If Niskayuna makes the Section II, Class AA playoffs and Shaker doesn’t, both teams can look back at last Friday’s Liberty Division game as the reason why.
Pete Furey caught Danny Peters’ lob in the back corner of the end zone as time expired to give the Silver Warriors a 33-31 victory over the Blue Bison in Niskayuna.
The win gives Niskayuna a 2-2 league record with only winless Colonie left on its Liberty Division schedule, while Shaker falls to 1-1 in the league (1-3 overall) with games against LaSalle, Columbia and Schenectady to go.
We’re looking pretty good (for a playoff spot), but we’ve got to finish it, said Niskayuna coach John Furey. `The way I look at it is we’ve got nine weeks to play, which gives us nine opportunities to win, and I want to win every opportunity we get.`
Things looked bad for Niskayuna (2-2 overall) when Shaker’s Nick Huban plowed his way through the Silver Warrior defense for a 12-yard touchdown run with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. Luke Walsh added the extra point to give the visiting Blue Bison a 31-27 lead.
Two minutes was all Peters needed, though. He completed several passes to move Niskayuna down the field before connecting with Pete Furey as the clock ran out for the game-winning touchdown.
`Two minutes is a long time, and I felt pretty comfortable. We were in that spot against Columbia (in Week 1) and we came through,` said coach Furey. `And as I looked around at my players, they looked comfortable about the situation.`
`The Peters kid had a nice drive for a touchdown,` said Shaker coach Dennis Bender. `I’m not taking away anything from what Peters did but we didn’t do a good job of holding our tackles (on that drive).`
The final two minutes of the fourth quarter was a microcosm of the first half of the game. Every time Shaker marched down the field and scored, Niskayuna responded with a scoring drive of its own.
That pattern changed in the second half, though. Both teams made adjustments, with Shaker using more defensive backs to guard against Niskayuna’s passing attack and the Silver Warriors using their running backs more to maintain possession of the ball.
`We found a couple of things we could do on defense to slow them down, and they moved a few guys outside that enabled us to move the ball on the ground,` said Furey.
`We did move the ball, but we had a turnover on their 30-yard line (in the third quarter) after we had gotten a first down, and that hurt us because I believe we would have gone on to score,` said Bender.
Peters accounted for all of Niskayuna’s touchdowns as he threw two scoring strikes to Pete Furey and Kadeem Miller, as well as adding a two-yard touchdown run. Shaker’s Jeremy Pryor had a pair of touchdown runs one week after scoring four times in a 44-34 victory over Colonie.
Niskayuna and Shaker face tough opponents this week. The Silver Warriors host Guilderland in a Class AA crossover game, while the Blue Bison tackle unbeaten LaSalle.
`They’ve got very good running backs, and they’re huge up front ` on defense, anyway,` said coach Furey of Guilderland, which is coming off losses to Shenendehowa and Ballston Spa in which the Dutchmen led in the second half. `So, they present some challenges for us.`
`(LaSalle is) a very, very good team offensively, and don’t count them out defensively,` said Bender. `They’re solid on both sides of the ball.`
West Division showdown set
The Schalmont football team faces another big Class B West Division game Friday when it travels to defending Section II champion Cobleskill-Richmondville.
The Sabres (2-0 division, 3-1 overall) have a chance to clinch first place with a victory over the Bulldogs (1-1, 2-2). Schalmont remained perfect in divisional play with a 39-0 victory over Johnstown in Rotterdam, while Cobleskill is coming off a 26-7 loss to Hudson Falls.
The Sabres continued their impressive play on both sides of the ball against Johnstown. Tailback Vince Gallo had touchdown runs of 27, 26, 2 and 31 yards, and quarterback Kyle McKelvey added a 48-yard scoring strike to Ryan Hyde as Schalmont put the game out of reach early.
In Class A, Mohonasen travels to Scotia-Glenville Friday, with the winner earning its first Division I victory of the season. Troy shut out Mohonasen (0-3, 1-3) 48-0 last Friday, while Scotia-Glenville lost to Bishop Maginn 49-6.“