SARATOGA SPRINGS — After winning the program’s first playoff game since 2009, Saratoga Springs football will have to knock off the defending Section II Class AA champions to have their own shot at a title.
To do that, they know they will have to take better care of the ball at No. 1L Shaker (7-1).
Coming out of the gates hot with a 41-6 lead at the beginning of the third quarter last week against No. 3L La Salle (4-4), the Blue Streaks watched as the Cadets crept back with 14 at 41-27.
In Saratoga Springs’ five second half possessions, they had a touchdown, three turnovers and a touchdown before sealing the victory at 48-27. Two of those turnovers were deep into La Salle territory and resulted in touchdowns.
“We can’t turn the ball over like we did last week,” said Blue Streaks head coach Terry Jones. “We stopped ourselves.”
The week before that, Saratoga Springs came out with a 24-0 halftime lead in Guilderland before giving up 12 unanswered points in the third quarter.
But this week, the Streaks (7-1) go on the road to face a balanced Shaker team. Unlike keying in on a pass combo such as Guilderland’s Jacob Smith and Frank Gallo, or La Salle’s Will Williams and Dylan Thompson, Jones and his team will have to cover all angles.
“You really can’t key in on one kid with their offense,” Jones said. “They move the ball around so much and they’re pretty balanced with the run and pass, so you just have to play solid fundamental defense. I know it’s cliché but it’s really true with a team like Shaker because we knew going into La Salle that they were going to target No. 1 (Thompson, Section II leading receiver) and unfortunately against us at times they had success doing it.”
The Streaks were close to hosting a second home game this postseason, after Shaker almost blew a lead of their own against No. 4E Shenendehowa (5-3) last Friday. After being up 20-7 heading into the fourth quarter, the Blue Bison found themselves trailing 21-20 with just a minute and a half remaining. But kicker Will Halpin proved to be the team’s savior with what ended up being a 37-yard game-winning field goal.
“It would have been nice to play at home, but I’m never a big fan of playing a team a second time, especially when you’ve won the first time (Shen),” Jones said. “Too many times it doesn’t work out in your favor. The kids take the team lightly or whatever. We’re very up to the challenge of going to Shaker. They’re the defending Section II champs and the saying is, ‘If you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best,’ and I think that’s our kids’ mentality: ‘Hey let’s go beat the best.’”
The last time the Streaks played the Blue Bison was in a 2010 crossover game.
Although Jones acknowledged how his team has punched teams in the mouth early in almost every game, except the Christian Brothers Academy loss, he doesn’t think it’s something the team necessarily has to do. Not turning the ball over remains the highest priority.
“If we don’t turn the ball over, our kids are going to put points on the board,” Jones said, mentioning the consistent trio of Jordan Wilcox, Dakota Harvey and Jake Eglintine, who rushed for a combined 400 yards and five touchdowns last week.
Harvey, who had two fumbles in quarterfinal, also had a pick-six in the first half after what was a fluid Cadets drive into Blue Streaks territory. Instead of possibly tying the score at 14 apiece, the interception for a Streaks’ score led to a 27-0 run that put the game away. Aside from that, he still led the team with 165 yards on the ground.
“Our backs put a lot of pressure on themselves,” Jones said. “If you were to ask Dakota what he thought about his play, he would probably say he wasn’t happy because of the two turnovers. That doesn’t take away from the positive things that he did, but there’s nothing wrong with that mentality. A lot of these guys, the things they focus on are the things they know they can get better at, as opposed to the things they do well. The things they do well they just go out and do them. It’s the things they don’t do well that they work at to make themselves even better football players.”
After putting the first win since 2009 behind him, Jones doesn’t really see it as a monkey-off-the-back situation. Just a new time and an opportunity to do what the Blue Streaks did in 2009—claim a Section II title.
“What happened in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 has absolutely no bearing on their ability and level of play,” Jones said. “Some of the seniors who have been here for three years were very determined to make it to this point. These are goals that they’ve set. Once you meet a goal, you start a new goal. That’s what we’ve done. Now the goal is to go on the road to win a playoff game and get to the finals. If we play to our ability, we can play with anybody.”
Tonight’s Week 9 semifinal game starts at 7 p.m. for a chance to play the winner of No. 1E CBA (7-1) and No. 2E Guilderland (6-2), as the Dutchmen look to avenge a 40-6 Week 6 loss to the Brothers.
