CBA outlasts Saratoga, escapes with 20-19 win
By Joe Boyle ALBANY, NY >> The Saratoga Springs Blue Streaks brought the pressure to the Christian Brothers Academy Brothers Friday night at CBA when the Blue Streaks were able to score a touchdown in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter to bring them within a score.
“The key is that we just have to make a play,” said CBA Head Coach Joe Burke Friday night. “The ball falls into their lap, their quarterback made a nice throw and a good catch. We didn’t knock the ball down, maybe we tried to knock it down and should’ve tried to catch it, age old debate there.”
Despite a Saratoga touchdown late in the game, CBA was able to fend off the Blue Streaks and earn the win Friday night by a score of 20-19.
“We have got to get a stop, we aren’t going to do anything fancy, we have to get a stop,” said Burke on what his message was to CBA following the touchdown by Saratoga. “We got great pressure off the edge and the kids made a good play.”
Saratoga’s touchdown was scored with 2:12 still sitting on the clock. Saratoga quarterback Sead Hudson was able to complete an 11 yard pass to Unique Steel in the endzone. Steele was able to control the ball and hit the ground. The ground jarring the ball loose spurred debate among the sidelines, but after the dust settled, Saratoga was awarded the six points.
That was all they would get. Trailing 20-19 after the touchdown, Saratoga Head Coach Terry Jones opted to go for the two point conversion over the extra point. As Hudson rolled out to Quarterback Freddie Smith drops back in the pocket on September 4 at Christian Brothers Academy in Albany, New York. the right side, searching for an open receiver in the endzone, the CBA pressure swallowed him up, forcing him to loose his footing and self down himself.
Saratoga showed heart and grit in their almostcomeback, outscoring CBA 12-0 in the fourth quarter. Hudson completed a 26 yard pass to James Capone, who made an impressive catch in the end zone to complete the play.
CBA thwarted the Blue Streaks after touchdown points that drive as well when Dylan Jones blocked the Blue Streaks extra point.
“We practiced that during the week, jumped out there, and executed,” said Jones of the block. “Coach told me to go low, don’t go high. That’s what I did and got it done.”
Jones was one of the stand out performances for CBA in the win. Jones scored two touchdowns in the win, both thrown by sophomore Drew Pemrick. First a 48 yard touchdown in the second quarter and a 22 yard pass in the third. Pemrick’s ability to attack the air helped he and running back’s Mike Barber and Nick Guzi pound the run game.
“He’s a great athlete and he does a lot of great things,” said Burke of Jones. “He was right there at that play in the end. He works hard on every play and came up with a great block on the extra point which was really the difference.”
“It’s part of what we do and it is important that we get the kids some work,” said Burke on Pemrick’s reps. “He’s a weapon back there. He did a good job throwing the ball. He’s a hard runner. Passing is something that we have done, we just haven’t done that much of it.”
Pemrick split time under center with senior Freddie Smith who also showed excellence through the air.
“We focused on the bond with all three quarterbacks in the offseason,” said Jones on playing with two talented quarterbacks in the win. “It’s a competition always. — Freddie and I started in modified together and were young varsity players together so that bond grew stronger over the years.”
Saratoga opened the scoring on the night on their very first drive of the game. Alex Hicks punched a one yard run into the endzone after a masterful opening drive by the Blue Streaks put CBA on their heels early.
The Brothers responded with a one yard touchdown run of their own by Mike Barber on the every next drive.
The Brothers led 14-7 at halftime and could have by more if it wasn’t for a Capone interception on a long ball by Smith with less than a minute remaining in the half. Capone was able to stretch for the ball and fall on it inside the Blue Streak 10, where they kneeled it and ended the half.
CBA got it back with a third quarter touchdown with a blocked extra point made it 20-7 going into the final quarter where Saratoga exploded.
CBA improves to 4-1 overall with the win while Saratoga now sits at 1-4. The Brothers will face off with Shen next week on the road and Saratoga plays host to Guilderland.
Saratoga, despite losing, showed pure athleticism from players like Hudson, Capone, and Hicks. The ground game worked well at times for the Blues Streaks and they were able to accumulate passing yards over the game to penetrate the Brother’s defense.
“We won’t get away with that at Shen,” said Jones after the game.
“We have got to get better. We have got to continue to get better,” said Burke. “We have to take care of the football. We have to continue to play better defense — We have got to take care of ourselves and we have to get better as a football team.”