When Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake fumbled the ball away on its second play and South Glens Falls quickly scored, the Spartans kept their cool, and kept a sectional winning streak alive.
“We’ve got good leadership on this team,” senior defensive back Danny Dahlin said after he picked off a pass and recovered a fumble in the Spartans’ 57-27 Class A quarterfinal victory. “Every single time we face adversity, we get back up.”
Friday night’s win was Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s fourth in a row since its only loss against Averill Park, and maybe the most impressive of them all. The Spartans had the game well in hand after scorching the Bulldogs for three touchdowns in the final four minutes of the second quarter to go up 36-7.
“The fumble was on me. I made a bad call and South Glens Falls scored,” Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake coach Matt Shell said. “To their credit, they answered in a good way. It was nice to get some momentum.”
Jacob Stanko scored on a pair of first-quarter runs, and Darien LaPietro capped the second-quarter outburst with touchdown passes to Michael LeVan and Jackson Lindberg. In between them, Vincent Daviero broke off the first of his three long scoring runs.
“I thought we showed good energy bouncing back,” Daviero, a junior, said after his eight-carry, 221-yard rushing effort that included scoring jaunts in the third quarter that covered 61 and 43 yards. “Every since we were freshmen, we’ve been good at that.”
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s effective play on both sides of the line was a significant factor in its 11th sectional quarterfinal win in as many years. The streak began in 2006 with a 50-0 thumping of South Glens Falls, and continued with another solid triumph against the Bulldogs (Northwest No. 3 seed, 3-5).
“South Glens Falls is real physical,” Shell said. “They come off the ball well. We had to try to control the line of scrimmage.”
For the most part, the Spartans did.
“Our line is very good,” Daviero said of the Spartans’ offensive cast. “No hole, there’s nothing you can do.”
Stanko ran 11 times for 133 yards, and LaPietro was an efficient 5-for-7 passing for 80 yards. The sophomore quarterback hit Lindberg with a 17-yard scoring pass in the final moments of the second quarter two plays after Dahlin’s fumble recovery at the Bulldogs’ 24.
Daviero had raced 75 yards for a touchdown shortly before.
“That second quarter was a good mix on offense, our defense was rallying to the ball, and our special teams were good,” Shell said.
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (Southeast No. 2 seed, 7-1) will play the winner of today’s Mohonasen (Southeast No. 4) at Queensbury (Northwest, No. 1) game next weekend in the semifinals. The Spartans will either travel to Queensbury Saturday or host Mohonasen Friday.
“They understood that this was potentially our last home game,” Shell said. “They wanted to do a good job.”
Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake saw its hopes for a 10th straight Super Bowl appearance dashed in last year’s semifinals, when Amsterdam posted a 37-7 victory on the way to the Section II title.
“That stung,” Dahlin said. “We don’t want that to happen again.”
Shell figures his team will get a stiffer test in Week 9.
“Queensbury, they’re good, and Mohonasen is so dynamic with [standout running back Ryan] Deguire,” Shell said. “You’ve got to play well. In the semifinals you’re always going to face someone real good.”
Dylan Schramel, Kevin Mickel, Will Jennings and Ryan Winkleman scored touchdowns for South Glens Falls. Schramel scored on an
11-yard run two plays after Marcus Blair recovered a fumble by LaPietro at the Spartans 15 early in the first quarter. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake scored on its next two drives, on one and three-yard runs by Stanko.
Dalin’s interception in the second quarter led to LaPietro’s 36-yard scoring pass to LeVan.
“We prepared very hard this week,” Dahlin said. “We had some of our best practices and watched a lot of film.”
Jeremy Clayton joined Dahlin as a BH-BL defensive star with eight tackle. Mickel and Schramel ran for 92 and 89 yards, respectively.
SGF 7 0 14 6 — 27
BH-BL 14 22 14 7 — 57
SGF — Schramel 11 run (Steves kick)
BH — Stanko 1 run (McCormick kick)
BH — Stanko 3 run (McCormick kick)
BH — LeVan 36 pass from LaPietro (Shaw run)
BH — Daviero 75 run (McCormick kick)
BH — Lindberg 17 pass from LaPietro (McCormick kick)
BH — Daviero 31 run (McCormick kick)
SGF — Mickel 2 run (run failed)
BH — Daviero 43 run (McCormick kick)
SGF — Jennings 17 run (Schramel run)
BH — Hopsicker 1 run (McCormick kick)
SGF — Winkleman 23 run (kick failed)
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Categories: High School Sports, Sports
