GUILDERLAND — A slow start and lack of offense hurt the Guilderland football team in its season-opening game against Shenendehowa.

The Dutchmen lost to the Plainsmen, 22-6, on Friday night in Clifton Park.
"We shot ourselves in the foot," said Guilderland Coach Dan Penna. "But we started playing better in the second and third quarters. When you play a program as great as Shen, you can’t make mistakes. I’m disappointed that we didn’t go out and play the best that we could. We had bad field position. But I’m happy with the way we played in the second half; there is some battle in the kids."

Shen scored on its first possession of the game after taking the opening kickoff to the 36-yard line.

On the ninth play of the drive, Shen’s Salih Banks scored from the 15-yard line. The extra-point kick failed but the Plainsmen led, 6-0, with 7:31 left in the opening quarter.

Guilderland was forced to punt on its opening drive and Shen took advantage. The Plainsmen drove the ball downfield again and Banks scored his second touchdown with 35 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Dutchmen turned the ball over on their next possession, and, with 10:24 left in the second quarter, Shen got a field goal from Max Blain to go up 15-0.

The Dutch answered on their next possession.

A short kickoff was fielded by Kevin Forbes who returned the ball to the 47-yard line.

Kevin Doherty then moved the ball on runs of three and two yards.

An offsides penalty on the Plainsmen moved the ball five yards and set up and third down and short. Doherty picked up the first down on a run.

Guilderland quarterback Greg Buck completed a pass to James Ramson that put the ball on the Shen 31-yard line.

Ramson ran for two yards and Buck completed a pass to Pete Stanish for a six-yard gain. Doherty got the first down on a run to the 19-yard line.

Three successive runs by Guilderland set up fourth down and two from the 11-yard line.

Gutsy play

After a time out, the Dutch ran a gutsy play and, instead of going for a first down, Buck threw the ball into the end zone to Paul Booker who made the catch for the touchdown.

The extra-point kick attempt failed, but the Dutchmen had closed the margin to nine points, 15-6, with 4:33 left until halftime.

The score would remain the same until Shen scored with 3:24 left in the third quarter.

Steve Gauck scored for the Plainsmen on a one-yard run to cap a seven-play drive that featured him as the main running back.

The Dutch’s defense was solid in the second half. They gave up only one touchdown to Shen, but struggled to get anything going on offense.

Kyle Hussey, Booker, Stanish, and Chris Wolfe came up big on the defensive side for Guilderland.

The offensive struggles might be due to a lack of experience.
"We have some kids that haven’t played for a few years," Penna said after the game. "It’s different playing under lights on Friday than during practice. But we have some athletes and I’m looking forward to playing Troy next Friday."

In this Friday’s game, Shen had the size advantage on the offensive and defensive lines.
"They were physical and out-sized us," Penna said. "But they didn’t out-physical us in the second half. We had a fumble that gave them a short field. I’m disappointed that we didn’t play at our best."

Guilderland will host its first home game of the season on Friday against Troy with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.