Wanamaker Sports Photography

Last week, Burke-Catholic squared off against Tri-Valley and won the first round of state championship playoffs. This week, they were pitted against Millbrook, a team they played earlier in the season and lost to. Knowing what they were up against, Burke practiced hard before the game and were ready to take on Millbrook in the fight for the state title.

After doing an early morning shoot in NJ, I made my way up to Middletown NY to get ready for the game. Making some time up on the highway, I was able to get onto the field nearly an hour and a half before the game started – which allowed me enough time to get everything setup and capture their warm-up routine. While along the sidelines, I ran into one of the local paper photographers and a good friend of ours, Chet Gordon. After catching up, we focused on the game and the stiff competition between both Burke-Catholic and Millbrook.

As the fourth quarter started into its final moments, Burke was at the far end of the field trying to make a drive towards the end zone. As I sat next to Chet, we chatted about the next few shots we “thought” we had coming. Just then, the quarterback for Burke stepped back for a deep pass and sent the ball hurling towards #28, Dan Boylan. As the shutter snapped away, I knew that I had gotten a shot – but not the one above. Actually, it wasn’t until I got back to the office that I realized I had captured the image with ball just outside of his hands as well as the reaction from one of the Millbrook coaches. This catch put Burke within striking distance with nearly a minute left to play.

The crowd was on their feet as Burke setup for what would be their final play. The ball was snapped and at that moment, fumbled by the quarterback. As the Burke players scrambled to recover the ball, Millbrook found an opening and scooped it up. In the end, Burke-Catholic left Faller Field with a loss of only one point. Overall, I do have to admit that it was difficult to watch Burke’s season end the way it did after following them through all of their games this year. With this being the final high school game of the year for us, we were a bit sad to see the season come to an end – though we’re already looking forward to the next!

This year has been a great for us and Burke-Catholic. After receiving our first Action Photography Request for them, they kept coming in for more and more players on the team until we were practically covering everyone. In doing so, we attended the majority of their home games as well as some away games and also had the opportunity to follow them into their playoff run.

The first game of their playoff run was against the Tri-Valley Bears at Faller Field in Middletown NY. The game started off a little slow, but Burke quickly put an end to that when they scored the first touchdown. The shot above of #25, Steve Tomaszewski, was captured as he may his way around a bunch of Tri-Valley defenders. His run was stopped just short of the goal line but Burke was able to hold on and take the win and advance to the next round of playoffs. Next week we’ll be covering them as they play Millbrook once again at Faller Field.

One of our youth football clients is the Marlboro Youth Football League and every year we do a Fusion DVD Slideshow for their end of season dinner. Each slideshow features a combination of video and still images mixed with a great selection of music.

This year, we covered one of their home stands – where all of their teams played at home on one night. Though it was a long night, we were able to get some great shots and some amazing footage of the players as they played Goshen, Minisink Valley and Cornwall. With 2000+ images taken throughout the entire evening, it was very hard for us to pick a favorite. After selecting a bunch and narrowing it down a few times, we finally settled on this image of the Marlboro Mighty Mites #2, James Warren, making his way through a bunch of Goshen Defenders.

The Warriors home game against Kingston was the final one of the season. Unfortunately, I was a little late getting to the game as I had to take care of a small tire issue with our car. Until I returned, Loretta was on the sidelines capturing the action as it unfolded for the Warriors. As I returned to the field and made my way to where Loretta was camping, Minisink Valley was setting up their next play. As I was handed my camera and lens, I quickly checked the settings, turned towards the field and starting snapping shots of Louie Walther as he used one of the Tiger’s as a hurdle on his drive down the field. The shot above was one of two frames as he made his way right towards my camera. In the end, Kingston held the lead and left the Warriors with another loss.

It seems like we can’t get away from the Warwick Wildcats! Last week it was a game against Minisink Valley and this week it was against the Goshen Gladiators!

Like last year, we were asked to do a Year Book for the Gladiators which included portraits and action shots from the season. Since this was the last game of the season, we figured it would be a good one to cover as it would be a great addition to the book. Though we got some great shots of the Gladiators during the game, the Wildcats were stronger than ever as they scored their first touchdown in the first 30 seconds of the game. By the time we left at halftime, Warwick was up nearly three touchdowns and finished the game 59-27.

The shot above was of #10, Chris Ferrelli, just missing a long pass to him as Goshen tried to score against Warwick in the second half.