BALLSTON SPA — On Feb. 7, the Ballston Spa varsity wrestling team captured the Section 2 Class B championship for the second-straight year.
Four Scotties also qualified for states: Sean Pausley (285 lbs), James Capasso (175 lbs),Tyler Perkins (165 lbs), and Quinton Warlikowski (144 lbs). Pausley, Capasso, and Warlikowski are all captains.
“Those four guys have been pretty reliable this year,” Ballston Spa Wrestling Coach Jacob Warren told Saratoga TODAY.
Despite the triumphant finish, the Scotties’ season had a shaky start. Early on, the squad had some holes to fill and suffered a few losses within their Suburban Council. But as the season progressed, fortunes changed. Ballston Spa took third in the dual meet sectional championships, avenging an earlier loss to Niskayuna. Then they captured the Class B title before finishing fourth overall at state qualifiers on Feb. 14.
Now Warren is tasked with preparing four of his grapplers for the state championships.
“I think all four of them are confident that they can, and I believe that they can, go place in the state,” Warren said. “In the last few weeks, those four especially have honed in on what they need to work on to get to the next level.”
The four boys will compete at states at Albany’s MVP Arena on Feb. 27 and 28.
THE BALLSTON SPA NYSPHAA SECTION 2 CLASS B CHAMPIONS
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Central Catholic boys basketball team clinched their second-straight North Division title on Tuesday after defeating Greenwich 82 to 59.
The Saints began the season by losing two out of their first three games in Wasaren League play before steamrolling through eight of their last nine league competitors. The b-ball squad finished with a 13-6 overall regular season record and will next face off against Tamarac for the league title on Saturday afternoon.
In the victorious contest against Greenwich, the boys had six players finish in double digits: Bryce Peterson (17 points), David Redgrave (15), Jasyn Thompson (12), Thomas Zayac (12), Kingston David (10), and Miles Knussman (10).
BALLSTON SPA — Ballston Spa native James Haughton, who is currently a freshman at the University of Rhode Island, has been signed by the Amsterdam Mohawks of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL), the team announced on Sunday.
Haughton, a 5’11” infielder, previously participated in the PGCBL when he was a high school senior, playing for the Glens Falls Dragons. In 2025, Haughton had 14 hits, 2 doubles, 8 RBI, and 8 walks in 65 plate appearances for the Dragons, earning him a .681 OPS.
“James is a baseball player who is committed to his craft with a high baseball IQ,” said Ballston Spa High School’s head baseball coach Curtis Nobles. “He is a skilled athlete in the field with really good hands and footwork as a middle of the field guy. Continued work on different arms angles consistently will make him an elite defender. Base running for James is done with an aggressive attitude and intent, always looking to take the next base. Offensively at the plate, elite hand speed and strength with the ability to adjust to all pitches at an elite level.”
With the B-Spa Scotties last year, Haughton had a .451 batting average and 1.196 OPS, accumulating 32 hits, 30 runs, 10 doubles, and 14 RBI in 89 plate appearances.
According to the Perfect Game USA scouting organization, Haughton ranks #22 among all high school shortstops in New York State.
Juwan Malone dunks in a game against the Vermont Coyotes on Feb. 7. Photo via the Saratoga Racers.
MECHANICVILLE — The Saratoga Racers stretched their winning streak to seven straight games last Sunday after surging in the fourth quarter to vanquish the Herkimer Originals, 116 to 112.
Now sitting pretty with a 11-3 record, the Racers look to wrap up their season with two games on the road followed by three-straight home games in Mechanicville on Feb. 27, 28, and March 1. As of press time, Saratoga had the No. 3 seed in their division. But much could change before they enter the playoffs next month.
Against Herkimer, Saratoga’s leading scorer Juwan Malone netted 28 points and 7 rebounds to lead a heap of teammates who finished in double digits: Keishaun Wheelings (18 points, 10 rebounds, 9/11 from the field), John Ryals (17 points, 9 rebounds), Donavan Williams (16 points, 8 assists, 6 steals), and Terrell Camp (11 points, 6 rebounds). The win was secured in the final stanza, when Ryals rallied to tally 13 points and Saratoga outscored Herkimer 42 to 29.
Racers’ owner and head coach Frank Polsinello attributed his squad’s string of recent victories to a depth of talent and the full-court press.
“We’re not a very tall team,” Polsinello told Saratoga TODAY. “Other teams in the league might have guys that are 6’9” or 6’10” or even taller… Our tallest guy is maybe 6’6” or 6’7”, but all of our guys are extremely athletic and good basketball players. So, what we’ve done is a full-court press for most of the game, and we’re able to use our athleticism to get steals, convert baskets, and wear teams down by the second half.”
