Blue Streaks play tenacious ‘D’
Saratoga Springs starting defense has allowed 3 TDs total
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Saratoga Springs’ football team has been a strong team all season on both sides of the ball.
Last week, the squad continued its undefeated season by beating Albany to improve to 6-0. With the divisiona and a top sectional seed clinched all that’s left is a final regular season game at La Salle Friday night at 7 p.m.
One of the biggest bright spots the team has had all season has been the starting defense, who has shut down opponent’s offenses and has been successful in stopping opponents from getting momentum.
As a whole the Blue Streaks are allowing opponents less than 10 points per game — 9.83 to be exact. The number gets even more impressive when you only consider Saratoga Springs’ starting defense.
“I think our starting defense has given up three touchdowns all year, one to Guilderland in the first half and two to Shenendehowa and that is it,” Saratoga coach Terry Jones said. “They have played great all year and they will need to continue to do that as we go through this week and move into the playoffs.”
Frank Spatafora, a senior safety, said the defense has had success partly because of the chemistry on that side of the ball.
“I know, especially our secondary group, we communicate really well together and we are a really close knit group,” Spatafora said.” Same thing goes for our linebackers and our line, I feel like all together we just work really well together. I know it helps our offense a lot when we can consistently get a three-and-out on defense.”
To have a strong defense, you need to have a plan going in and the Blue Streaks have stuck in that plan for most of the season.
Jones said the team stresses alignment and assignment as the two main keys to success.
“They have to be aligned properly and they have to know their assignment,” Jones said. “If we end up with two people in the same gap, that leaves a gap open and allows for a running lane. We play a lot of man and if you are in the wrong coverage, we are going to have a problem. We talk about beating the man in front of you and after that run to the football.”
While the defense has been impressive, there is always room for improvement. Especially with winor-go-home sectional contests on the horizon.
“We have areas we can improve,” Jones said. “We looked at film from last week and defensively, we really didn’t play well at times. At times, it seemed like we were going through the motions and allowed them to have some big gains in the first half and we didn’t tackle well. One of the point of emphasize in our groups yesterday was tackling because we need to do better at it.”
The Blue Streaks have a road contest against a undermanned La Salle squad that is 1-6 and on a fivegame losing streak.
Jones said this game is important for his team in getting ready for playoffs.
“First and foremost, we want to come out of it healthy going into the playoffs and we want to improve upon the fine points,” Jones said. “I think as a team we are playing well, I think offensively we are playing well, defensively we are playing well, but we want to fine tune certain aspects like tackling, penalties we still had a few too many penalties against us. Those are areas that can come back against when you start getting into the playoffs.
“There are some games of meaning this week in the Empire and Liberty divisions, but for the most part the playoff scenarios are pretty much set. We are No. 1 and I think Troy is No. 1 in the Liberty and after that it is going to come down to some games this week. Come next week, everyone’s record doesn’t mean anything. All it means is whether or not you are playing home or away, but everyone is back to 0-0. What we did Week 1 or Week 2, that is great and all, but if we aren’t playing that way come week eight it doesn’t matter.”