'd get this out real quick with a couple of grabs from each of the three games.  All of the keepers will be going up to the galleries over the next day or so.  Click on any of the images to view them larger.

Spotted at Upper Lisle

...  on my way home from work today.  I happened to have the "Deer Repellent"* on me and spotted this guy in the water coming across the bridge.  I went looking for him and got lucky.  :)  I could have gotten in 'closer' to him had I had my D300 crop body with me, but I didn't.  These were grabbed with the D700, 70-200mm + 1.7x converter which is equal to roughly 340mm.  Click the photo's to view them larger.

* My big camera with big lens - seems that everytime I have it with me kinda hoping to catch a good shot of Bambi and/or one of her cousins ...  nadda.  Conversely when I don't have a camera with me, or if I have the little fuji with short lenses ...  then I see herds of the damned deer.  Thus - "Deer Repellent"

Iron Kettle Farm, Candor NY

( from my facebook post )

Out and about earlier today we happened upon the Iron Kettle Farm which is a local landmark in this part of the state, especially with families (kids) for the annual Fall / Halloween decorative theme thing that they do every year.

Walking around I found myself inside of a barn that has TONS of old (like really old) tools and farming equipment. They have stuff hanging off of rafters, on the walls, on the tops of built in storage sheds. etc ...

The shot I included here I posted because I'm kinda happy with how it worked out. ( Switch to camera speak for a second ) I have no idea how I've managed to use a camera to this point in time without a rear screen that can be pulled out and tilted away from the body. The little Fuji has one and man is that thing useful. ( Back to the old farm equipment picture ... ) I'm not a naturally tall guy and this stuff was up on top of a roof. Using the tilt screen I "made myself taller" and framed it up as best as I could, and held as steady as I could as the ambient light in there was iffy.

(photo types) Handheld (as high as I could reach above my head) 1/25th at iso 1600, f/5.6. I'd though about stopping it down to 8 or more for better DOF / focus cheat but shutter speed would have really fallen off ... yeah I could have jacked the iso but ...

Anyway ... ! lol! I think it worked out pretty good considering. 

( Actually - all of the photo's taken in the barn were handheld and 1/30th or so was about the fastest shutter speed I was able to use for the given iso ...  )  I wouldn't mind going back there with a tripod and shooting it proper ...  it's pretty neat.

Click on the photo's to view them larger.