The Empire Football League
The Empire Football League
BY WILLIE SANTANA Press-Republican
 
PLATTSBURGH — The Plattsburgh North Stars are back in familiar territory.
 
The third-seeded North Stars (7-4) are back in the Empire Football League championship as they face the top-seeded Hudson Valley Mountaineers (9-2) at Middletown High School at 7 p.m.
 
Plattsburgh won the EFL championship in 2010 and 2014.
 
The North Stars outlasted the Utica Yard Dogs, 21-14, in the semifinals.
 
The Mountaineers used a late fourth-quarter field goal to edge the Tri-City Spartans, 9-7, in the other semifinal matchup.
 
Hudson Valley won both games against Plattsburgh this season, picking up a 26-20 victory in Week 2 and a 38-13 win in Week 6.
 
North Stars coach Scott Aguglia said the Mountaineers are a well coached team.
 
“They play solid good-fundamental football,” Aguglia said.
 
“They don’t make a lot of mistakes, and unfortunately, both times that we played them early in the year, we had quite a few ourselves. We are looking to just come in and play a better football game all around than we did the two previous times.”
 
Aguglia said the North Stars are heading into the game with a lot of momentum.
 
“The team has had good momentum all year,” Aguglia said.
 
“We started 0-2 and then kind of righted the ship. The guys have been great. They hung in there all season long. They’ve earned the big trip to the championship, and I’m hoping we can play our best game (today).”
This is the Mountaineers’ inaugural season, but for the North Stars, its their 27th season.
 
And after being granted a one-year leave of absence from the Empire Football League last season, Aguglia said he’s glad to be back competing for a championship once again.
 
“This season has been beyond our wildest dreams as far as the success goes,” Aguglia said.
 
“We were really just hoping to get enough guys to come out and get the program up and running again. And we’ve gone ahead and made it this far. We’ve exceeded our original expectations.”
 
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