Saranac Lake's Caleb Akey (11) with the jumper along the baseline as he tries to avoid the block attempt of Northeastern Clinton's Ashton Turner (10). It would be the opening game of the second day of the Section VII Basketball Championships from Clinton Community College of 5 on the schedule today. It would see the top-seeded Saranac Lake Red Storm taking on the #3 Northeastern Clinton Cougars in the class B Boys Basketball finals. The Cougars would be looking for the upset from the beginning as they would get off to the early lead at 13-10 after the first eight minutes of the game. In the second quarter, the Cougars would stay hot as they used the quarter to pull ahead with a 17-10 quarter to have a 30-20 lead at the intermission when the teams returned for the third quarter the Red Storm would regroup and come out looking to take the game back over with a 19-15 quarter to cut the lead nearly in half at 45-39 Cougars. In the fourth and final quarter, the Cougars would keep it together and regain the edge with a 16-12 quarter and get the ten-point win and a 61-51 section vii class B boys basketball title. In the winning effort for the Cougars Collen Castine would lead the way with 23 points. With the win the Northeastern Clinton Cougars advance to the NYSPHSAA Class B Tournament and will play the winner of section ii on March 6th at Averl Park. Gallery

Northeastern Clinton's Jordan Brown (2) with the wide-open three from the wing. Gallery

Saranac Lake's Zack Goetz (6) jumps over Saranac's Conner Burns (2) for an interception to stop the Spartans scoring attempt. It would be the first championship of championship Saturday from Ausable Valley High School as the #17 (#1) Saranac Spartans would take on the #2 Saranac Lake Red Storm for the Section VII Class C Championships. The Spartans would jump out to the lead just 2:13 into the game on a 25-yard run by Landen Smith to give the Spartans the 7-0 lead. The Spartans would stay on the gas and extend their lead to 15-0 on a 2-yard run by Nathan Hamel. Then with just 1:12 left in the quarter, Nathan Hamel would score again this time from 18 yards out, and give the Spartans the 22-0 lead as the first quarter would come to an end. In the second quarter, the Spartans would stay on the gas as they would score two more times this time from Conner Burns and Alex Clancey, and give the Spartans the 36-0 lead as they headed into the locker room. When the teams returned for the second half it was looking like the first half again as the Spartans would score just 4:35 into the half on a 6-yard run by Haiden Blair to give the Spartans the 43-0 lead. The Red Storm would get on the board with a 12-yard passing touchdown with 1:20 left in the third quarter to make it a 43-6 game. However, the Red Storm would not just be happy with avoiding the shutout as they would score again with 4 minutes left in the game on the Evan Willett running score to make it 43-12 game. With that, the Saranac Spartans would hold onto the win and advance to the NYSPHSAA Class C Tournament and will be in action next week against Section X's Gouvenour Wildcats in the opening round on November 10th. As for the Saranac Lake Red Storm, their season comes to an end at 1-8. Gallery

Saranac's Addison Kelting (23) hits the gap and runs hard for the first down. Gallery

Ausable Valley's Hayden Bombard (13) sheds off the tackler and bounces to the outside for the extra yards. It would be week #4 of the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference Football season and the Ausable Valley Patriots would be hosting the Saranac Lake Red Storm on their annual homecoming game weekend, This would be a game where the defenses would stand tall and a run-first offense on both sides. There would be no scoring through the first quarter and the game would be tied at zero after the first fifteen minutes of the game. Finally, at the 3:37 mark of the second quarter, we would get our first score of the game as Dylan Bombard for the Patriots would rumble in from five yards out to give the Patriots the 6-0 lead. Then in the closing seconds of the first half, the Patriots would get on the board again and extend their lead to 12-0 on Dylan Bombard's second score of the game from one yard out and take the lead into the intermission. When the teams returned for the second half the defenses on both sides would still be superior. However, the Patriots and Dylan Bombard would find the eye in the storm and give Dylan Bombard his third score of the game this time from 12 yards out, and extend the Patriots ' lead to 20-0. That would be all the scoring in the game and the Patriots would get the 20-0 victory to go to 1-3 on the season as they look for their match-up next weekend against the Peru Nighthawks. The Saranac Lake Red Storm fall to 1-3 on the season and will host the Malone Huskies next week in nonleague action. Gallery

Saranac Lake's Owen Muncil (4) with the backward catch on the pass over the middle for the big gain. Gallery

Plattsburgh's Trenton Griffiths (6) took care of his own as he would tag the Red Strom base runner on the dribbler down the first base line. It would be the semi-finals of the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference Class B playoffs and the Plattsburgh Hornets would host the #3 Saranac Lake Red Storm at the Plattsburgh Athletic Complex. The road Red Storm would have upset on their mind early as they would get out to the early 2-0 lead in the first on a two-rbi single by Strack. In the bottom of the second inning, the Hornets would get on the board with a fielder's choice by Jake Calkins to make it a 2-1 game. Then in the bottom of the third, the Hornets would tie the game at two on a rbi single from Jace Lacey. The game would stay there all the way till the fifth inning when the Hornets would explode for a seven-run inning led by a bases-clearing triple by Trenton Griffiths to at the time give the Hornets an 8-2 lead as the Hornets would get one more run later in the inning to have a 9-2 lead after five. The Red Strom would keep fighting though as they would get a run in the sixth on a sac fly by Strack to make it a 9-3 game. Then in the seventh the Red Strom would keep coming as they would get two more on back-to-back rbi singles from Darrah and Rivers but their comeback bid would come up short as the Hornets would get the 9-5 win. In the winning effort, Trenton Griffiths would go six innings and give up just three runs on six hits while striking out at seven as the Hornets will advance to the Section VII Class B Finals against the Beekmantown Eagles who upset the #1 Peru Nighthawks at Chip Cummings Field on May 25th. Gallery

Saranac Lake's Nick Munn (2) slides in safe ahead of the tag by the Hornet's Nate Baker for the steal. Gallery

Saranac Lake's Nick Munn (2) with the sliding stop to take away the base hit. It would be an early season matchup in the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference as the Plattsburgh Hornets would host the Saranac Lake Red Storm. The game would start off well for the home Hornets as they would get on the board in the first inning on an RBI triple from Jace Lacey and take a 1-0 lead. Then in the second inning, the Hornets would start to take control of the game with a four-run inning led by a 2 RBI single from Warren Miller to give the Hornets a 5-0 lead. Then in the fourth inning, the Hornets would explode again with another five-run inning to take a 10-0 lead on a pair of RBI hits by Warren Miller and Jake Calkins. In the fifth inning, the Hornets would add a single run on a Braeden Calkins RBI single and extend their lead to 11-0. In the top of the sixth, the Red Storm would break up the shutout bid when Nick Munn would score on a sacrifice fly to make it an 11-1 game. Then in the bottom of the sixth, the Hornets would add two more runs lead by an RBI single by Dan Hartman as the Hornets would secure the 13-1 victory. In the winning effort Hornets pitcher Dan Hartman would give up one hit walked two and struck out five over his five innings of work in the winning effort as the Hornets go to 2-2 on the season while the Red Storm suffer their first loss of the season and go to 2-1 on the year. Both teams will be back in action tomorrow as the Plattsburgh Hornets will host the Moriah Vikings and the Saranac Lake Red Storm will travel to Lake Placid. Gallery

Plattsburgh's Dan Hartman (11) with the fastball for one of his five strikeouts as he would pitch five innings of shutout ball for the win. Gallery