The Pine Bush Bushmen came into the game fired up.

It was Homecoming. A playoff spot was up for grabs, and the Valley Central Vikings came into town coached by Kyle Schneider, a former assistant coach at Pine Bush.

The game came down to a final fourth-down play and Noah Schorling’s interception sealed the Bushmen’s 21-17 victory in a Class AA football game on Saturday at Thomas Lonergan Field in Pine Bush.

“We’ve had a tough Homecoming history,” Pine Bush linebacker Michael Morley said. “Coming here and winning this meant a lot to us and it punched our ticket into the playoffs, which is awesome for us to.”

The victory put the Bushmen into third place in Class AA, and they know own the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Valley Central Vikings if both teams have the same result next week.

The Vikings, meanwhile, had an opportunity to position themselves to play for second place with a victory. Instead, they sit in fourth place, holding the final playoff spot.
“(It’s important that we don’t lose the mission,” Schneider said. “Don’t lose the goal, which is to make the playoffs and compete in Section 9 (Class) AA playoffs, which we could still do with a win at Newburgh. I think there’s still an outside chance of getting in, even if we lose.”

If they lose to Newburgh, the Vikings can secure the No. 4 seed with a Pine Bush victory over the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders on Saturday. If the Bushmen win on Saturday, they’ll eliminate the Crusaders and take the No. 3 seed in the playoffs.

“I think everybody realizes we’ve got to buckle down if we want to achieve our goals,” Pine Bush coach Rich Ormsby said. “We’ve got to get better and I think, to their credit, they are.”

The Bushmen took the lead for good when Ruben Simpson scored on a 14-yard run with 17 seconds left in the third quarter. That was a quick response by the Bushmen, who had just lost the lead when Valley Central quarterback Andrew Waite connected with Austyn Robb on a 45-yard touchdown pass.

“Not even for football, but knowing someone has your back is everything,” Morley said. “That’s how our team is. We have their backs. They have our back and nothing in between. We give them everything and we get everything from them in return.”

Even with the lead, the Vikings still had opportunities to retake the lead in the fourth quarter. The Vikings marched down to the Bushmen’s 35 but did not convert a fourth down pass. Then the Bushmen forced a punt before the final drive ended in Schorling’s fourth-down interception.
“I’m very proud of my guys for that,” Morley said. “We played four quarters of football, which is another thing we’ve been struggling with. I think it just shows that we can compete with anyone and we’re just excited to win.”

The Vikings got on the board first on Danny Joyce’s 30-yard field goal in the first quarter and Jaden Christophe answered with a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Bushmen a 7-3 lead with 11:10 left in the second quarter. Jude Revella returned a kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown to give the Vikings a 10-7 lead at halftime.

A 54-yard touchdown run by Pine Bush’s Jace Robinson and Waite’s touchdown pass to Robb gave the Vikings a 17-14 lead with 6:02 left in the third quarter.

“It was a close game, and a good game, but I expected that,” Schneider said. “I know them well. I know they can be coached well.

They executed more than we did. That’s what it came down to. We had our chances, but it was a hard-fought game by both teams.”