The Racers began implementing the full-court press during the second game of the season and have only lost two games since then. One of those losses came at the hands of the Buffalo Extreme, who are the top-ranked team in the entire American Basketball Association (ABA). Saratoga will get a shot at revenge when they play Buffalo at home on March 1, their final game of the regular season.
One day before beating the Originals in a barn burner on Feb. 8, the Racers defeated the Vermont Coyotes, 134 to 120. In that game, Malone again led the way with 24 points and 7 rebounds. He was one of four Racers to drop more than 20 points, with RJ Rosa and Tobias Holmes each netting 23, and Ryals contributing 20 on 6/10 shooting. Williams also wowed the crowd with 15 points and 11 assists.
Although Ryals, Holmes, and Rosa are familiar names to those who followed the Racers last season, Malone and Williams have emerged this year as a pair of new standouts. Malone was formerly a member of the ABA’s Bennington Martens before joining the Racers in 2025. In addition to leading his team in scoring this season, Malone is Saratoga’s third-best rebounder. He’s also well-known for his ferocious dunks.
“When he gets one of those dunks, it brings the team alive,” said Tim Hepp, assistant coach and president of basketball operations. “It just puts us at a whole different level.”
Williams, Saratoga’s assist leader, was on the roster last season but received limited playing time due to an ACL tear. This season, he’s healthy, thriving, and draining a whole lot of shots from beyond the arc. His three-point field goal percentage stands at an impressive 54%.
“He brings a lot to our team, energy-wise,” said Polsinello. “He gets a lot of steals, but he has also been spectacular from three point range…At one point, he was at 70%.”
In a 139 to 117 win over the New England Lightning on Feb. 1, Williams finished with 21 points and 7 assists. His shot selection seems to be one of his biggest strengths. This season, he’s only averaged about 3.5 three-point attempts per contest, but his buckets from beyond the arc arrive when most needed.
“He’s made some huge three pointers for us in tight games,” Polsinello said.
Now, Saratoga prepares for its final five games of the regular season, which will culminate in a March 1 showdown in Mechanicville against the top-ranked Buffalo Extreme.
For the Racers’ full schedule and tickets, visit www.saratogaracersbb.com.
Poster image for “The Crucible” provided by Home Made Theater.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — In 1953, Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” dramatized the Salem witch trials and delivered a broadside against McCarthyism.
Today, in a time of heightened political polarization and vitriol, Miller’s drama about mass hysteria eroding a community feels especially pertinent.
“Everywhere we turn, fear is driving our country,” Toni Anderson-Sommo, the director of Home Made Theater’s upcoming production of “The Crucible,” told Saratoga TODAY. “Fear, greed, the desire for power, revenge—these kinds of things are still the motivation that drive mankind to act in unconscionable ways.”
Home Made Theater has been staging plays and musicals in the Spa City since 1985, yet this is the first time it’s performing “The Crucible.”
“I’m a retired English teacher—both college and junior and senior high school—and I have taught this now for 38 years,” Anderson-Sommo said. “I think from the very first year that I taught it, I realized it was going to be the very first thing I taught my students every single academic year, and that has been the case. It’s never lost its relevancy.”
Anderson-Sommo opted for a more traditional adaptation of the play, in part because she hopes audiences will leave the Saratoga Music Hall with their own interpretation of Miller’s original work.
“I want the audience to walk out really thinking about what they’ve just seen and trying to analyze it,” she said. “When you read a book, you come to the book with all of your life experiences behind you. No two readers are going to have the same reaction or imaginings of what the book is like. It’s very individual. I think that process of watching that is what fascinates me and keeps me coming back.”
The production will feature some faces familiar to those in the local theater world. Dianne O’Neill, who serves on Home Made Theater’s board of directors, will play Rebecca Nurse. Bridget Dunigan, who works at the Lake George Dinner Theater, will take on the role of Elizabeth Proctor. Matthew Crowley, a Home Made Theater veteran, will inhabit the character of John Proctor.
“Between Bridget Dunigan and Matt Crowley, these two actors bring us to tears every single rehearsal,” Anderson-Sommo said. “They just keep layering their characters and adding more depth to them.”
One fresh face on the stage will be Paul Angelo, playing Reverend Samuel Parris.
