Shen celebrates Senior Night with 42-8 quarterfinal win over Schenectady
CLIFTON PARK, NY » Everything went according to plan for Shenendehowa on Friday night against Schenectady, right from their first play.
“We wanted to come out here and set the tone, step on the gas pedal right away and keep it going all four quarters,” said senior quarterback Brody Vincenzi. “I thought we did that well today.”
With the 42-8 win over the Patriots in the Class AA quarterfinals, Shen advances to face Guilderland in the semifinals, a rematch of 2019’s AA Super Bowl.
“We had a play devised up for Dyvante (Terrelonge) to start the game and the line blocked really well,” Shen coach Brian Clawson said of Shen’s first play. “He found that little opening and was able to take it to the house. Any time you can get up early on a good team always bodes well for you.”
Terrelonge was able to run in Shen’s fist snap of the game for 55 yards. Just a few minutes later, Vincenzi would connect with Terrelonge for a 44-yard touchdown completion, giving Shen a 14-0 lead.
“It was a great start, to come firing out of the gates on Senior Night,” Vincenzi said. “That really helped us throughout the whole
entire game.”
In the second quarter, Jaysiah Woodrow finished off a Shen drive with a one-yard touchdown run, to give the Plainsmen a 21-0 advantage. Woodrow would rush for 33 yards on eight attempts in the game.
Later in the second, Vincenzi connected with Terrelonge for their second touchdown connection of the game - this time for 35 yards. Schenectady would then fumble the ensuing kickoff and Kyle Acker would pick it up and bring it to the house to give Shen a 35-0 lead at the half.
Terrelonge, who ran for a touchdown and caught two, was also lazer focused on defense.
“Our focus coming into this game was to not allow them any big gains or any big plays,” Terrelonge said, a Shen senior. “The guy I was guarding, Woolcock, is a really good receiver and I knew that I had to shut him down.”
His mindset was that if his team gets a big enough lead, then the backups get an opportunity to play, which is exactly what happened.
“We want to see those guys get reps. They all work hard in practice and they make us better. They deserve opportunities to get out there on the field.”
Shen added on their final touchdown of the game in the third quarter when Vincenzi connected with John Maneri for 17 yards in the back of the end zone. The play gave Shen a 42-0 lead.
Schenectady would get into the end zone early in the fourth quarter on a 39yard run from Chris Davis. The Patriots would convert the two-point play to make it 42-8.
Terrelonge acknowledged that he still takes a lot of pride in getting a defensive shutout, no matter what the scoreboard says
“As a defense, we want that shutout against every opponent that we have,” he said. “We do not like that they scored eight points, but we worked out butts off today. We were able to get the second and third teams into the game and it was a full team effort.”
In the game, Vincenzi want 7-for-9 passing, good for 133 yards and three passing touchdowns. Terrelonge ran for 71 yards, had 79 receiving yards, one touchdown on the ground and two through the air. The pair of seniors spoke about getting to have a Senior Night, on the same day as their first playoff game.
“It was my last game on this field, so that was really big and it means a lot to me that we were able to have a Senior Night,” Terrelonge said. “To have my family be here watching me and having a good game, it’s definitely something I’m going to remember.”
Clawson explained that the only other alternative had been doing the event before an afternoon game during their Week 3 matchup against CBA, where it snowed during the game. The night game on Friday against Schenectady provided better weather and more time for parents to get to the school from work.