GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland football team was holding its own against a tough physical team from Christian Brothers Academy on Friday night.

The Dutchmen trailed, 7-0, late in the fourth quarter, but could not hold on in the final minutes.

A safety and two touchdowns by CBA opened up a close contest and gave the Brothers a 23-0 win over Guilderland.

The loss dropped Guilderland’s record to 0-3.
"We had talked about the first three games would be the most physical all season," said Guilderland Coach Dan Penna. "This was the most physical of the three. We did not back down. I’m proud of the resiliance of this team. We lost Donovan Lloyd who is our tackle and nose guard," he said of a player who was injured last week.
"We lost two more key players tonight in James Ramson and Chris Wolfe. But no one quit and that is the one thing I’m proud of."

Ransom and Wolfe were injured in the first half.

The Guilderland defense came up big for most of the game on Friday as CBA controlled the time of possession. The Guilderland offense struggled to move the ball and a mistake on special teams led to the first CBA touchdown.

The Brothers scored with 7:52 left in the second quarter.

Guilderland attempted to punt on fourth down from deep in its own territory. The punt was blocked and recovered at the 12-yard line.

The Dutch looked to have caught a break when a seven-yard run by CBA’s Tom Lamb was negated by a pair of penalties. The penalties — for a block in the back and a personal foul — moved the ball back to the 29-yard line.

But a run by Michael Chaires picked up 15 yards and moved the ball to the 14-yard line. And, on the next play, Steve Scaringe completed the short drive with a touchdown run that broke the scoreless tie.

Struggle

Guilderland continued to struggle on offense and could not move the ball for most of the first half. But the defense continued to hold and shut out CBA in the third quarter.

CBA didn’t score again until the last four minutes of the game.

Guilderland was forced to punt from its own end zone. Dutch punter Nick Zanotta tried to field the ball after a low snap but was declared down by an official for a safety.

The Dutch then had to kick the football and it was caught at the Guilderland 46-yard line.

Two plays later, Scaringe scored his second touchdown of the contest on a 43-yard run.

The extra-point kick was good and the Brothers led, 16-0, with 3:26 left in the game.

The final CBA score came with 45 seconds left against Guilderland’s second-string defense.

Joe Zappone made a 65-yard run for a touchdown and the extra point gave CBA a 23-0 lead.
"I told them at the end that I’m not satisfied with the effort we put in," Penna said. "We need to win games and, in order to do that, we have to play great football. We have to stop turning the ball over."

Guilderland quarterbacks had two interceptions in the game but couldn’t move the offense. The Dutch had three quarterbacks — Greg Buck, Bill Rafferty, and Greg Barcomb — who tried to run the offense.
"We’re trying to find the best players at the best positions," Penna said. "We’ve been practicing hard. There’s a lot of football left."

The Dutchmen made a couple of big plays on defense in the second half. They recovered a fumble at their own eight-yard line to stop a CBA drive and defensive back Tim Montgomery intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter that ended another good drive by the Brothers.

The best opportunity the Dutch had to score came late in the game after CBA had gone up 16-0.

Joe Lima took the ensuing kick-off at the 15-yard line and ran with the ball — breaking tackles along the way — to return the kick to the CBA 21-yard line.

But the Dutch could not convert on the great field position as a sack and a pair of incompletions lost yardage.
"CBA is a tremendous team," Penna said. "They have the best defensive line in Section II. Their front four is as good as any at the high-school level."

The Guilderland defense played well but were tired on Scaringe’s second touchdown run.
"We’ve got to play better on offense," Penna said. "We have to give the defense a rest and get better field position."

Guilderland returns home on Friday to take on Columbia. It will be the first of three consecutive home dates for the Dutchmen.