Story and photo by: Aidan Joly
Needing a win to secure a playoff berth and a sense of security for the rest of the season, Saratoga did just that in their 14-0 shutout over CBA on Friday night in Albany.
In the late stages of the game, CBA looked to be ready to make a comeback and get back into the game. However, Saratoga was not going to let that happen. Late in the fourth quarter, the Blue Streak defensive line came up huge not once, but twice—sacking CBA quarterback Ben Truchard on two separate occasions to keep the shutout, and more importantly the win, intact.
“Every game, game in and game out, we hit. And that’s why we won tonight, we hit harder than them,” defensive lineman Kevin Toote said.
It could be seen in the first quarter that the Saratoga defense showed up. They picked up two CBA fumbles in the first quarter alone, and Christian Kondo tacked on an interception deep in the red zone late in the third quarter for the Blue Streaks.
“They’ve been doing it all year. We’ve had defensive touchdowns. The defense has just been playing outstanding, I give (defensive coordinator) Jon Coons and (assistant coaches) Eric Hayden and Rich Lofink a lot of credit for the work they’re doing over there on the defensive side,” Saratoga head coach Terry Jones said of his defensive players.
On offense, it took 11 plays for Saratoga to find the end zone on their initial drive, ended by a 15-yard pass to Lewi Clarke to put the Blue Streaks up seven just over five minutes into the game. That drive featured 10 of those 11 plays being running plays. They did not score again until the final minute of the first half when quarterback Wes Eglintine found Carter Steingraber for a 24-yard touchdown to put Saratoga up by two touchdowns, a score that did not change for the remainder of the evening.
Jones added of the running game early on, “It’s important for our kids to experience that and gain some momentum, gain some positive thoughts there, and hopefully wear (the opposition) down a little bit. As it turns out, it was one of the best drives of the game that we had.”
With the win, Saratoga improves to 4-0 on the season and clinches a berth in the playoffs after missing them last year.
“We don’t even talk about last year, but we’re not going to make excuses. We had a lot of kids that unfortunately we had plans for and very early in the season we didn’t have them anymore. It’s part of the game. We don’t talk about it anymore, because it doesn’t matter,” Jones said.
Saratoga will play again on Thursday, September 28, taking on Ballston Spa on the road before returning home on Friday, October 6, for homecoming festivities facing Albany. Both of those games will begin at 7 p.m.
CBA is now 2-2 on the year. They will also play again Thursday, on the road against Albany and will be back home on October 6, against Guilderland, with both games set for 7 p.m. start times.