Matthew Brown was on hand to see Lakeland/Panas, Yorktown and Nyack crowned as Section 1 champions. It was the fourth straight title for Yorktown and the third straight for Lakeland/Panas, and the first for Nyack since the Indians won five in a row from 1997-2001. 

There were five articles in today’s newspaper about the tripleheader at Fox Lane. First, here’s my scene-setter from A1 (Section 1 title games packed with tension) with thoughts from players, siblings and parents on the six hours of excitement, nervousness, intensity and pressure from the three games.

Columnist Rick Carpiniello said of the Suffern-Lakeland/Panas rivalry: “There may be nothing else like it in Section 1 athletics.” (Rebels-Mounties as good as it gets), while Ernie Palladino wrote about the latest chapter, another one-goal win for the Rebels (Fitzpatrick saves it for Lakeland/Panas)

I saw Yorktown continue its undefeated season in an unexpected way. Scarsdale’s defense held Yorktown’s top-ranked offense in check for most of the game, but the Cornhuskers defense was up to the challenge and the team never trailed (Yorktown captures fourth straight title).

But in terms of sheer drama, nothing tops the Nyack-Rye game (Nyack prevails in triple overtime). Caroline Chesterman was a game-time decision after spraining her ankle in Thursday’s semifinal-win celebration, but she won the last two draws in overtime and scored her fifth goal in sudden victory to give fourth-seeded Nyack its first sectional title in eight years. On the other side was Rye, which came back from six goals down in the second half and scored with seven seconds left in the second mandatory overtime session, but has now lost the sectional final in triple overtime twice in the past three years.

Section 1 has a bye in the regional semifinals, so the next step is the regional final Saturday at Lakeland against the winner of the games between Section 2 and Section 9 (which will, barring a major upset, be Section 2). Win that, and it’s off to Cortland for the state semifinals and finals June 12-13.

So what are each team’s chances for getting to Cortland? The Rebels will probably face Guilderland, which is ranked third in the Laxpower and sportswriters rankings. Also Guilderland beat a much stronger L/P team 13-4 last year. On the opposite side of the spectrum is Yorktown, which will probably face Niskayuna. Nisky beat Yorktown by 1 last year but was completely senior-dominated. This year they’re a .500 team, though they did beat John Jay 16-13. In the middle is Nyack, who would probably face Albany Academy. A lot will depend on the status of Chesterman, who will have a week to work on her ankle but I doubt will be 100 percent. But Nanuet didn’t have much trouble the past two years, beating Albany Academy 19-6 and Emma Willard 15-4. 

So without knowing opponents yet, I would say Yorktown is 90-95 percent to win, Nyack is 60-70 percent, and Lakeland/Panas is 5-10 percent. That brings us to the semifinals, where Section 1/2/9 would face the winner of the Section 5/6 (Buffalo/Rochester) region. In Class A, that means avoiding Long Island and Syracuse-area teams West Genesee (two-time defending champ) and Baldwinsville, the top two teams in Laxpower’s national rankings. For Class C, that means avoiding two-time defending champ Shoreham-Wading River.

But Yorktown doesn’t get that lucky, since even though Garden City (L.I.) has won three straight, the Class B favorites are probably in Section 5, Brighton and Canindaigua. Both are in the top 8 in the Laxpower national rankings and the top 2 in the sportswriters poll (Yorktown is 60th and 6th, respectively). You can read more about Canindaigua on my blog post from April 17. If Yorktown got past that, then it would probably face a Long Island team (9-time champ Garden City?) in the finals. 

Here’s the full state tournament schedule for Section 1:

Regional finals vs. Section 2/9 winner at Lakeland High School, June 6
Class C 4 p.m., Class A 6 p.m., Class B 8 p.m.

State semifinals vs. Section 5/6 winner at SUNY Cortland, June 12
Class C 9:30 a.m., Class A noon, Class B 2:30 p.m.

State finals at SUNY Cortland, June 13
Class C 9:30 a.m., Class A noon, Class B 2:30 p.m.

Note: I will be on company-mandated furlough from June 1-7. It’s basically a week of unpaid leave that every employee must take, in the hopes that it avoids layoffs down the road. It also means, by law, I cannot post on the blog or check my work e-mail or phone messages. To reach someone at the office, please contact sports editor Susie Arth (sarth@lohud.com or 914-694-5061) or assistant sports editor Joe Erwin (jerwin@lohud.com or 914-696-8516). I look forward to being back on June 8.