BISON MAFIA
LATHAM, NY » Friday’s Week 1 matchup between Shaker and Burnt Hills features both the Class AA and Class A runnerups from the 2021 Fall 2 season.
“Week one we obviously have a huge game against Burnt Hills. They’re a great team and we expect that they’re going to be playing a long time this year, in the postseason, so we have a lot of work to do,” said Shaker coach Greg O’Connor. “We’re a young team and to have a quality opponent like Burnt Hills and their coaching staff and what they’re able to do every year, it’ll be a good measuring stick for us.”
One of those measuring sticks is going to be the how disciplined and mentally strong the Bison are going into their week one matchup, as that’s something the Spartans are going to put to the test.
“We face these teams like Burnt Hills, they’re very good mentally, they’re very good physically and we have to match their physical and mental toughness if we’re going to have a chance and I have no doubt that we will,” said senior linemen A’Dante Bianchino. “I think Burnt Hills is going to be able to beat a bunch of AA teams, so we’re going to have our work cut out for us.
The two teams will face off under the lights at Shaker High School at 7 p.m. on September 10.
“They are a very competitive team and if we’re not pre
pared for that first week we’re going to realize it quickly during the game,” added senior receiver Sean Gilday.
During the Fall 2 season last March and April, Shaker went 6-1, losing only their final game in the AA championship to Guilderland. Burnt Hills also went 6-1, losing their final game in the A championship to Troy.
For Shaker, this team has a whole new look and a new, young quarterback.
O’Connor appointed sophomore QB Jake Iacobaccio the new started early in the preseason.
“He’s picked up the offense very quickly,” O’Connor said. “He’s put the ball into some real tight windows in the passing game and he’s a really good runner.”
Aside from putting together a good record, another benefit O’Connor pointed to from the spring season was getting his rising juniors experience at the varsity level.
“A really valuable thing from the spring is that we have twelve sophomores on varsity with us, so now we have twelve juniors with varsity experience,” he said.
While the shortened offseason is out of the ordinary, coming off the spring, one of the advantages Gilday sees is being able to pick things up where they left off.
“The break between seasons was obviously shorter, so the game is much more fresh in our minds and I think it’s driving a lot of us to come back stronger. We lost to Guilderland two years in a row, so we want to prove that we’re not going to let it happen again. We’re going to come back stronger than ever and keep pushing to get that championship,” Gilday said. “Last offseason, we barely had anything and were doing a lot of it on our own. In the fall last year we were able to do some flag football, but we really didn’t have much in preparing for the season itself, just because we weren’t allowed to get together as a group. What we’re doing right now with the more in-depth preseason we have, we’re able to have a lot more community on the team and I think that’s really good for us.”
Shaker will play Schenectady for their second week matchup, while Burnt Hills will have a rematch against Troy.
If there’s any strengths that stand out early-on for the 2021 Blue Bison, it’s that they have speed and the desire to win.
“I think we have a lot of good speed on both sides of the ball and I think that’ll be one of our strengths this year,” O’Connor said.
“I love our attitude,” Bianchino said. “I see a ton of guys going out there and giving their full effort. We get the whole team doing that and there won’t be many teams who can stop us.” “I just need to do my job and if I do that, I’ll be helping the team win.”