“I always feel like [Samuel Parris] is played one dimensionally,” Anderson-Sommo said. “Looking at the historical documents, you realize that there were many things happening in that community that made these characters react as they did. Paul is able to be arrogant, vulnerable, angry. He runs the gamut of emotions as he’s doing Parris.”
On Feb. 14, Anderson-Sommo and her troupe will move into the Saratoga Music Hall, which serves as Home Made Theater’s performance space. The company rehearses inside a former storefront at the Wilton Mall.
Home Made used to be housed in the Spa Little Theater, but that venue was taken over by the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in 2022. Spa Little Theater is currently undergoing a $12 million renovation.
Performances of “The Crucible” will run from Feb. 20 to March 1, on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and on Sundays at 2 p.m. For tickets or more information, visit homemadetheater.org/.
Rendering of the six-unit condo project at Park Place and Cottage Street provided by the project’s developers.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A vacant lot at the intersection of Park Place and Cottage Street is poised to become the future site of a six-unit, three-story condominium building after the city’s planning board approved the project with a unanimous 7-0 vote on Jan. 22.
The property is a couple blocks away from the southern tip of Congress Park and a little more than half a mile from the Saratoga Race Course.
Vincent and Katherine LaTerra, the project’s developers, said they hoped to acquire a building permit by this summer and to finish construction by the summer of 2027.
The building’s design was inspired by the Spa City’s Gilded Age glory years.
“We didn’t want to just put up another multifamily building,” Katherine told Saratoga TODAY. “We wanted to create something lasting, something that predates trends.”
“We wanted to create a unique condo building that had that residential feel. [It’s] historic but new construction—no shared walls, private access kind of feel, which was also unique to this project,” Vincent said.
The LaTerras said that the two-year design process was a challenge because they wanted the U-shaped building to have windows facing every direction while still preserving its Gilded Age look.
“It was really important to us to have it feel unique and special and have the continuity of the architecture from the city’s history,” added Katherine.
Prior to the planning board’s approval, some city residents expressed opposition to the project primarily due to its size (18,500 square feet) and impact on a neighborhood filled with smaller structures.
“I think it’s a very attractive building in some other place,” said Susan Bokan during a public comment period. “It’s too big. The scale is wrong. Our neighborhood is all two stories (at most) of modest, wooden homes, and this is just so out of place, it’s outrageous. I’d love to see it someplace else, it’s very pretty, but not here.”
In regard to the size of the building relative to nearby homes, the project’s application pointed out that there are numerous examples of a juxtaposition of larger buildings with smaller ones throughout the city.
The planning board reviewed the project for about nine months before approving it.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Familiar Creature, a Montreal-inspired wine bar on Phila Street, recently won a Best Short List award (a wine list with fewer than 200 listings) from the Star Wine List.
Familiar Creature was one of only four establishments across the globe to receive the Short List honor.
“We were among some amazing wine bars from Brazil to Canada for the finals,” Familiar Creature stated in a social media announcement. “Just a little wine bar in Upstate New York that’s got a lot of heart! Just in time for our one-year anniversary.”
Star Wine List bills itself as the “Michelin guide of wine,” bestowing various honors upon restaurants and wine bars throughout the world. Familiar Creature is a “white star venue,” which means its wine offerings have been vetted and approved by Star Wine List.
Familiar Creature opened its doors in February 2025 and is owned by the team behind Hamlet & Ghost. Miles Merton is the bar’s wine director.
Anthony Weaver (top row, middle) in a 1990s Saratoga Springs City School District yearbook photo. Image via the Saratoga Springs Public Library.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Springs native and Blue Streak Hall of Famer Anthony Weaver will become the Baltimore Ravens’ next defensive coordinator.
News of the hire broke on Monday.
Weaver had been a hot commodity this offseason, interviewing with the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Arizona Cardinals for their head coaching positions. Ultimately, though, he’ll return to Baltimore, where he played as a defensive end from 2002 to 2005.
In 2021, the Ravens named Weaver their defensive line coach and run game coordinator. In 2022, they promoted him to assistant coach.
Weaver spent the 2024 and 2025 seasons as the Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator.
“Myself and my entire family [are] ecstatic,” Weaver told WNYT’s Rodger Wyland on Tuesday. “If there’s a coordinator job you want in the National Football League, it’s to be the coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. It means a little bit more there, in my eyes.”
Weaver began his football career with the Saratoga Springs Blue Streaks in 1995, when he was in 9th grade. The next year, he was brought up to the varsity team, where he played offensive guard. By the time he was a senior, he was being actively recruited by colleges with elite football programs.
