Saturday, October 24, 2015 by Aidan Joly
Now in the playoffs, even after a 7-0 regular season, Saratoga knew that they needed to play just a bit better to win a big game.
Saratoga defeated Bethlehem on Friday night in the first round of sectional playoffs by a score of 41-13, after another big night for Saratoga’s offense.
“A lot of credit goes to our offensive line.” Saratoga head coach Terry Jones said.
Dakota Harvey had another huge game on the offensive side of the ball, scoring five touchdowns, all rushing.
“I just saw green and ran where I could and was fortunate enough to get in the end zone.” Harvey said.
Harvey put Saratoga on the board first with a 10-yard touchdown run with just under nine minutes remaining in the first quarter. After he scored another rushing touchdown and Ryan Manlapaz tacked on a 53-yard touchdown run, Saratoga had jumped out to a 21-6 lead after 12 minutes had been played.
“Overall, as a team, I thought we played real well,” Jones said.
Harvey put down two more runs into the end zone in the second quarter, to make it 34-6 as the teams headed for the locker rooms at halftime. He tallied his fifth and final score early in the third quarter. Jones then took out his starters, and put sophomore quarterback Wes Eglintine in the game.
“We wanted to get him out there with the starting offensive line and just get him some reps and get him some experience.” Jones said.
A key player that Saratoga got back was senior wide receiver Luke Thompson, who played in his first game since Week One of the season after going down with a lower body injury.
Harvey said of Thompson’s return, “It just makes things even easier for us. We’ve got Nick Kondo on the other side, him on the right side, and it just makes things a lot easier.”
Jones would say later that the Saratoga student section was a large source of pride for the team this season.
“I love the fact that they’re out here early, every home game they’re been out here early, because that never used to be the case, and these players feed off those fans.”
After a Shenendehowa win versus Columbia on Friday, Saratoga will play Shen in a semifinal game on Friday with a trip to the section final on the line. That game will be played at Saratoga Springs High School, and is set to begin at 7 p.m.