The Ballston Spa football team avenged last season’s 14-7 loss at Bethlehem with a 27-15 victory over the Eagles Friday in an Empire Division game.
Every time we come down here, it seems were in a dogfight. We know that (Bethlehem coach) Ron (Smith) is going to have his kids well prepared, and tonight was no different, Ballston Spa coach John Bowen said.
`I think Ballston Spa is a very good football team, and we always seem to match up well against them. But tonight, it was the big plays that hurt us,` Smith said.
The Scotties (2-0) escaped with the victory despite committing four turnovers, which Bethlehem was unable to capitalize on.
`I can sit here and point to the turnovers that we had or the lack of timeliness in the penalties that we had. But the bottom line is you make your own breaks, and you make your own luck,` Bowen said.
The Eagles (0-2) took an early 7-0 lead on a 12-yard run by Peter Berquist and an extra point by Sam Smith. The Scotties answered back on their next possession after quarterback Mark Seager found Steve Duncan for a 28 yard score. Jordan Kaplan’s extra point tied it at seven.
Bethlehem regained the lead in the second quarter after a booming punt from the Eagles’ 5-yard pinned Ballston Spa at its 10-yard line. The Scotties tried punting from their end zone four plays later, but the snap went over Kaplan’s head and out for a safety.
Ballston Spa’s offense took over in the second half due in large part to the running of Duncan and senior back Eric Marciano. Duncan and Marciano each had touchdown runs to put the Scotties ahead to stay. Marciano finished with 165 yards on 10 carries, while Duncan had 102 yards on six carries as the Scotties gained 314 yards on the ground.
`We had a couple costly turnovers in that second half, but they (Marciano and Duncan) took the team on their shoulders along with some other senior leaders. They really stepped their game up when we needed it and said ‘It’s not going to happen tonight,’` Bowen said.
The Scotties started the third quarter with a blocked punt, taking over at Bethlehem’s 28. Several plays later, Marciano took a pitch from Seager and barreled into the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown run. Kaplan’s extra point gave Ballston Spa a 14-9 advantage.
The Eagles answered with a score of their own just 1:02 later when Sean Murphy broke free and ran up the left sideline for a 64-yard touchdown. The two point conversion attempt failed, which left Bethlehem with a 15-14 lead.
Ballston Spa took the lead for good with 11 seconds left in the third quarter. The Scotties went for it on fourth-down-and-eight at the Bethlehem 30 and turned to Duncan, who took a pitch up the right sideline for his second touchdown. Kaplan’s extra point made it 21-15.
Marciano added his second touchdown with 6:20 left in the fourth quarter after he found a hole up the middle and ran 72 yards virtually untouched for the score.
Bethlehem’s offense fared better than it did against Queensbury in its season opener. The Eagles had 190 rushing yards rushing on 30 carries, while quarterback Randy Bowers completed 6 of 17 passes for 72 yards.
`We want to strive at getting better from week 1 offensively, and I think we did that tonight. It really hasn’t clicked for us yet. We have a new quarterback, and we’re still trying to find some receivers. It’s only two games, and from where our running game was last week, you have to be way happy,` Smith said.
Ballston Spa plays 2-0 Shenendehowa next week, while Bethlehem travels to 2-0 Guilderland.
`Starting off 2-0 puts us in a good position. We’re not putting ourselves in the playoffs right now by any stretch. We have a long way to go, and it doesn’t get any easier heading into next week (against Shen),` Bowen said.“