ALBANY — The Albany Metro Mallers jumped out to a 21-0 second-quarter lead Saturday, and despite some second-half improvements, the deficit was too much for the Plattsburgh North Stars to overcome.
The Metro Mallers went on to a 42-28 Empire Football League victory at Bleeker Stadium.
“We got better in the second half,” Plattsburgh coach Scott Aguglia said. “The problem was we got behind so far so early.
“We moved the ball well in the first half; we had … a turnover that killed one drive, a penalty that killed another drive. We scored 21 second-half points, so everything kind of came together. The problem was we just got down too much to come back. We can’t let that happen.”
Kris Ross intercepted Albany quarterback C.J. Tarver two yards from the goal line and took the ball back 98 yards to the other end zone to put the Stars on the board in the second quarter.
The Stars scored early in the third quarter when Nick O’Meara caught a touchdown pass from Harry Rascoe. But the Mallers answered with a score of their own, and the teams continued to trade touchdowns.
O’Meara finished the night with two touchdowns, and Rascoe connected with Andrew Price for a third. Ken Karnley had a solid running game for Plattsburgh.
Tarver typically poses a threat with his feet as well as his arm, but Aguglia said the Stars limited the speedy quarterback Saturday.
“Tarver didn’t hurt us too much. Actually what hurt us was their running back,” Aguglia said. “We did a pretty good job containing Tarver, and we got the interception. He didn’t beat us with his feet (Saturday), which was our goal. But unfortunately we didn’t tackle well in the first half.”
