Friday, October 3, 2014 by Aidan Joly
It was a night to remember for Justin Degener in a huge win for the Streaks.
The Saratoga Blue Streaks varsity football team defeated the Albany High School Falcons Thursday night at Saratoga Springs High School by a score of 59-14.
Junior receiver Justin Degener, playing quarterback for the first time in his career, ran for two touchdowns late in the second quarter and early in the third, and was a key contributor in the Streaks’ big win.
“I came into this week not knowing what I was going to do, and coach asked me early in the week if I wanted to play quarterback and I agreed because playing time’s playing time,” Degener said after the game.
Degener said of his performance, “The momentum that we carried through practice all these weeks and they wanted everybody to score and they wanted everybody to play.”
“Justin is a good athlete,” captain Griffin Clancy said of Degener. “We even struggled to tackle him in practice.”
Saratoga started off the night with a bang, with Nick Anderson intercepting Albany quarterback Tysheem Morris’ first pass on Albany’s first play of the game, ending with a 53 yard touchdown pass from Brian Williams to Luke Thompson but without an extra point, making it 6-0 Streaks just 17 seconds in.
After the early score, the Streaks didn’t look back for the entire first half, and the score was 32-0 Streaks after 12 minutes and then 53-0 at the half.
Early in the second half, an early score made it 59-0, and that would be the last time the Streaks would put points on the scoreboard.
Coach Terry Jones said of the offensive performance, “We were able to spread the ball around, get a lot of guys into the end zone and we were able to get a lot of guys onto the field, a lot of guys who haven’t seen a lot of playing time, some deserving time on the field.”
The Falcons finally got on the board late in the third quarter, then scored again about halfway through the fourth quarter, ending up with 14 points on the board when all was said and done at the end of the game.
After the Falcons’ two scores late in the game when the Streaks already led by a wide margin, applause was heard from the Saratoga side.
All 32 players dressed for the Blue Streaks Thursday night got into the game, according to Clancy. In Saratoga’s huge first half, where they got 53 of their 59 points, more than 300 yards were gained by the Blue Streak offense.
Saratoga is now 3-2 on the season after the win. They are undefeated at home, where they will be again next Friday night as they take on CBA in the homecoming game at 7 p.m.
Week 5 statewide results from the New York State Sportswriters Association
The Lightning Rod Sports: Scoreboard – Schedule
Aidan Joly is a freshman covering sports for The Lightning Rod.