Queensbury steps up to drop Saratoga, 43-21

By Stan Hudy SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> The Saratoga Springs football squad didn’t need to play a perfect game if it hoped to beat Queensbury on its homecoming night Friday, but the errors the Spartans made weren’t as costly as they were for the Blue Streaks.

Whenever Saratoga failed, the Spartans succeeded, spoiling the Blue Streaks homecoming contest, 43-21 Friday night at Saratoga Springs High School.

Luck was on Saratoga’s side, winning the coin toss, taking the ball first, but a failed fourth-down conversion when a screen pass to Alex Hicks yielded just a yard and gave the ball to Queensbury at the Blue Streak 33-yard line.

Spartan junior running back Jason Rodriquez then ran 23 yards to set up a 10yard run by Joe Slattery for the first Queensbury score of the game.

On the next possession the Spartans picked off Saratoga quarterback Jake Williams leading to a 34yard field goal by Alex Roca.

The tide seemed to turn when Saratoga’s James Capone ripped off a 75-yard touchdown run to cut the lead, 10-7 midway through the first quarter, but Queensbury’s Rodriguez answered immediately with a 77-yard touchdown run on the ensuing possession and a 17-7 lead.

Again the Blue Streaks had hope, recovering a fumble on the Queensbury 19yard line and capped an eight-play drive with Williams running in to cut the lead to 17-14 and build the hundreds of Saratoga fans who filled the grandstands and lined the fences with hope that a win would push the Blue Streaks to .500 on the year.

Queensbury continued to rain on the Saratoga homecoming parade, putting together a 68-yard 14play drive finished by Kolby Anderson and a three-yard dive into the end zone for a 23-14 lead.

Saratoga had four bites of the apple to close out the first half from the Spartan 10-yard line, but all four pass plays failed.

The Blue Streaks pulled to within two points after Williams hit Adam Forester for a 33-yard strike setting up another quarterback run, this one for eight yards early in the third, 23-21.

Queensbury reached into its trick play bag and pulled out the reverse pass, Nate Angell to Rodriquez for a 51-yard touchdown catch and score to pull ahead again, 29-21.

“We used it last year in the sectional finals as well. It’s set up well as much as you coach it and the kids see the same play over and over again they tend to lose track of the guy that’s sneaking behind them,” Queensbury Coach Matt Crossman said. “It worked out pretty well.”

After Saratoga failed to sustain another drive and Queensbury took advantage of a short punt, Anderson combined a 37-yard run to the goal line to close out the third and opened the fourth quarter with a one-yard touchdown run to push the Spartan lead to 36-21.

Another Blue Streak drive sputtered, ending with Williams getting sacked for a 15-yard loss and the Spartans celebrated with Angell ripping off a 59-yard touchdown run to put the contest away, 43-21.

Queensbury will be able to celebrate its six scores, but it’s 10 penalty flags will be a topic of discussion in the film room this weekend.

The night wasn’t completely ruined as Williams hit Hicks for a 30yard touchdown pass late, but a flag was thrown near the Blue Streak quarterback in the pocket, the score negated by a holding penalty.

On the next play, Williams was intercepted by Spartan defensive back Greg Fitzgerald and all hopes were dashed.

“We shoot ourselves in the foot a lot of times, a touchdown called back with a penalty, a fourth down play and we get beat on a flea flicker over the top because we don’t make our read,” Saratoga Coach Terry Jones said. “These are just things that we can’t do and it seems like we do them every week.”

Heading into week four, the contest was a chance for the Blue Streaks to reach .500 overall heading into the second half of the year.

“We knew they were big, we knew they were physical,” Jones said. “They’ve been running this offense forever, we knew we had to be able to stop the run and unfortunately we weren’t able to do that.

“There were some glimpses, there were some times where we were able to, but in the end we got worn down and we didn’t execute the way we needed to and we need to be able to every play.”

Queensbury (4-0) had everything to gain traveling to face Class AA Saratoga on the road.

“We go in to win every game and there was a little bit of locker room talk knowing that we were their homecoming game,” Crossman said. “It’s big, anytime you can go and play a school that’s a little bit bigger and get the ‘W’ at their place it’s a nice feather in our cap.”

Now with a 1-3 record, the Blue Streaks have an uphill battle ahead as they travel to face Christian Brothers Academy next week before hosting Guilderland. Saratoga closes out the regular season at Schenectady before hosting rival Shenendehowa in week eight.

“I think we got better this week, we were certainly better this week than we’ve been the last two weeks, but we need to keep getting better,” Jones said. “That was the message to the kids.

“We can’t accept the way things have gone, we have to continue to work to get better, that’s the only way we’re going to change them.”