Story and photo by: Aidan Joly
Despite it being a game that did not count towards postseason seedings, Saratoga made sure they finished the season strong, trouncing La Salle in Troy on Friday night by a final score of 40-7.
The game entered the second quarter tied up at seven apiece, and that was when the Blue Streaks began rolling through the Cadet defense. Ashton Capone promptly ran for two touchdowns during the second quarter followed up by a Nick Frank touchdown to put the Streaks up by 19. However, they were not done there. Carter Steingraber scored his second touchdown of the night in the final seconds of the quarter to make it 33-7 Saratoga at the break, outscoring La Salle 26-0 in the span of 12 minutes.
“(Our) linemen up front were doing a great job of communicating with each other. (La Salle’s) touchdown in the first quarter, our two defensive backs got caught in two different coverages, one was in man and one was in zone. It happens, but it’s something we need to clean up. I thought the offensive line did a great job,” Saratoga head coach Terry Jones said.
Saratoga put points on the board first with a six-yard pass touchdown for Steingraber’s first touchdown of the night to give the Blue Streaks the first lead of the evening. A little over three minutes later La Salle tied it up via a 26-yard score from the hands of QB Dermot McDonaugh to Tyree Gonzales. That evened up the game but eventually proved to be La Salle’s only score of the game.
“We just drove down field, Wes (Eglintine) threw it up to me, got it, came down with it and then we let them score. We started slow but then Coach Jones talked to us, did a great job pumping us up and we kept working,” Steingraber said.
Saratoga tacked on their final touchdown of the night midway through the third quarter on a five-yard rush from Avery Mickle that made it 40-7.
The Blue Streaks finish the regular season at an undefeated 7-0, the second time in three years the program has done so. They will begin their Section II playoff run at home against Bethlehem on Friday, October 20. That game will begin at 7 p.m.
“It’s a great accomplishment. It certainly doesn’t happen very often to get to this point. We’re extremely proud of the kids and the way they’ve played. One thing we’ve mentioned to them, take every game one game at a time, and I think they did that,” Jones said.
La Salle finishes the season at 1-6, missing the playoffs. They will play a crossover game against another nonplayoff team; however, the opponent and location is yet to be determined.