The Wallkill football team got off to a strong start for their first-year head coach, Joe Pillitteri, in his first game leading the Panthers.

Their opponent, the Schuylerville Black Horses, got going late in the second quarter, showing just why they’ve been a state championship level team over the past several years.

“It’s just a tremendous program,” Pillitteri said of Schuylerville. “They’ve been to the (Carrier) Dome two of the last three years and we have really high expectations for our kids. We want to get the most we can out of them, so it was important for them to see a team like Schuylerville. To see how they operate and know that we can compete with them, like we did tonight.”

Although Schuylerville came away with a 45-35 victory, the game included six lead changes after the Panthers scored the first three touchdowns of the game.

Chris Bartolone, a junior making his first varsity start, got things going in the first quarter with a 25-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Colin McCartney.

Senior RB Sean Perrin ran in a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, from two yards and ten yards out.

After the two-hour bus trip, the Panthers found themselves with a 21-0 lead.

“Their defensive coordinator, Jack Burger, is actually my sister-in-law’s uncle,” Pillitteri said of how the game against the Section 2 powerhouse in Saratoga County came together. “Coach (John) Bowen, I called him up and asked if they’d want to play and they were gracious enough to let us come.”

Down by 21, Schuylerville junior Lukas Sherman took over as quarterback for the Black Horses. He finished a drive with a nine-yard touchdown run, getting the Horses on the scoreboard. Bartolone was picked off on the next Wallkill drive at the 17-yard line, leading to another rushing touchdown by Sherman.

As time expired to end the first half, Wallkill had an interception called back due to pass interference. Schuylerville’s Connor Battle converted a 32-yard field goal with 0:00 on the clock to end the half. Wallkill’s lead had been cut to 21-17.

“At the end of the first half, we made a couple mistakes and we started to wear down a little bit too,” Pillitteri said.

There were four lead changes in the fourth quarter alone.

After Sherman gave the Horses their first lead with a 3-yard run, Bartolone responded for the Panthers with a 61-yard touchdown pass to McCartney, regaining the lead.

On a high ball that was up for grabs, McCartney came down with it, breaking away from the Schuylerville safety and had a clear path to the end zone.

The Horses and Panthers traded jabs one more time in the third quarter. Sherman completed his own 61-yard touchdown pass to Carter Phillips, making the score 31-28, Schuylerville.

Bartolone then found Richie Martinez in the end zone for a 17-yard completion, regaining a 35-31 lead.

“I’m proud of how my guys played,” Pillitteri said. “We threw a lot of guys out there in spots they may have never played before, and they competed against a state-championship caliber football team. I’m unbelievably proud of them and I think we learned a lot about ourselves tonight.”

He continued, “Richie Martinez and Mason Ondreyko both had tremendous nights defensively and catching the ball as well. Chris Bartolone threw three touchdowns in his first varsity start. Sean Perrin, he’s cramping up the whole game and he kept wanting to go back out there. There’s so many of them and they just kept fighting through things.”

Sherman finished off Schuylerville’s first drive of the fourth quarter with a one-yard touchdown run, providing the Horses with a 38-35 lead. On Wallkill’s next drive, Bartolone was picked off, allowing Schuylerville to wind down the clock and eventually tack on one more score before giving the ball back with 1:28 remaining in the game.

“Number one, hats off to Wallkill,” said Schuylerville coach John Bowen. “Their skill guys, perimeter guys are as good as I’ve seen in quite some time. Having an opponent who’s going to hit us in the mouth like that is more beneficial for a Week One game than to have a blowout.”

“We knew they’re a really good team and we took a lot of time to prepare for them,” Perrin said, who ran for 89 yards on 15 attempts, with two touchdowns. “We knew it was going to be a dog fight and we had to play our best. Unfortunately we came up short.”

Bartolone was 9-for-17 through the air, with 201 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Nicholas McLoughlin had two sacks for the Wallkill defense, while Michael Cullen had one. Chase Hermance had more than ten tackles.

“It was definitely fun going back-and-forth with them,” Perrin said. “I’m sad we didn’t come out with the dub, but we’re just going to keep working.”

The Panthers will face Monticello in their home opener next Friday, September 9 at 7 p.m.

“We definitely need to pick up on the defensive side of the ball,” Perrin added. “Offensively I think we played pretty well. It’s all work from here, so we just have to keep pushing.”