SCOTIA — One quarterback excelled, and another one never got a chance to on Friday night in a key Class B league football matchup between Lansingburgh and host Scotia-Glenville.
Logan Hardt ran for a touchdown and passed for two more in leading the Knights to a 20-6 win that left them in control of their playoff destiny, while putting the Tartans in an unenviable spot.
“He’s been huge for us for the last couple of years, and not just on the field, but in the weight room and in the community,” Lansingburgh coach Jeff Pasinella said of Hardt, who bullied for yards while displaying a strong and accurate arm. “He’s really a great kid. He had a great night.”
Hardt’s senior counterpart, Scotia-Glenville quarterback Bryce Layton, was sacked and knocked out of the game with a shoulder sprain on his team’s second drive. Layton had played a huge role in putting the Tartans in control of their own playoff destiny heading into Friday’s matchup with the Knights. That is no longer the case.
“The injury to our quarterback early ended up being devastating,” Scotia-Glenville coach Bob Leto said. “That cut our playbook in half.”
Tartans’ JV quarterback Austin Stark led the hosts to their lone touchdown late in the fourth quarter after Hardt’s strong effort had helped give the Knights all the points they needed beforehand. The outcome left both teams 4-3 in the league as they vie for the Class B No. 4 seed with one league game remaining.
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“This makes next week a big game,” Pasinella said after his Knights notched their third straight victory and ended the Tartans’ two-game win streak. “We haven’t been to the playoffs in six years. The kids are hungry.”
Lansingburgh now owns the head-to-head tie-breaker with Scotia-Glenville and can clinch a playoff berth with a win over Schalmont next week in its final Class B league game. Scotia-Glenville would need a Lansingburgh loss and a win over Class B front-runner Glens Falls in its last league game in Week 8 to make the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
“We could have locked it up,” Leto said.
Lansingburgh had other plans.
“All week long, we were thinking about how are we going to beat these guys and put ourselves in a good position to make the playoffs,” Hardt said. “We knew how important a win would be.”
Hardt ran 4 yards for a second-quarter touchdown and found Isaiah Allison with a 20-yard scoring pass one drive later. In the fourth quarter, Hardt threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Anthony Huff in the end zone. That play came on fourth-and-goal.
“We were on the 2-yard line and hurt ourselves with some penalties,” Pasinella said of the third touchdown play. “That was such a huge play.”
Hardt had set that touchdown up when he collected the second interception off of Stark at midfield and raced to the 9.
Hardt ran 27 times for 93 yards and was 6-for-8 passing for 70 yards.
“He had a great game when it was on the line,” Leto said. “We did a good job of swarming him, but he got chunks when he needed them.”
“It all starts with the offensive line. They get it going, but the whole team played well,” Hardt said. “We played well on offense and defense.”
Lansingburgh had put up 41 points against Cohoes and 28 points against Green Tech in its previous two wins.
“We would have liked a better outcome, but I’m proud of our kids. They fought hard,” Leto said. “Lansingburgh is a quality team and we held them to 20 points.”
Huff also had an interception for the Knights, and Noah Murdock blocked an extra-point attempt after Mark Taylor reversed field and ran 6 yards for Scotia-Glenville’s touchdown with just over two minutes to go. Jack Taylor helped set that TD up with a 28-yard run and a 5-yard run on a fourth-and-four play.
Nick Coons led the Tartans’ ground attack with 78 yards on 15 carries. Gianni Gragnano added 30 yards on 10 carries for the Knights.
“We were able to establish our running game,” Pasinella said. “We controlled the clock. The guys wanted to keep pounding.”
Lansingburgh 0 14 0 6 — 20
Scotia-Glenville 0 0 0 6 — 6
L — Hardt 4 run (Esposito kick)
L — Allison 20 pass from Hardt (Esposito kick)
L — Huff 19 pass from Hardt (kick failed)
SG — M. Taylor 6 run (kick blocked)
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Categories: -Sports-, High School Sports, Scotia Glenville, Sports
