BURNT HILLS WINS BATTLE AGAINST BALLSTON SPA
Spartans pick up 12-11 victory
BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. » In a game that was competitive until the final minute between Ballston Spa and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Lacrosse, one team had to play hard in the fourth quarter to get the win.
Burnt Hills did just that, winning 12-11 and moving on to the Class B final.
Burnt Hills coach Tom Schwan said he knew it was going to be a tough matchup against Ballston Spa.
“This is an outstanding Ballston Spa team,” Schwan said. “They only have three loses, Niskayuna, Shaker and Shen and those are great programs with great pedigrees, so for us to come out here on their field, in these conditions, we will go forward. We enjoy this win today and then get in the weight room Monday and get some lacrosse going after that.”
Senior Alec Lind said the Spartans had a never say die attitude.
“We fought back this whole year and we just did it again,” Lind said. “We had a lot of energy and at the end of the third, the goal was our spark and it energized our sideline. We were amped up and it just carried on to the fourth quarter. We had the energy, I knew we could do it, our team knew we could do it and that is all that mattered.”
Schwan said his team wanted the win bad and knew they could fight back.
“It is in their hearts and I think that is one of the great things about that Burnt Hills community,” Schwan said. “Our players, our student body, our teachers, our administration and out to our parents, there is a great belief and it is awesome to be a part of. Down 2-6, down 6-9 and nothing changed on the sideline, great energy, great intensity, they understood what they needed to do and they had great composure at the end. I am quite proud of them.”
The game started with Burnt Hills getting two early goals and trying to get momentum in their
favor. Ballston Spa fought back and went on a 6-0 run to make it 6-2 after the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was Burnt Hills time to shine. Burnt Hills scored four goals of their own in the second and made it a tie game heading into halftime.
In the second half, the two teams would battle back and forth trying to gain momentum. Burnt Hills was able to push ahead 11-8, but Ballston Spa kept on fighting. With two minutes left in the contest, Ballston Spa scored to bring it within 11-10. The Scotties maintained possession of the ball and had multiple chances to get the tying goal, but couldn’t find the back of the net and the game ended as a Burnt Hills victory.
Burnt Hills goalie Daniel Biesty had a big fourth quarter for his team.
Biesty made five saves in the final quarter and lead Burnt Hills to the win along with his strong defense.
Schwan said the end of the game was huge for the defense.
“I think the best thing about the defense on the end is that on the sideline with about a minute and a half left, we are trying to yell to get into a defensive set and they couldn’t hear us because of the crowd noise, which was awesome,” Schwan said. “The best thing, they got themselves into the best defensive set, they slide appropriately, they checked when they needed to and they made the plays. I am really impressed with Danny Biesty as a quarterback in the cage, all the out to our poles McClearnan and HopSicker and out to Miller and Knapp and it was really fun to see them excel like that.”
Lind said the defense has always been big for Burnt Hills.
“Our D has always been a bright side at Burnt Hills,” Lind said. “It is our heart. They killed that time, that 1:30 and that was huge right there. They were down by one, so that was huge.”
Burnt Hills moves into the championship game looking to continue with what they started and win the championship.
Sophomore Darien LaPietro said his team wants to work harder than everyone.
“We just want to outwork someone every single time,” LaPietro said. “We went out there today with the mindset that we can’t let anyone outwork us and we are going to have to do that again in the next game.”
Schwan said the season isn’t over yet.
“It is a long season,” Schwan said. “This is week 12 and there is a time in your season where you have to grind and we felt like last year or the week before we are in a grind mode. We worked through that grind and we came, had an outstanding practice Tuesday and an even better one on Wednesday and the end result was today.”