BURNT HILLS-BALLSTON LAKE — The 2013 Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Spartans found themselves in an unusual position last November—the losing side of the Section II Class A title game.
Playing for a seventh Section II Super Bowl in eight seasons, BH-BL was poised for a sixth straight trip to the New York State Public High School Athletic Associations state regionals.
But the only team that defeated BH-BL in the program’s previous 21 games—Northwest Division rival Queensbury—came out on top again when Kody Bruno punched in the game-clinching touchdown with 1:18 remaining for the eventual 14-7 win.
But being just two years removed from the program’s first ever Class A New York State title, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake head coach Matt Shell is bringing back a group that knows what it takes to not only get over the hump but go all the way.
That list starts with senior running back Dan Maynard.
“He’s a talented athlete overall,” said Shell about the former state finals most valuable player and future catcher for the University of Notre Dame baseball team. “He’s got a real good vision as a running back to go with speed and agility.
Maynard, who committed to Notre Dame this past May as a junior, earned the Class A state finals MVP in his No. 2 sport after he had 14 carries for 128 yards in a 40-20 rout of Sweet Home at the Carrier Dome his sophomore year.
The win for BH-BL avenged two losses to Sweet Home in 2008 and 2009.
As for this year, Maynard will be joined with fellow seniors Tyler Dowdle and 6-foot-4-inch Packy Brown at running back and receiver back, respectively.
“We have a good mix of veteran leadership, especially in the skill area,” Shell said. “It makes things run a little smoother earlier when kids understand things coming in. We’re able to move along at a quicker pace.”
Heading into last Saturday’s scrimmage at Guilderland, Shell was more occupied with how his less-experienced offensive and defensive lines would play.
“Essentially, we ran the ball well and were able to throw the ball,” Shell said. “I was happy with how our offensive and defensive lines played. To me that was the biggest question going in since we have a lot of new kids on both sides of the ball on the line. We have a lot of skill kids back from last year, but where we’re a little young is on the offensive and defensive line. It was nice to get a good look in a competitive environment.”
In the trenches, the Spartans will need continued leadership from returning offensive linemen Jake Ashcraft and Joe Messare, while the entire secondary of the 4-3 defense remains intact with Brown, Garrett Snyder, James Prezioso and Max Charlton.
Another returning player is junior quarterback John Clayton, who will again be taking snaps under center and run the wing-T offense.
After missing the extra point to end a 28-27 regular season loss to Queensbury in his first varsity start last season, Clayton found his stride as the Spartans rattled off four straight convincing wins by an average margin of 48.8 points per game and then took down Troy, 24-19, in the Class A semifinal.
During the Troy game, Clayton threw for 117 yards and two touchdowns.
“[Clayton]’s worked hard in the offseason and has had a good preseason,” Shell said. “He works hard every day. He has a good arm and he has an even more confident grasp of the offense now. He does a lot of little things to make himself a better player.”
As for key losses, the shoes of graduating senior and running back Josh Quesada, who averaged 103.2 rushing yards per game last year, will need to be filled. He was the No. 2 running back in Section II with 22 touchdowns—just behind Lansingburgh’s Anthony Walker (25).
Also, longtime assistant coach Peter Parisi is now in his first year coaching at Rome Free Academy. Parisi helped orchestrate the state title defense and coached at BH-BL from 1998-2013.
“We had Pete with us for a long time,” Shell said. “He brought a lot of great attributes to our program, which we’ll miss, but he’s out in Utica coaching. We miss him from a coaching standpoint, but just from a personal standpoint he and I are pretty close. So, from that standpoint I miss him quite a bit as well.”
Dave Ball has since been brought up from JV to the varsity staff, joining Rick Snyder, Shawn Kline and Jason LaPietro.
The Spartans open up the regular season tonight at home against Scotia, who run their own version of the wing-T offense led by three-year varsity starting quarterback Dan Zeglen.
“It’s important that we do a good job at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” said Shell, in regards to tonight’s opener. “If we can be good at the line of scrimmage, it allows us to be competitive. I just want to see us be competitive there and fundamentally be sound. You get into the early games in the season and sometimes you overlook things like special teams. We don’t want a missed assignment on special teams. All those things really, that sometimes you don’t think about, like a kickoff return or a punt return. Especially early on in the season, sometimes it gets overlooked a little, so we’re making sure we do a good job preparing.”
