It was Homecoming in Mechanicville Friday night and after the king, queen and their court were recognized, along with all senior players and cheerleaders with family members, it was on to the main event.

Unlike the pregame festivities the contest was neither smooth nor overly pretty, but in the end all that mattered was a 17-7 victory by the Red Raiders sending the majority of a large crowd home happy.

Penalties and turnovers were the theme for much of the game and certainly contributed to a scoreless first period in which neither team mounted a serious drive.

Mechanicville, despite having good field position on their first two possessions, fumbled away both opportunities, while the Knights initial drives were stuck in reverse due in part to a string of illegal motion penalties.

The first points of the night came early in the second period, when Lansingburgh quarterback Jacob Lapham found wideout Vinny Terrio in the right flat, and Terrio did the rest, taking it up the right sideline, diving just inside the pylon for the score, and with the point after the visitors led 7-0.

The next points came on the last play of the half as both team continued their offensive struggle.

Mechanicville put together a drive that took the ball inside the Lansingburgh five, and brought our senior kicker Jake LaFountain for the chip shot field goal, but on the play the Raiders were assessed with a 15 yard penalty forcing LaFountain to set up for a much more challenging 37 yard attempt.  LaFountain’s kick would have been good from 47 yards out, splitting the uprights with plenty of leg, sending the teams to the break with the Burgh holding a 7-3 lead.

Late in the third Mechanicville took their first lead of the game, when Russell DeLosSantos ran it in from 20 yards out and with the LaFountain point after the Raiders led 10-7.

It remained a one-score game throughout much of the fourth and while Lansingburgh continued their offensive woes the Knights were just a play away from taking back the lead. It never happened.

The Raiders put the Burgh to sleep with 2:30 remaining when quarterback Luciano D’Ambro found a leaping Mason Angiano in the corner of the end zone for a 20 yard scoring strike, giving Mechanicville the two-score cushion which proved more than enough to earn the homecoming victory.

With the win the Raiders even their season mark at 2-2, and will travel next Friday night to Greenwich for a matchup with the Witches.

Lansingburgh falls to 0-4 on the year and will host the Black Horses of Schuylerville in week number five.