Scott’s lone goal leads Burnt Hills Boy’s Soccer to Class A Championship

Jacob Scott’s lone goal Tuesday night was all Burnt Hills needed to move on to the Class A Sectional Title game Saturday in Colonie.

“I knew I had to put it away,” said Scott on his goal Tuesday night. “We struggled to get chances and I knew that we weren’t going to get many so i did what I had to do and put that one away.”

The 1-0 win for the Burnt Hill’s Spartans was over South Glens Falls at La Salle Institute Tuesday night. Prior to the sectional semifinal, the two teams met at the very start of the season this year and played to a 0-0 tie after regulation and two overtime periods.

“We were just playing another game of soccer,” said Burnt Hills Head Coach Adam Cohen. “Our goal all season was November 2. We knew we were going to the championship, we just needed to get there. They did what they needed to do tonight.”

The two teams were tied at zero after the first half. The half was very back and forth, with both teams getting chances in the last 15 minutes of the half. A bouncing ball in the Burnt Hills box just narrowly missed from going in and giving South Glens Falls a goal lead. Minutes later, two Burnt Hills chances were broken up by the South Glens Falls defenders.

Burnt Hills’ goalkeeper Sean Speck started the half shaky, but finished it with

Burnt Hills Boy’s Soccer vs. South Glens Falls on October 29, 2019 at La Salle Institute in a Class A Sectional semifinal matchup. a game-saving diving catch to his right side that kept South High out of the goal column.

“I don’t know what you would call it but I definitely settled down later on in the first half,” said Speck on his slow start. “I just try to do what I can for my team. I’ve got their back.”

Speck went on to say big saves get him excited, but he tries to keep himself level. He has a job to do.

Speck made another big save at the 29 minute mark in the second half to suppress another South Glens Falls attack.

At 27:14 Scott was awarded a free kick just outside the box. Scott aimed to the lower right corner of the goal and slipped the ball through for the only goal in Tuesday night’s game.

“I personally thought it was a penalty kick because I landed inside the box,” said Scott on the decision for the kick to be a free kick and not a penalty kick in close on the goal.

“I’m glad I at least got the foul, got the call because it’s a lot better getting the free kick in than not getting the call.”

Burnt Hills will face Queensbury in the Section II Class A Championship game Saturday afternoon at Colonie High School. When the two teams met at the beginning of the season, the Queensbury Spartans earned the 2-0 lead over Burnt Hills.

“We’ve had ups and downs all season. We played a lot of extra time games this season, which helped our fitness,” said Cohen on his team heading into the championship game. “It’s not what we wanted to do necessarily, but the extra time allowed us to really focus on how to play smart We saw these guys at the beginning of the season, we saw Queensbury too, so we kinda knew where we would be ending up toward the end of the season and kept our eye on that the entire time.”