The Guilderland football team will get its chance to avenge its only loss of the season.
The Dutchmen (7-1) defeated Schenectady 32-13 Saturday at home to advance to Friday’s Section II, Class AA semifinal game against Ballston Spa, which defeated Troy 34-21 in the quarterfinals.
We lost up there (in Ballston Spa). Certainly, we’d like to show that we can cut down on our mistakes, said Guilderland coach Dan Penna. `Overall, we know that Ballston Spa will be tough and ready to play.`
The Dutchmen scored early and often in the first half against Schenectady (4-4). On the game’s first drive, Guilderland ate up 6:10 on the clock on 12 plays, culminating on quarterback Andrew Smith’s 1-yard touchdown leap to make the score 6-0.
Smith was a big part of Guilderland’s second scoring drive. He connected three times with Paul Malamood for 48 yards and added two runs to get the Dutchmen inside Schenectady’s 5-yard line. Tailback Paul Booker capped the series with a 4-yard touchdown run to put the Dutchmen ahead 12-0 with 7:50 left in the second quarter.
`We knew going into this game that maybe we wouldn’t break as many long (plays) given the team speed that Schenectady has on defense,` said Penna. `The offensive line ` especially on third downs ` really stepped up and gave Drew (Smith) great protection, and he found his receivers.`
Malamood came up with a big defensive play for Guilderland later in the second quarter when he intercepted Schenectady’s Nick Ottati and returned the ball to the Patriots’ 24-yard line. On the next play, Booker broke several tackles up the left sideline to get to Schenectady’s 1-yard line. Smith added his second 1-yard touchdown run after that and tacked on a two-point conversion run to make the score 20-0.
The Dutchmen ended their first half scoring outburst with 40 seconds left in the second quarter. Smith fielded a punt at his own 42-yard line and raced 58 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion failed, though, leaving Guilderland with a 26-0 halftime lead.
`When you go into halftime with a lead like that, you feel unstoppable like nothing will go wrong,` Smith said.
Schenectady scored twice in the second half to cut Guilderland’s lead in half. Ottati connected with Josh Mason on a 26-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter, and Ottati found Marcus Brandon for a 4-yard scoring strike early in the fourth quarter to make the score 26-13.
That was the last time Schenectady got into the end zone. Guilderland’s defense shut down the Patriots after that, and Booker added a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:47 left in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
`I’m really pleased and a bit surprised that we held them down as much as we did,` said Penna. `We knew that offensively Schenectady could strike, and we were able to shut them down for most of the game.`
Booker finished with 124 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns, while Smith completed five of six passes for 69 yards to lead Guilderland into its first Sectional semifinal in more than three decades. Ottati threw for 123 yards, but Schenectady’s leading rusher, Marc Thompson, was limited to 78 yards on 15 carries.
`We knew coming in that they had some big playmakers, but defensively we feel that we’re a pretty strong football team,` said Penna. `We knew if we could break down on tackles, contain Thompson and play solid coverage, we could hold them down some.“