Blackwatch Rush

Albany and Schenectady sit fifteen miles apart in New York's Capital Region, and the two cities share more than a commuter road: the state government in one, the Union College campus in the other. Blackwatch Rush played in the space between them, and its home ground, College Park Field, is on that campus in Schenectady.

The club came out of a merger. Blackwatch Premier Football Academy, which Steve Freeman had started in 1996, joined with Northeast Rush to enter USL League Two. Freeman kept the jobs of Head Coach and Technical Director.

The first season, 2022, was played as Blackwatch Rush in blue and black, with white as the away colour. The team finished 8th in the Northeast Division, whose opponents included Western Mass Pioneers, Connecticut Rush and Vermont Green FC. No derby in that group has a name of its own.

Joseph DiPreta was named the 2022 USL League Two Young Player of the Year while playing for the club. In 2023 the team was renamed Albany Rush.

Founded in 2021, the club played under its original name for a single season: 2022.