The Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake football team put forth a valiant effort, but it had no answers for Sweet Home’s dynamic offense.
Senior quarterback Casey Kacz threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns, and he ran for another score to lead the Panthers to a 35-28 victory over the Spartans in last Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A championship game at Syracuse University’s Carrier Dome.
Quarterback Paul Layton accounted for 171 total yards of offense and a touchdown, and tailback Erik Vuillaume scored twice for BH-BL (12-1), but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 28-7 second quarter deficit.
It was a tough ending, but we went out fighting, said Layton.
`They just didn’t quit. They just ran out of time,` said BH-BL coach Matt Shell.
Big plays staggered the Spartans in the first half. After Kacz capped Sweet Home’s first offensive series with a nine-yard touchdown run, D.J. Nettles took a handoff on an end-around and scampered 91 yards for another score to put the Panthers (13-0) ahead 14-0.
Layton threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Keaton Flint with 1:45 left in the first quarter to pull BH-BL within seven points, but Sweet Home had a quick answer for that. Kacz threw a short pass over the middle to Will Reese, who then cut to the left sideline and broke free for a 76-yard touchdown play with three seconds left in the period. Mike Lawandus added the extra point to give the Panthers a 21-7 lead.
`The first half, we didn’t come out the way we wanted to,` said senior linebacker Connor Hadcock. `We knew we had to show that we wanted (to win), and we didn’t do it.`
Hadcock gave BH-BL’s beleaguered defense a lift by intercepting Kacz at the Spartans’ 19-yard line early in the second quarter, but that was only a brief respite. On Sweet Home’s next offensive series, Kacz connected with Nettles on a 39-yard touchdown pass to put the Panthers ahead 28-7 with 5:31 left before halftime.
Unwilling to let themselves be blown out of the Carrier Dome, the Spartans responded with a gutsy drive. A 33-yard pass from Layton to Paluba on third-and-long got BH-BL to Sweet Home’s 25-yard line. Then, Layton converted on a fourth-down play to set up Flint’s 14-yard touchdown run that cut Sweet Home’s lead to 28-14.
The drive got BH-BL’s offense going. The Spartans started the third quarter in fine fashion when Vuillaume took off on a 42-yard touchdown run to make the score 28-21. Then, BH-BL blocked a Sweet Home punt and recovered the ball at the Panthers’ 19-yard line with 7:18 left, which ignited the 3,000-plus Spartan fans that made the three-hour drive to Syracuse.
An 11-yard run by Vuillaume moved the Spartans within close range of Sweet Home’s end zone, but the Panthers’ defense ` a unit that had allowed only two touchdowns in regional and semifinal play ` stopped BH-BL and forced a field goal attempt. Layton stepped up and booted the 23-yard field goal, but an encroachment penalty against Sweet Home nullified the attempt. Still, the Spartans had another shot at the end zone from Sweet Home’s 3-yard line.
Back under center for the fourth-down play, Layton rolled out of the pocket and looked for an open receiver in the end zone. But he was forced to throw wildly as three Sweet Home defenders rushed him, and the ball was tipped away for an incomplete pass. The Panthers got the ball back at their own 3.
`We needed the points to take away their momentum, but give their defense credit for stopping us (on that play),` said Layton.
Energized by its goal line stand, Sweet Home went on a 12-play, 97-yard drive that tailback Deshanro Morris capped with a three-yard touchdown run to put the Panthers ahead 35-21.
BH-BL had another potential scoring drive stopped before it could reach the end zone early in the fourth quarter. The Spartans got to Sweet Home’s 10-yard line before the Panthers defense stiffened again. This time, Sweet Home sacked Layton on fourth-and-long back at its 20-yard line to regain the ball.
Again, BH-BL’s defense wouldn’t allow Sweet Home to run away with the victory. Junior defensive back Tanner Sellers intercepted Kacz’s pass and returned it to Sweet Home’s 27-yard line. Two plays later, Vuillaume found an opening and rushed for a 16-yard touchdown to pull the Spartans back within seven points with 6:26 left.
Any hope for a BH-BL comeback ended after that, though. Sweet Home engineered a drive that ate up the rest of the clock and both of the Spartans’ remaining timeouts to seal its first state title.
`Sweet Home is obviously an outstanding champion, and so are our own kids in their own right,` said Shell.
BH-BL graduates most of its starters from this year’s team, but Layton said he hoped the younger players will step up for another run at the state title in 2009.
`It was a great opportunity and a great experience for me,` said Layton.“