Crusaders upend Newburgh
Monroe. M-W cruised to a 49-15 victory to claim the regular season AA title.
| 04 Nov 2025 | 03:38
M-W’s Liam Hayes cuts up field behind Crusader blockers against Newburgh Free Academy on Oct. 31, 2025. (
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On a cold windy Halloween night, the Monroe-Woodbury Crusaders hosted the Newburgh Free Academy Goldbacks with the Sec. IX Class AA regular season title on the line.
The Crusaders came into the game with a 7-1 record after beating Washingtonville 73-0 last week. The Goldbacks had a 6-2 record after beating Pine Bush 56-6 the week before. The teams had identical 4-0 records in league play, which meant that the winner would finish the regular season in first place and get the top seed in the upcoming playoffs.
The Crusaders took the lead on their first possession of the game. Quarterback Ethan Maldonado zipped a pass to a streaking Francisco Felix who scored from 59 yards out. After kicker Matvii Butiuhin hit the first of his his seven PAT’s, the Crusaders were off to an early 7-0 start.
The Goldbacks came right back and scored on a 1-yard run. After a two-point conversion, Newburgh was ahead 8-6. The Crusaders answered when Maldonado plunged into the middle of the line, disappeared, then burst out the other side to rambled 65 yards to retake the lead 14-8.
Next, the Crusaders defense scored. Nathaniel Shim jumped the Goldback route, picked the ball off, and scored from 25 yards out to extend the lead to 21-8. Just before the end of the first quarter, Braylon Shillingford blocked a Goldback punt and the Crusaders had the ball at Newburgh’s 24-yard line. A few plays later, Maldonado scored from 6 yards out growing the Crusaders lead to 28-8 at halftime.
In the fourth quarter, Noah Flores bulled his way into the Goldback end zone while carrying defenders on his back and the Crusader lead jumped to 35-8. On the team’s next possession, Maldonado connected with Shillingford who had gotten behind the Goldback defense and scored from 30 yards out and with five minutes left in the game to bring the score to 42-8. The Goldbacks surprised the Crusaders and scored on a 80-yard pass play to make the score 42-15.
Finally with time running out in the game, Crusader linebacker Ronald Chambers picked off a Goldback pass and with a convoy of blockers scored from 57 yards out to solidify the Crusaders 49-15 victory and the regular season AA title.
Monroe will open their playoff run on Friday Nov. 7 when they host the Vikings from Valley Central.