GRAHAMSVILLE – In their final game of the regular season, the Tri-Valley Bears were home cooking as they took care of business over Pine Plains/Rhinebeck, 29-8, to finish at 7-1 (2-1). 

Both teams started slow offensively, with the pair of offenses trading fumbles in their first possessions. The Tri-Valley defense stepped up after turning it back over to Pine Plains as they forced a punt. With the ball back, the Bears took advantage and drove down the field. They found the end zone when quarterback Josh Fanslau scrambled for a 40-yard rushing touchdown with under five minutes left in the opening quarter. This made it 6-0 as the Bears failed the two-point attempt.

It was still slow cooking on offense the rest of the first quarter as neither team moved the ball much. After forcing a turnover on downs to open the second quarter, Tr-Valley once again found the end zone behind the legs of Fanslau who ran it in for another score. This time, Fanslau kept it for the two-point try and converted to make it 14-0. 

Pine Plains nearly took advantage on their next possession as they drove down the field to the five-yard line, backed by a fake punt on fourth down. But immediately after getting to the five, a bad snap over the head of quarterback Brent Macri sent it back to the 20. Failing to move the ball forward, they attempted a field goal in the closing seconds of the half which fell short. 

Tri-Valley took the opening kickoff to the 41-yard line and running back Easton Scanna caught a pass and ran down to the 13-yard line. Fanslau scrambled around and found an open Misha Khodakovski for his first passing touchdown and third overall touchdown of the day. Fanslau ran it in for the two-point conversion and it was 22-0. 

In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, Fanslau found Khodakovski for another touchdown to make it 29-0. Pine Plains broke through on the scoreboard on their next possession as running back Brett Shott ran it in for a 13-yard score. 

The visitors attempted an onside kick and it was successful as they fell on the ball near midfield. On fourth down, they once again attempted a fake punt but Tri-Valley sniffed it out and it failed this time. The Bears ran the final five minutes plus out for the final score of 29-8.

“Anytime we can defend home field, keep it rolling and keep it positive, I’m happy,” Tri-Valley Head Coach Kevin Crudele said. “For our seniors, it’s a special day and they showed up.”

Coach Crudele noted that they have to clean up the penalties going in the playoffs, as they had five penalties for 30 yards in the game. He also said individual tackling is something they will need to work on. 

“Our defense is playing well,” Crudele said. “We’re limiting them, I don’t think we allowed double digits the last three games. But we have to still clean up tackling and a few other little aspects.” 

In the standings, the Bears worked out to be the five-seed in the Section IX 8-Man playoffs and will travel to face four-seed Ellenville on Friday at 7 p.m. The winner of that contest will then head to one-seed Pawling (6-1, 4-0) next Friday. On the other side of the bracket, three-seed Sullivan West (6-1, 2-1) will host Pine Plains/Rhinebeck (2-4, 2-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. The winner of that game will draw two-seed Eldred (4-2, 2-1) at the home of the Yellowjackets. Whichever two teams survive the first two rounds will then meet in the Section IX Championship on Friday, November 15.