Thursday April 25, 2024 
Averill Park Sports By Isaac Joseph
AVERILL PARK – The fall sports season officially wrapped up for AP last week with teams competing in sectionals.
The football team lost 48-35 against Queensbury in the Class A semifinals on 11/5. Gavin Giordano threw for two touchdowns and ran in for another while Ryan Heffner had two touchdowns on the ground. Congratulations to the football team on the impressive season!
The boys soccer team fell 2-0 to East Syracue Minoa high school in the first round of regionals on 11/3. Congratulations goes out to the boys soccer team on the tremendous season and sectional title!
The girls volleyball team was defeated by #1 seed Burnt Hills 25-5, 25-7, 25-15 in sectionals. Congrats to the volleyball team on a great season!
The girls cross country team placed 5th in the Class B championships on 11/5. Logan Barslow who placed fifth in the race with a time of 19:09.43. This time qualifies her for the NYSPHSAA championships next Saturday at Chenango Valley State Park. The boys cross country team placed 4th in the Class B championships. Congrats to the cross country teams on excellent seasons!
The Troy-AP girls swim and dive team competed at the Section 2 championship on 11/6. Reagan O’Brien placed second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.89, which also set a team record. This time qualifies her for the NYSPHSAA championship in the 100 backstroke. Congratulations and good luck Reagan!
We now move on to winter sports with practices beginning next week. I will be back again to report scores and highlights. Go Warriors!
Scholar Athlete of the Week By Tyler Michaels
AVERILL PARK – This week’s Scholar Athlete is Mason Buttaci. Mason is a captain on the Varsity soccer team, where he plays as a center defensive midfielder. Mason began playing soccer with Averill Park’s recreational league when he was five years old. Mason has not stopped playing since then, and has now been playing for 12 years. To prepare for Averill Park’s soccer season, Mason went to team practices four times a week over the summer. Even when not in his school season, Mason plays soccer
all year with Alleycats and East Greenbush. Mason’s favorite part about his sport is being a part of a team. Practicing with the same people every day quickly forms camaraderie between teammates, and Mason loves being able to celebrate successes as a team. However, Mason also noted that working as a team requires more practice and communication than what is needed in an individual sport. Mason also shared that the team did well by not allowing themselves to get discouraged. Even if they fell behind in a game, they managed not to panic and make a comeback in the second half. This year, Mason’s goal was to win the sectional championship with his team. Despite a change in coaching in the middle of the season, this goal was accomplished when Mason scored against LaSalle in the Section 2 Class A sectional championship, leading his team to a 2-0 victory.
In addition to his athletic success, Mason excels academically. Mason has a 97 GPA while taking three Advanced Placement courses: Advanced Placement Biology, Advanced Placement Government and Politics, and Advanced Placement Statistics. To balance school and sports, Mason plans out his time to ensure that he has enough time for schoolwork and athletic events. Mason also does his best not to procrastinate; he does homework whenever he has the opportunity between classes or before practice to help reduce his workload. Mason is also a member of the National Honor Society, and in his free time Mason enjoys skiing and spending time with friends and family.
Mason’s parents help inspire him to work hard by constantly pushing Mason to put his all into everything he does. Mason also claimed that he could not excel in his sport if he did not have a multitude of people supporting him: Mason’s teammates constantly pushed him to succeed, his parents and sister always came to Mason’s games to help support him, Mason’s various coaches all helped his teams improve every day, and his brother always played soccer with Mason, and was constantly there as support. Mason would advise a younger athlete to “put 100% into every practice and match, and make sure to practice on your own outside of your scheduled practices”. Next year, Mason plans on attending a four year college and majoring in the STEM field. We wish Mason the best as he finishes his senior year and prepares for college.
