I’m not sure if there’s any truth to the rumor that coaches Goverski and Phillips considered chartering airplanes for traveling to their regional finals on Saturday, but when directions to the venues for both Cambrdge and Mechanicville include, “If you reach the Canadian border you’ve gone a couple miles too far”, it would be a great way go.

Mechanicville faces the Canton Golden Bears Saturday at 2:45 in the Class B Regional Final at SUNY Potsdam while Cambridge meets Moriah in the Class C Regional Finale with a noon tip at Beekmantown High School with the winners advancing to their classification’s final four.

Canton from Section X comes in with a 20-2 mark, advancing to Saturday’s game coming off a bye, after winning the Section X title with a 53-44 win over Gouverneur in a sectional tournament that consisted of only five teams.  The sectional title is Canton’s 7th in row.

The Golden Bears average 51 points per game while allowing 40 points defensively.

They’re led in scoring by junior Sarah Sieminski at 11.5 points per game, junior Katie Chisholm 9.9 points per and sophomore Erin Wentworth who scores 8.4 points per outing.

They played a pair of Section II teams in the regular season defeating Hudson 63-53 and topping Ichabod Crane 48-42.

Moriah, from Section VII owns a 17-3 record, and also advanced to the regional final off a bye after securing their sectional championship with a 53-32 victory over Ausable Valley.

The Vikings average 48 points per contest while giving up 32 points to their opponents.

Seniors McKenzie Sprague and Madison Olcott have both scored over 1000 points in their careers and this season combined for 27 points per, while junior Noel Williams adds 9.4 points to the Moriah attack.  Sprague and Williams have connected on 43 and 31 triples respectively.

The Vikings played just one Section II squad this year, routing Granville 53-23 in December.

While the numbers for both Canton and Moriah are fine, it always comes down to who did you play in compiling those numbers.

The strength of schedule that Cambridge and Mechanicville played this season is superior to their opponents and that will show on Saturday.

Although both Moriah and Canton have minimal travel time in comparison to the Indians and the Raiders, with Canton having previously played on the SUNY Potsdam floor, it won’t matter.

Both Mechanicville and Cambridge will find their legs after the long bus rides and handle their business, advancing to next weekends state final four, just a stone’s throw away at HVCC in Troy.