The Schalmont football team accomplished one of its goals by beating Broadalbin-Perth 35-7 in last Saturday’s Class B West Division game.
With the win, the Sabres (4-0 league, 5-2 overall) clinched the West Division title for the second year in a row and gained the No. 1 seed for the Class B Sectionals.
It was very important, said Schalmont coach Joe Whipple. `Our first goal this year was to win all of our divisional games. The kids played [against Broadalbin-Perth] like another important game.`
Quarterback Vincent Gallo had a strong overall game for Schalmont. The senior rushed for 218 yards and a pair of touch-downs, and he completed five of his eight passes for 92 yards, nearly half of which came on a 40-yard scoring strike to Jared Ramundo in the third quarter.
Dashawn Banks also made his presence known. Banks rushed for 92 yards on only 10 carries and had a 19-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to get Schal-mont on the scoreboard.
`We moved Dashawn back to running back … and he’s been running the ball well the last couple of weeks,` said Whipple. `He’s moved very well between the tackles.`
On the other side of the ball, Schalmont’s defense kept Broadalbin-Perth (1-3, 3-4) bottled up. The Sabres limited the Patriots to 104 rushing yards, and Broadalbin-Perth’s lone touchdown came on a 51-yard scoring strike from quarterback R.J. Pingatore to Aaron Bagwell in the fourth quarter.
Schalmont will need a balanced attack and another strong defensive effort to get past Friday’s quarterfinal opponent, Albany Academy. The Sabres met the Cadets (1-3, 4-3) in the season opener and had an 18-14 lead before Albany Academy scored three times in the fourth quarter to pull out a 35-18 victory.
`We have to play four quarters this time because we didn’t play four quarters the first time we faced them,` said Whipple. `We need to slow down the game with our offense and contain their offense.`
Niskayuna (4-1, 5-2) will also be in playoff action Friday. The Silver Warriors will host Queens-bury in a Class A quarterfinal.
Niskayuna is coming off a 35-7 loss to Troy (5-0, 7-0) last Saturday. Ryan Alden’s touchdown pass to John-Michael Fragnoli was the Silver Warriors’ lone score.“