Football: Saratoga falls to Aquinas in state final

Monday, November 30, 2015 by Aidan Joly

With the state title on the line, Saratoga’s defense would buckle, and that would prove to be the deciding factor at the Carrier Dome on Sunday.

The Aquinas Little Irish defeated the Blue Streaks in the 2015 Class AA state final yesterday at the stadium in Syracuse.

“This is how they play. When they’re loose, they respond, and they played great tonight. I’m very proud and happy for them.” Aquinas head coach Chris Battaglia said of his team’s performance.

Aquinas cashed in early in the game, behind a huge game from wide receiver Earnest Edwards, who scored a 75-yard receiving touchdown less than four minutes into the game. He then added two more in the first quarter alone. He would end with five touchdowns for himself on the afternoon.

“I knew this was my last game, so I tried to give it my all,” Edwards said. “We enjoy every minute of it.”

The first half proved to be all Little Irish, as they went into the locker room at halftime with a 34-0 lead. The luck of the Irish would continue in the second half, as Edwards recorded an interception four and a half minutes into the second half. Aquinas would capitalize on the turnover, scoring a touchdown about a minute later on a nine yard pass to Tyler Olbrich to put them up 41-0.

“You can tell when certain players are clicking. You can tell when Earnest is clicking when he’s running by the whole team,” Aquinas quarterback Jake Zembiec said.

The Little Irish would add a field goal to make it 44-0 later in the third quarter. Zembiec was taken out of the game for good with just under ten minutes left in the game after an incredible performance, going 18/23 for 463 yards and five touchdowns in his final high school game.

“We’re really excited. It kind of stinks when you’re out by the second half, but we’re excited to hold the trophy,” he said.

Battaglia was very proud of his team for their win.

“They came out and felt they could squat us,” Battaglia said. “And we just played really well today.”

Saratoga would tack on 19 points in the fourth quarter on two passing touchdowns from Brian Williams, and a blocked punt return touchdown from Lukas Carlson.

“It’s great for Saratoga, but we have to finish the job. Maybe someone can come from behind and do the job for us,” Williams said.

Saratoga will be without star senior players Dakota Harvey, Brian Williams and Ryan Manlapaz next season, so they will need to retool for next season in those positions.

“We got beat. And if you want to lose a football game, you want to get beat. You don’t want to make mistakes, and walk off the field saying ‘if we had done this we would have only done that’, I mean, we got beat today.” Saratoga head coach Terry Jones said.

Aquinas has won their 7th Class AA state title in school history, and second in the past three years. They finish the season 13-0, and Saratoga will finish the season 12-1.

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