BURNT HILLS — On Sunday, October 9, the Jason Morris Judo Center will host the 19th annual Morris Cup Judo Championships after a 2 year hiatus. The tournament will be held at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School and will feature over 500 of the best competitors in the Northeast US and Canada. The Judo action will start at 9:30 a.m. and continue nonstop until approximately 8 p.m. The event will feature many local stars including Burnt Hills students and graduates, 2x Olympian, Nick Delpopolo, Kyle Tran and Randi and Dani Morris.

Judo has been an Olympic sport since 1964. It is the most-widely practiced martial art in the world.  In its competitive form judo involves throws, pins, chokes and arm locks but no kicking or punching.  Many of the skills developed in wrestling are incorporated by judo players.  People who practice judo develop high levels of physical fitness, discipline and an unshakeable respect for their opponents.

The Morris cup is the work of Jason Morris, a 4x Olympic competitor, 1992 Silver medalist and the USA’s 2008 Judo coach in Beijing. Jason is committed to growing the next generation of Judo champions through his own club and the state, national and international agencies with which he has become familiar. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — On Monday, September 26, the Saratoga Blue Streaks hosted the Schuylerville Black Horses in their senior night game. The contest was also their annual “Go Pink” game, which aims to raise money and spread cancer awareness. The two teams share a special link through Beth Roberts, who lost a battle to cancer last year. Roberts spent 22 years as a special education teacher in the Schuylerville Central School District. Along with teaching, she coached field hockey and lacrosse in the Saratoga Springs district and Schuylerville district respectively. Both programs won championships while Beth was on the sidelines. 

“We purposely picked Schuylerville,” Saratoga coach Jo-Anne Hostig said in a statement. “We wanted to play each other because we both had a personal connection and some players have even more of a connection. There are so many people in our field hockey community that have unfortunately had to battle with cancer.”

To kick off the scoring in the contest, Viviana Nicastro scored a goal off a corner play, assisted by Allie Shamberger with a few minutes left in the first quarter. After Saratoga took the lead, they never looked back. In quarter two, Allie Shamberger scored a goal of her own with the assist coming from Aubrey Ide. And in quarter three, the Blue Streaks finally put the game out of reach with goals from Alyssa Smullen (assisted by Maddie Miller) and Aubrey Ide who scored unassisted. The penalty corners totaled 13 to 4 in favor of Saratoga, and the shots were lopsided as well, with the Blue Streaks logging 21 to Schuylerville’s 3. Schuylerville’s goalie, Petra Gemage logged an impressive 16 saves while Saratoga goalies Lily Wilborn and Alexis Georgeadis logged 3 and 1, respectively.

Saratoga moves to an 8-1 overall record this season. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Blue Streaks continue their hot start to the season after another win against the Columbia Blue Devils. 

The match was played under the lights on September 27 at Saratoga High School. Xavier Rusico, Ryan Farr and Lucas Varghese all netted goals for Saratoga. Assists came by way of Vincent DeVito, Riley Fowler and Ryan Farr. The lone goal for Columbia came from Kejhaune Lester. The match finished 3-1 in favor of the home team. The win on Tuesday makes for Saratoga’s sixth win of the season while Columbia falls to 2-2-3 overall. Looking forward, the Blue Streaks will travel to face Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) on Thursday, September 29 and then have a week off before they face Shaker High School on October 6, who handed the Blue Streaks their only loss of the season in a tight 1-0 contest.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — This winter, Section II athletics are commissioning an inaugural girls’ ice hockey season. The team is called Adirondack United, and it will consist of six local school districts combining to offer one varsity team: Corinth Central School District; Glens Falls City School District; Hudson Falls Central School District; Saratoga Springs City School District; South Glens Falls Central School District and Queensbury Union Free School District. 

Tryouts will begin on November 14 at the Glens Falls Recreation Center Ice Rink on Fire Road. The team will consist of students in grades 9 -12. Games will be played against teams in Section 7, Section 10, Section 3, and a few area programs out of Vermont. The districts are excited to provide a merged experience, bringing students from multiple area high schools competing together all under one umbrella. The team has a deep pool to choose from, with local youth hockey programs for girls exploding over the past several years. “We’re pulling from a talented group of girls that have won state titles at the club level. We’re going to compete immediately,” Adirondack United coach Jeff Willis said.

 “Our goal is to generate so much excitement that within the next four to five years, we will start seeing additional teams pop up throughout the Capital Region. We ultimately want Section II represented in the state championships,” said South Glens Falls Central School District Athletic Director Matthew Griep. “We’re extremely excited and blessed to be in an area where the community embraces ice hockey. We have the infrastructure and support to make this a reality. All participating districts have administrations that support student extracurricular activities, and for them to allow us to pursue this endeavor, we’re very grateful for that,” Griep said. “We know it’s going to be a huge success. We’re already hearing the buzz. I’ve been fielding calls about schools wanting to join the merger, so we know it is generating interest.” 

The team’s first game will be on November 23 on the road against the defending state champion, Skaneateles Central School District. The first home game will be at the Glens Falls Recreation Center on December 3 versus Beekmantown Central School District. For additional information regarding Adirondack United Ice Hockey, questions can be directed to the Athletic Director of each participating school.

SARATOGA — On Saturday, September 17, 10 local high schools competed in a mid-season volleyball tournament. From 9am to 3pm, games were held at Saratoga Springs High School, and the home team eventually came out on top after a long day of bumps, sets and spikes. The final match was a contest between the Saratoga Blue Streaks and the Burnt Hills Spartans. In game one, Saratoga was down 24-18 and rallied to score 8 unanswered points for a remarkable 26-24 comeback. Game two was just as close, as Saratoga edged out Burnt Hills 25-23 to claim victory in an enthralling finals match.