GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland football team showed its toughness on Saturday.

The Dutchmen were matched up with a strong, Queensbury team and showed they can pack a wallop as they beat the Spartans, 27-6, and moved to 2-0 for the second consecutive year.
"It was a hard-hitting game," said Guilderland Coach Dan Penna at practice this week. "We knew, coming in, that Queensbury would be a challenge. They have strong kids, big kids.
"We were outsized on the lines," Penna added. "The kids came in with playoff-caliber intensity and never let up. Well except, for the third quarter."

Queensbury got its lone score in the third quarter to make the game close before Guilderland scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to put the game away.

"In the trenches"
"We played a solid all-around game," said senior Nick Ranalli. "The defense showed what we got. I think we showed that our defense is one of the top ones in the section right now."

Senior quarterback Drew Smith scored on a two-yard run in the first quarter to cap a nice drive on the Dutch’s first possession of the game.

E.J. Genzano kicked the extra point to make the score 7-0 in favor of the Dutchmen.

The Dutch took a 13-0 lead in the second quarter on a 18-yard run by Paul Booker. The two-point conversion attempt failed. But Guilderland had a two-score lead after scoring on its first two possessions.
"We got the ball and drove down field," Penna said. "It was highlighted by a great run by Paul Booker. We came out and knew they had an updated defensive scheme from last year that was more conflicting to our offense. We were able to solve it on the first few plays of the game."

The first play on offense for the Dutchmen was a 49-yard option run by Smith.
"I was pleased with the way we came out," Penna added. "We moved the ball up the field on offense. We had great blocks on the offensive line. We won the game in the trenches."

The Dutch came out flat in the third quarter. They committed some mental mistakes that led to the Queensbury touchdown, a one-yard run by Dominic Marino.
"I’m disappointed with the effort," Penna said. "For the second week in a row, we had a lackluster performance at the beginning of the third. We had several penalties on short-yardage situations. They had a third-and-one and we jump offsides. They had a fourth-and-two and we had a penalty that kept the drive alive.
"The kids understand that they need to get better," Penna added. "They are working to get better and play four quarters of football."

Marino’s touchdown capped a 14-play, 51-yard drive that was set up by good field position.

Queensbury got the ball back in the fourth quarter and decided to go for a first down on fourth-and-one from the their own 28-yard line.

The ball was fumbled and recovered by linebacker Paul Malamood — his second recovery in the quarter. Penna said that they wouldn’t have gotten the first down anyway.

On the next play, Booker ran for 27 yards into the end zone for a touchdown. Smith ran in for a two-point conversion and the Dutchmen had a 21-6 lead.

Later in the quarter, Smith scored on a 60-yard run to cap the scoring.
"We forced them to punt it and, on the next play, Drew saw an opening in the middle," Penna said. "He called his own number and told the offensive line he was going and they opened a huge hole up the middle."

Smith finished with 144 yards rushing on 12 carries. Booker ran for 133 yards on 10 carries.

Smith completed just one pass for four yards in the game.
"We need to work on our passing game," Booker said.
"Starting to click"
"I feel we have a more solid offense than at this point last year," Ranalli said. "We are close to being perfect."

Penna said he saw improvements from the opening-season 20-0 win over Albany.
"I felt, overall, that everything is starting to click," the coach said. "The offense, I was really pleased with that. And we had a team defensive scheme. Certain players made a lot of tackles. And certain players had to take on the blocking of Queensbury. He held them to an average of three-yards per carry on the ground. The kids really bought into the defensive scheme."

The linebacking trio of Malamood, Pete Stanish, and Booker, each had over 25 tackles in the contest, Penna said.
"With the double-wing offense," Penna said of Queensbury’s offense, "we had guys taking on blocks from both backs and the offensive line. That allowed our linebackers to scrape and make tackles."

Penna credited the defensive line of ends Devan Van Auken and Joe Cardillo along with tackles Mike Kennedy, T.J. Jasenski, and Rolando Andres for following their assignments and being big keys of the defense.
"The defensive line stepped up big time," Malamood said.
"This is the best all-around team we’ve had since I’ve been here," said Cardillo, a senior.

Penna also praised his offensive line of Van Auken, Mike Ward, Andres, Ray Callanan, and Paul Sheehan for doing a good job on offense.
"Coach [John] Winters and Coach [Bill] Schewe did a great job of getting the guys ready, physically and mentally," Penna said. "They made big holes for the backs.
"Our offensive line is getting overlooked," Penna added. "They executed well and stayed on their blocks. They are evolving into one of the better O-lines we could have had here in the last 10 years."
"The offensive stepped up," Malamood added. "We executed perfectly for three or four plays in a row. Then we get a couple of plays stuffed. We need to work on our consistency."
"It was a dog fight," Ranalli said of Saturday’s game. "I’m glad we threw the first punch. We were able to stop them and beat them physically and with everything else."

The Dutchmen will try to build on their success on Friday night when they host Bethlehem. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.
"I feel with the guys that we have that we can’t lose," Cardillo said. "We have too much talent to lose."