Story and photo by: Aidan Joly
Holding down a pass-friendly Guilderland, Saratoga’s defense stepped up as they defeated the Dutchmen on Friday night at Saratoga Springs High School by a final score of 32-12.
Saratoga jumped out to an early lead thanks to the ground game being a mainstay in the offense, leading to a touchdown late in the first quarter on an 11-yard run from Cam Adams. On the third play of the ensuing drive, Guilderland quarterback Mason Leto threw an interception, and two Saratoga plays later, Blue Streak QB Wes Eglintine pushed it in to make it 12-0.
The Blue Streaks, however, were not done there. Chris Klimek had a pick-six on the first play of the next Guilderland drive to make it 19-0, racking up three Saratoga touchdowns in less than two minutes.
“Normally when you get up on a team, you know you’re going to get them into throwing the football, but (Guilderland) throws the football anyway,” Jones said. “I still didn’t feel comfortable (being up 19-0), because they can score so quickly. They have some weapons.”
Throughout the entire first half, Saratoga used their running backs as well as quarterback runs to move across the field, mainly Adams and Eglintine, making the Blue Streaks tough to handle for a defense. The duo combined for 207 rush yards for Saratoga.
“That’s what they do. Cam’s a house back there. He’s so in shape and so physically strong and just runs hard, and Wes is the same way. They’re big-time weapons for us, to be able to physically run the ball like that inside,” Jones said.
Saratoga scored two more touchdowns later in the game, a 29-yard rush touchdown and a 9-yard rush into the end zone, both coming from Eglintine.
Guilderland scored a pair of touchdowns, the first one coming mid-second quarter on a four-yard rush from Jared Schwartz and the second coming on a rush from seven yards away from Joe Park with under five minutes remaining.
Saratoga improves to 3-0 with the win, starting with this record for the second time in three years. They will be back in action on Friday, September 23 on the road against CBA. That game will begin at 7 p.m. They return home on Friday, October 6 as they face Albany, with another 7 p.m. start time.
Guilderland falls to 0-3, a tough start for them. They will be home next week taking on Ballston Spa. That game is also set for a start time of 7 p.m.