Photo of Spa Catholic Saints basketball standout Sophia Ryan via SCC Athletics.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — With just a couple games left in their regular seasons, the Saratoga Central Catholic boys and girls basketball teams hope to end things on a high note with the postseason in view. As of Feb. 4, the boys’ record stood at 11-5, bolstered by a 7-game winning streak that stretched nearly the entire month of January. The girls’ record stood at 9-8 as the squad split about half their games following a tough 4-game losing streak.
On Feb. 2, the girl dispatched Duanesburg 50-28. In that contest, standout Sophia Ryan led the Lady Saints with 21 points, while Addison Whitbeck added 12. The victory followed a rough 77-37 loss to Greenwich on Jan. 29. Before that, the Saints cruised to a 59-29 win against Cambridge on Jan. 24. Ryan again led with 25 points, and nearly secured a triple-double with 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Whitbeck secured a convincing double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
On Jan. 30, the boys’ win streak was snapped with a brutal 82-51 loss to Stillwater. But prior to that, they nabbed a 57-38 victory against Stillwater on Jan. 27. In that game, Jasyn Thompson led the Saints with 15 points, while David Redgrave Jr. added 13 and Kihl Kelly reached double digits with 10. On Jan. 24, the boys mounted a comeback victory, 55-53 over Burke Catholic. In that close contest, Thompson led his squad 13 points, Kelly added 12, and Redgrave posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists.
Next up for the boys: Two road games on Feb. 8 and 10 against Berne-Knox-Westerlo and Greenwich, respectively. The girls hope to add a couple more W’s to the win column when they face Stillwater at home on Feb. 5 and Hoosick Falls on the road on Feb. 9.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Is social media more terrifying than a monster?
In “Trad Wife,” the latest horror novel from author Saratoga Schaefer, that question lurks beneath the story’s surface.
Camille, the novel’s main character, incessantly seeks validation from social media as she tries to manifest the “perfect” homemaker lifestyle. But when she struggles to get pregnant, she calls upon sinister forces for aid.
“I think one of the fun things about this book is that there’s the obvious horror,” Schaefer told Saratoga TODAY, “But the real horror is the social horror that comes through the relationship and the power imbalance [Camille] has with her husband, and then also the obsession she has with social media and needing to present a certain way online and needing people to like her. That, I think, is more frightening than the overt horror.”
A traditional wife or “trad” wife is a recent phenomenon that has seen young women reject much of the modern world to revert back to a simpler and, they contend, happier existence. Instead of spending all day in an office hunched over a keyboard, they spend the day cooking, taking care of kids, and maintaining an impeccably designed home—all for the benefit of their social media followers.
A number of studies have been conducted in an effort to better understand this trend. According to researchers at King’s College London, “the glamorization of domesticated roles for women is less a genuine embrace of tradition and more a plea from younger generations, reflecting what they describe as the impossible balance demanded by modern work and family life.” Two researchers at the University of Pennsylvania posit that mainstream feminists and trad wives are both “responding to the same broken system, but in very different ways. While each is rooted in women’s rage, the direction and consequences of that rage diverge sharply.”
Schaefer’s portrayal of Camille is complex. In some ways, Camille is sympathetic. In other ways, she’s profoundly unlikeable. But for much of the story, she seems to be under the spell of social media, which results in Camille doing things she knows are wrong.
“She is actively deluding herself for a good portion of the book,” Schaefer said. “I really wanted to get into the mindset of somebody who is a younger person who is attracted to this lifestyle.”
Camille chooses to discard facts and critical thinking in favor of agreeing with social media personalities who can bestow upon her more followers and fame. Camille’s obsession with portraying herself as the perfect influencer leads to horrendous consequences, some real and others supernatural. Trapped in a “Rosemary’s Baby” scenario in which she is pregnant with a creature that is less than human, Camille continues to post through the pain, pretending that her life is perfect when, in fact, it’s spiraling towards disaster.
To reveal more of the plot would spoil the fun. Though “Trad Wife” explores real issues, it’s also a spooky story with elements reminiscent of “Midsommar,” “The Witch,” and, of course, “Rosemary’s Baby.”
Schaefer’s new novel will be released on Feb. 10. Two days later, they’ll be in person at the Northshire Bookstore for a conversation with fellow author Dennis Mahoney. It’ll be an event in Saratoga featuring a person named Saratoga. Yes, it’s a bit unusual, and yes, Schaefer was named after the Spa City.
“I love my name,” Schaefer said. “I understand that people do a little bit of a double take when I say it.”
They’ll be doing a double take when they read the shocking yet thoughtful “Trad Wife” too.
