Is it unbelievable, or what, that Rye will play Chenango Forks in the state Class B championship football game for the fourth time in five years?

Or that Forks is going to the state championship game for the sixth time in seven years?

Well, that was the theme of the day at Dietz Stadium yesterday, where all six Eastern semifinalists had such steep state-tournament tradition. Rye beat Peru 24-7 in B, Dobbs Ferry pounded Cambridge 47-0 in C and Monroe-Woodbury snuck past New Rochelle 22-16 late in AA.

Consider:

• Dobbs Ferry was in the state semifinal for the seventh year in a row, and will go to the Dome for the sixth time in those seven years, looking for a fourth state championship. The Eagles have won 77 of their last 80 games, and nobody on the current team has experienced more than one loss (the ‘05 state championship game), and quarterback Trevor Saunders says they are looking to break the odd-year curse — state titles in ‘02, ‘04 and ‘06, losses in ‘03 and ‘05.
• Cambridge was in the state tournament, which only began in 1993, for the ninth time, and the eighth time in the semifinals (with four trips to the finals and one championship in ‘99). Cambridge, formerly a D school, had been Tuckahoe’s nemesis, three itmes eliminating the Tigers.
• Rye was in the state semis for the fifth year in a row, and advanced to a fourth trip to the Dome in that span. The Garnets lost to Forks in ‘03 and ‘04, won in ‘05, which snapped Forks’ winning streak at 38 games. Forks is now 60-3 in its last 63 games, Rye is 57-3 in the last five years, with two of those losses to Forks.
• Peru was in the tournament for the 11th time in 15 years, and the ninth time in the last 10. Peru was eliminated by Rye in ‘03, and won a championship in ‘01 going through Harrison and Forks on the way.
• New Rochelle was in the tournament for the fifth time in eight years and the fourth in the last five, with three previous trips to the state championship game, winning in ‘04 and losing in ‘00 and ‘04.
• Monroe-Woodbury was in the semifinals for the fourth year in a row (47-2 over that time) and earned a third straight trip to the AA state title game, having lost to New Rochelle in ‘04, beating North Rockland in ‘05 and beating New Rochelle in ‘06 and now ‘07. M-W won the state championship in ‘05 and lost the title game by a PAT in overtime last year.