When the season started, the Pine Bush football team was an inexperienced unit.

Now, the Bushmen are Section 9 Class AA champions after Saturday’s 46-14 win over the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders.

“This feels amazing,” said Connor Mills, who intercepted Monroe-Woodbury Anthony Campione on the game’s first play.

“I knew all the work we put in was going to pay off eventually. I feel like we deserve this out of all the teams because of the work we put in.”

Mills was named defensive player of the game after finishing with two interceptions, the second of which delivered the knockout blow in the fourth quarter.

“I never imagined this feeling in my life,” Mills said. “I’ll never forget this moment.”

Offensively, Gunnar Meland ran all over the Crusaders a week after only rushing for 54 yards in the semifinal win over Washingtonville, he torched the Crusaders for 298 yards and four touchdowns.

Two came on bruising runs from 1-yard out, and the other two were from 78 and 61 respectively.

“My lineman gave great blocks,” Meland said. “My wingmen gave great blocks and gave me the holes. I wasn’t really expecting those long runs, but I got holes that were really big.”
Mills, a senior, is one of the few players on defense with experience. The entire offensive unit, including Meland, is made up of first-year starters.

“Everyone on our team is fresh starters,” Meland said. “There were only a couple of returners and to be in a playoff atmosphere is a different story. We worked hard in practice and this is what we get.”

The Bushmen also got two touchdowns from Khristian Walker and a 25-yard scoring run from quarterback Kenny Holland.

“It shows the kids in our program to wait your time and be patient and your time will come,” Pine Bush coach Jim Wright said. “We’re loyal to our kids. Our coaches are loyal to our kids who stay in our program because a lot of these kids didn’t play last year. They stayed loyal, they didn’t quit and now look what happened.”

The Crusaders got on the board in the closing minutes of the second quarter on Campione’s 26-yard touchdown run, cutting the Bushmen’s lead to 21-7.

“It kind of gives us a cushion, but we still have to work our hardest because we know when our offense has the ball, they’ll push the ball down the field and score,” Mills said.

Holland’s touchdown restored the three-touchdown lead. However, Campione answered with a 20-yard run on fourth down to cut Pine Bush’s lead to 27-14.

“It was bend, don’t break,” Wright said. “They were throwing it all over the place and that made the game go longer than it had to be.”

Even though Meland’s 61-yard touchdown restored the lead again, the Crusaders were marching down the field late in the third quarter. Then on the first play of the fourth quarter, Mills picked off Campione at the Pine Bush 10-yard line and ran the ball back to the Monroe-Woodbury 17.

“They were coming, and it could have made things tighter, so absolutely that was a critical play,” Mills said.

Two players later, Walker scored the knockout touchdown.

With sectional play complete, the Bushmen (8-2) will travel north on Friday night to visit Section 2 Class AA champion Shenendehowa at 7 p.m. at Shaker High School in Latham.

“I don’t want to think about states,” Wright said. “I just want to enjoy the win. I’ll think about it (Sunday).”