Once Guilderland’s offense got going, it was difficult for Niskayuna to keep up.
The Dutchmen scored three touchdowns in the second half on their way to a 26-6 victory over the Silver Warriors in last Thursday’s class AA Division I game at Niskayuna.
We were really pleased coming out with a win because it’s dangerous playing a team that hasn’t won yet and is hungry for a win, said Guilderland coach Dan Penna.
Niskayuna (0-4) struck first when Danny Peters connected with Chris Okonski on a 54-yard touchdown pass early in the first quarter. But from that point on, Guilderland’s defense kept Niskayuna’s aerial attack in check, limiting the Silver Warriors to 45 passing yards.
`You always have to guard the big play against them, and I think we did a good job of containing their passing attack,` said Penna.
`We moved the ball at times,` said Niskayuna coach John Furey. `We had some movement to midfield, but not much after that.`
Guilderland (3-1) used a big play of its own to take the lead. Facing a third down and long situation at the Dutchmen’s 15-yard line, quarterback Greg Barcomb found Nick Ranalli over the middle. Ranalli hauled in Barcomb’s near midfield and raced the rest of the way for an 85-yard touchdown. Nick Zanotta added the extra point to put Guilderland ahead 7-6.
The Dutchmen had a golden opportunity later in the first quarter to extend their lead. Niskayuna had a bad snap on a punt deep in its end, and wound up turning the ball over at its own 11 yard line. However, Guilderland couldn’t take advantage and gave the ball back to Niskayuna on downs.
The Dutchmen didn’t find the end zone again until the end of the third quarter. Josh Sawyer capped a long Guilderland drive with a 4-yard touchdown run, and Zanotta kicked his second extra point to put the Dutchmen ahead 14-6.
Guilderland capitalized on two more long drives in the fourth quarter. Andrew Smith scored on a 22-yard run to increase the Dutchmen’s lead to 20-6, and Kevin Forbes added a 1-yard touchdown plunge for the final six points of the game.
Barcomb threw for 130 yards, and six players combined to rush for more than 140 yards to help Guilderland bounce back from its first loss of the season one week earlier against Columbia.
`It was a game of two halves,` said Penna. `The first half, we were misfiring on offense like we did (against Columbia), and Niskayuna played good defense. But as the second half wore on, we started running the ball better.`
`Our defense was on the field a lot,` said Furey. `They wore down a little bit, but they did play well.`
Guilderland hosts Saratoga Friday in a battle of the top two teams in Division I, while Niskayuna visits Shaker.
`The biggest thing is we need to take care of business against Saratoga because we have two really good opponents coming up (with Queensbury following on Oct. 7),` said Penna. `We’re going to have to play our best game in order to have a chance to beat (Saratoga).`
`Shaker is a very tough team inside,` said Furey. `We’d like to establish something inside, but obviously we have to get out to the perimeters (with our offense).“