It wasn’t a typical Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake football team victory, but it was still a historic victory.
Paul Layton scored the go-ahead points with 1:15 left in the fourth quarter, and Jacob Meyers recovered a fumble with 10 seconds left to give the Spartans a 14-13 victory over Section IX champion Nyack in last Friday’s Class A state semifinals at Kingston’s Dietz Stadium.
As a result, BH-BL (12-0) advances to the program’s first state championship game Saturday against Section VI champion Sweet Home at Syracuse University’s Carrier Dome.
I’m kind of speechless right now, said BH-BL coach Matt Shell. `It’s an honor to represent the school, Burnt Hills and Section II.`
It appeared that BH-BL’s dream of a state final appearance was going to end midway through the fourth quarter. After the Spartans tied the game at 7 on a Brandon Beatty touchdown run and a Layton extra point, Nyack’s Francis Stewart returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown. The Indians (10-2) missed the extra point, though, which left the Spartans with a 13-7 deficit and 4:46 on the clock.
That proved to be enough time for Layton. Using both his arm and his feet, the senior quarterback guided BH-BL down the field to Nyack’s 7-yard line. From there, Layton tucked the ball under his arm, cut through a hole on the left side of Nyack’s defensive line and bulldozed his way into the end zone to tie the game at 13.
`I was supposed to go right, but it looked stuffed. So, I cut back to the left,` said Layton.
There was still the matter of the extra point ` not always a given in high school football. But Layton easily kicked the ball through the uprights to give BH-BL a 14-13 lead.
Nyack gave itself a chance to win the game in the closing seconds. Indians quarterback Raymond Nichols completed a pair of passes to get inside BH-BL’s 30-yard line with 18 seconds left.
But BH-BL’s defense ` which shut down Nyack’s attack for much of the second half ` came up with one more big play. Meyers and Zach Morton rushed Nichols as he dropped back to pass. Morton knocked the ball out of Nichols’ hands, and Meyers fell on it to grab the turnover and seal BH-BL’s victory.
The first half played out the opposite of the fourth quarter. Nyack caught the first break when it intercepted a Layton pass. A short time later, senior fullback Anthony Davis found a seam down the right sideline and rumbled his way 28 yards for a touchdown to put the Indians ahead 7-0.
The rest of the first half was a defensive showcase for Nyack, as it limited BH-BL to less than 100 net yards of offense ` the first time that’s happened to the Spartans all season.
BH-BL’s defense also rose to the occasion, though. The Spartans stopped several Nyack drives to keep the deficit at 7-0 entering halftime.
`The defense was put in some tough spots, and to keep it 7-0 was a great credit to the kids,` said Shell.
`We got shut down offensively in the first half, but our defense kept us in it,` said Layton.
BH-BL’s offense finally started clicking in the fourth quarter. The Spartans drove inside Nyack’s 10-yard line early in the period, but a pair of holding penalties prevented them from getting a shot at the end zone. Then, Layton hooked a 27-yard field goal attempt wide of the right goal post, which still left the Spartans with a seven-point deficit.
Again, BH-BL’s defense stepped up by stopping Nyack on three running plays and forcing a punt. The offense regained its momentum, easily driving inside Nyack’s 10-yard line before Beatty scored on an eight-yard sweep to the right.
Stewart swung the momentum back on Nyack’s side quickly. After fielding the ensuing kickoff at his own 6-yard line, Stewart found a hole along the right sideline and took off to put the Indians back in front.
Three things worked in BH-BL’s favor, though. Nyack scored too quickly, missed the extra point and then shanked the kickoff out of bounds, which gave the Spartans the ball on their own 35-yard line and nearly five minutes to go the rest of the way.
`(The kickoff return) hurt, but we had confidence because we moved the ball well in the fourth quarter,` said Shell.
BH-BL needed a couple of measurements to go its way during its ensuing drive, but the Spartans got the first downs they needed to get the ball deep into Nyack territory. Layton did the rest himself to propel BH-BL into the state finals.
The Spartans now have to contend with a red-hot Sweet Home team that knocked off defending state champion Aquinas (Rochester) 23-6 in the regional final and Corning West 48-8 in the other state semifinal. “
