The Shaker football team wasn’t going to the Section II, Class AA playoffs, so it decided to make a statement against a team that was going to Sectionals as a No. 1 seed.
Quarterback Mark Ambrosio passed for 139 yards and rushed for 58 yards including the clinching touchdown to lead the Blue Bison past previously-undefeated Schenectady 17-7 in last Friday’s Liberty Division game.
The kids worked hard they worked hard all week,` said Shaker coach Dennis Bender. `They had something to prove to themselves, to the school and to everybody.`
Shaker’s defense ` a unit that had been prone to giving up big plays in previous weeks ` prevented Schenectady (4-1 division, 6-1 overall) from gaining any momentum. Though the Blue Bison (2-3, 2-5) gave up 109 rushing yards to Schenectady tailback Mark Thompson, they limited him to an average of five yards per carry. And they never let quarterback Nick Ottati get into a rhythm, as Ottati completed only five of his 19 passes for 92 yards.
`I had to challenge the kids,` said Bender. `I said that if we stopped Thompson and stopped the run, they’d have to go up top (with passes). So, they did a great job of stopping the run.`
Neither team got into the end zone in the first half. The only scoring came courtesy of a Luke Walsh 22-yard field goal in the first quarter that put Shaker ahead 3-0.
It took a fumbled punt return to set up the game’s first touchdown. Eric Sicko’s punt bounced off the arms of a Schenectady player, and the Blue Bison recovered the ball deep in Patriots’ territory. A short time later, tailback Jeremy Pryor scored on an 11-yard run, and Walsh added the extra point to give Shaker a 10-0 lead.
`I almost went for it on fourth down (before punting the ball), but I said that our defense was playing well,` said Bender. `I wanted to pin them deep, and we wound up with the ball.`
Ottati capped Schenectady’s next series with a five-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to get the Patriots on the scoreboard, but Ambrosio orchestrated his own scoring drive. The senior quarterback mixed the run with some well-timed passes before taking off on a 39-yard touchdown run to re-establish Shaker’s 10-point lead.
`Mark drove us down the field, got us into great field position and then that (quarterback) option ` that was a great effort on his part,` said Bender.
Schenectady tried to get into the end zone one more time, but Shaker’s defense held firm to seal the victory and propel the Blue Bison into their crossover game against Guilderland Friday.
`The kids finally got it, and now they’re on a roll,` said Bender. `Unfortunately, we’re on a roll into a crossover game, not Sectionals.`
Though Shaker won’t be in the Section II playoffs, beating Schenectady is an achievement the Blue Bison can build on.
`There is a hole in everybody’s stomach about this season, and this win shrunk that hole,` said Bender. `We’re going to try to finish the season really strong.`
CBA, Colonie meet
Colonie and Christian Brothers Academy will meet each other in another Class AA crossover game Friday.
Colonie (0-5, 1-6) earned its first win of the season last Saturday by beating winless Albany 45-28, while CBA (1-5, 1-6) fell to Bethlehem 35-7 last Friday.
Quarterback Paul Nylin was the star for Colonie against Albany. Nylin threw four touchdown passes and rushed for another as the Garnet Raiders put together their best offensive output of the season.
CBA scored the first touchdown of the game against Bethlehem before the Eagles (4-2, 4-3) went on a 35-0 run to pull away for the victory. Quarterback Andrew Vivian reached the end zone on a five-yard run in the first quarter for the Brothers.“