Saturday, October 17, 2015 by Aidan Joly
Standing one win away from an undefeated season, Saratoga knew that they had to come out strong to pull off something special.
Saratoga football defeated Ballston Spa on Friday night in the 2015 homecoming game by a score of 47-13.
Dakota Harvey had yet another spectacular game, rushing for over 200 yards and scoring three touchdowns.
“It definitely put the momentum on our side, it feels great to get off early and we didn’t look back from there,” Harvey said after the game.
Harvey would tally the first of his three touchdowns five minutes into the game to give the Streaks the first lead of the game, and would add another in the second quarter.
Ballston Spa first got on the board with just under five and a half minutes to play in the first half on an eight yard touchdown, but Brandon Hipsley would return the ball back for 70 yards on the kickoff to the end zone to make it 21-7.
Just minutes later, he would intercept a pass from Scotties quarterback Ryan Reed, which that drive would result in another Saratoga touchdown during the second quarter, and Saratoga went into the locker room with a 27-7 lead.
“We’ve said it all year long, we’ve got some really good weapons on offense, and when we’re able to get them involved, it makes calling plays easy.” Head coach Terry Jones said.
The last Saratoga score came late in the third quarter, on an 80-yard touchdown run from Harvey with just under four minutes left in that quarter.
Saratoga finishes the regular season with a 7-0 record, going undefeated for the first time since 1995, according to Jones.
Jones said of his team’s undefeated campaign, “It feels great. The goal going into the season is every time you have an opponent on your schedule, you want to win the game, and that’s what we’ve been able to do so far.”
The game was also senior night, and seniors Brian Williams, Luke Thompson, Ryan Manlapaz, Billy Barber, Brandon Hipsley, Nick Kondo, Justin Degener, Nick Biasetti, Dakota Harvey, Richard Cholnoky, Patrick Capone, Ben Osborn, Matt Seehusen, Zack Frank, Robert Haughton, Cory McArthur, Treyvon Swann, Zack Regels, Bryan Bochette, Griffin Potter, Spencer Wickert, Lukas Carlson and Thomas Conboy were all recognized before the game.
Saratoga is the Empire Divison champion going into playoffs, which will start next Friday, October 23. It is unknown who the Blue Streaks will play, or where the game will be, pending Section 2 seeding scheduled for Monday morning.
Aidan Joly is a sophomore covering sports for The Lightning Rod.
Photos are by Rachel Waldholz and Eli Fisher. Video is by Anna Sorensen. Click on any image for full size.
