GRAHAMSVILLE – The Tri-Valley Bears (3-1), coming off a big homecoming win last week, faced the Ticonderoga Sentinels (1-3) at home on Saturday afternoon. The Bears dominated the line of scrimmage and the game overall en route to a 56-14 victory to keep pace with the other top teams in their division. 

Tri-Valley started the game fast, forcing a punt on Ticonderoga’s first drive after the Bears deferred the opening kickoff to the visitors. On their first drive on offense, the Bears went down the field while taking a lot of time off the clock. 

The drive, highlighted by a one-handed catch from Misha Khodakovski, ended in a seven-yard touchdown run by Easton Scanna. Quarterback Josh Fanslau ran in for the two-point conversion to make it 8-0 with 2:43 to go in the first quarter. 

After taking the ensuing kickoff close to midfield, the Sentinels went down and evened the score with a 29-yard touchdown pass and two-point conversion. That would be as close as the game would get, as Tri-Valley stepped on the gas and never let up. 

The Bears ended the first quarter with a big run from Travis Capawana down to the 14-yard line. A few plays into the second quarter, Capawana found the end zone on a four-yard run and Fanslau ran it in for the two-point conversion for a 16-8 lead. 

A couple of drives later, Khodakovski caught a pass from Fanslau and ran down to the Sentinel 12-yard line. To cap the drive off, Fanslau ran it in for a seven-yard score and the two-point try which made it 24-8 with 1:26 remaining in the half. 

The Bears forced another punt before the end of the half and got the ball back with less than a minute in the half. A couple of plays later, Fanslau found Scanna for a 33-yard touchdown with about 30 seconds to go. A Capawana run on the two-point conversion gave Tri-Valley a 32-8 lead at halftime. 

Fanslau started the second half getting picked off inside the Bears’ own 10-yard line, but the defense stood up and forced a punt. The Bears’ quarterback threw it up for Scanna again who caught it for a 30-yard touchdown, his third of the day. Capawana ran it in for the two-point try and the score was 40-8 a few minutes into the second half. 

Ticonderoga found the end zone again on their next drive with a one-yard run, but failed the two-point try and it was 40-14 with under three minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Fanslau broke tackles and ankles on the ensuing Tri-Valley drive, leaving the Sentinel defense in the dust on an 80-yard scramble touchdown. The two-point conversion made it 48-14 and the Bears started putting backups in to begin the fourth quarter. 

Tri-Valley would find the end zone once more, as Joseph Douglass ran for a 21-yard touchdown and Paxton Mead ran for the two-point conversion. With just over five minutes remaining, the Bears led 56-14, a score that would hold up. 

“We always take pride in defending our home turf and we definitely handled that today,” Tri-Valley Coach Kevin Crudele said. “This has been two weeks in a row with teams that have good athletes, but luckily we gameplanned well, the guys worked hard and we came out on top.”

Coach Crudele noted that the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense is probably their biggest improvement of the year. 

“They’ve really stepped up and embraced the role,” he said, “which is a thankless job. But it all starts there.”

The Bears travel to Pawling next Saturday for a game against the Tigers under the lights at 7:15 p.m. 

“[Pawling] is a well-coached team and they always show up every year,” Crudele said. “I’m excited for a night game.”