I just spoke with Newburgh coach Frank Dinnocenzio, about an hour before the start. He said the Goldbacks have had a decent week of practice. I asked him if he thought he team has been bored the last month, and he said that it was. Obviously, this was caused by few close games – and aside from Middletown in the Section 9 final, Newburgh was never tested locally. I’m thinking Newburgh will raise to the level of its competition today.
Mount Vernon loves its man-to-man defense, but I wonder if we’ll see any zone today – because that has been giving Newburgh problems. A quick poll of some crowd members reveals they think Mount Vernon has “too much pride” to get away from what got it here. I think an up-and-down game totally plays to Newburgh’s strength. We’ll see.
I just heard Coleman Catholic beat Leake & Watts 66-59 in the Class D quarterfinals, so Coleman will join Burke Catholic at Glens Falls.

Our teams at Glens Falls
All games at the Glens Falls Civic Center
Friday
Class D semifinals
John A. Coleman Catholic vs (Section 2) Germantown, 10 a.m
(If Coleman wins, it plays the (6)Maple Grove-(3)New York Mills winner for the title at 5:30 p.m., Saturday)
Class B semifinals
John S. Burke Catholic vs. (10)Potsdam, 6:45 p.m.
(If Burke wins, it plays the (3)Westhill-(5)Batavia winner for the the at 9 p.m., Saturday)
Saturday
Class AA
Newburgh Free Academy vs. (2)Christian Brothers Academy, 12:30 p.m
(If Newburgh wins, it plays the (11)Half Hollow Hills West-(5)Rochester East winner for the title at 2:45 p.m., Sunday)
Class A
Red Hook vs. (3)Jamesville-DeWitt, 9 a.m.
(If Red Hook wins, it plays the (8)Westbury-(5)Newark winner for the title at 1 p.m., Saturday)