Burnt Hills rolls past Glens Falls, 55-27
BURNT HILLS, N.Y. >> The Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake football team looked forward to its homecoming test Saturday afternoon against Glens Falls and quarterback Joe Girard III and the Spartans passed with flying colors.
Burnt Hills has very little to discuss when reviewing the game film, racking up more than 550 yards of total offense, guided by senior running back DJ Lashley’s five touchdowns and the Burnt Hills defense holding the high-powered Indians offense to 255 total yards in the 55-27 win.
“There is no substitute for competition, there is no substitution for adversity and you can only get better by being involved in a game like this,” Burnt Hills head coach Matt Shell said. “I think we took a step forward in that regard.
“Our defense had to hang on and they got stops when we needed them and fortunately offensively we were able to move the ball and get some first downs and some touchdowns.”
Burnt Hills (6-0) never trailed late Saturday afternoon, striking first on Vincent Daverio’s 48-yard jaunt two and half minutes into the contest but saw the contest unfold as expected with Glens Falls responding with a score
midway through the opening quarter, engineering a 67-yard drive to knot the score a seven apiece.
Lashley scored the first of his five touchdowns to open the second quarter, capping a 13-play 85-yard drive with a three-yard run and when the PAT was blocked, Glens Falls used that momentum to answer.
Girard III needed just eight plays to go 78-yards, including a 29-yard pass to David Barclay early in the drive and tied it at 13 apiece when the Indians two-point conversion failed.
Burnt Hills would continue to drive and thrive for the remainder of the contest.
A 12-play 69-yard drive was capped by Lashley’s two-yard run created courtesy of two big passes from Spartan quarterback Darien LaPietro to tight end Gordy Adams for nineand 13-yard gains for a 2013 lead.
After a three and out by the Indians it was fullback Bryce Mussen who rumbled for a 45-yard gain up the Spartan sideline, allowing Lashley on the next play to spin and weave 25-yards for his third score of the contest and create a 27-13 lead.
Glens Falls answered with its one quick strike, a 40-yard pass from Girard III to Barclay setting up short scoring pass to Trent Girard, cutting the lead, 2720.
With under a minute left, the Burnt Hills staff and Lashley went for the jugular with time expiring, hauling in a short pass from LaPietro and deking a Glens Falls defender at the 10-yard line and dodging in for his fourth score as time expired in the half, 34-20.
“We were playing for field goal and I said to DJ ‘If you can make them miss, take a shot, we’ve got nothing to lose’ and he did,” Shell said. “It was just a really nice play, a good throw and catch, we did a good job up front protecting Darien and he put the ball where it needed to be.
“You have to be able to make plays in big games and that’s what we tell the kids all the time, you have to make plays. Sometimes it’s a four-yard run that’s a big play because it might give you a first down or keep momentum in some way. Some other times it’s a touchdown and thankfully today it was and we were fortunate to come out with the win.”
Glens Falls answered with a 12-play 80-yard drive to open the third with Girard III plunging in from the one-yard line, but the Spartans answered as Daviero answered with his second score of the day, a 25-yard scoring run and after another three-andout by the Indians, Lashley would break the goal line for the fifth time, a 10yard run set up by at LaPietro to Rece Gobel 41-yard pass play.
“Our O-line played very well, we all played well together as a team and things just happened,” DJ Lashley said. “We made plays and got the ‘W’ today.
“I just kind of saw the holes, saw the space and just found a way through them.”
Lashley finished with 119 yards on 18 carries and his single 22-yard touchdown pass with Daviero topping him with 177 yards on 17 carries and two scores.