GUILDERLAND — Mistakes.

Every football team makes them during the course of a game, but last Friday, the Guilderland football team made too many against a very good Saratoga team and paid the price. Two fumbles inside the Guilderland 30-yard line led to two touchdowns that made up the difference in an otherwise close game and gave the Blue Steaks a 26-6 win over the Dutchmen at home.
"We need to hold onto the ball better," said Guilderland Coach Dan Penna after the game. "We do security drills just like everyone else. We just didn’t have a handle on it. It’s a lack of discipline and it’s nothing we can’t work on. I credit Saratoga; they are a good team. It could’ve been a game in the fourth. We could’ve been there if we didn’t get in a hole. It was tough to keep our offense in synch."

The Dutchmen took advantage of a Saratoga mistake for their score in the contest.

Guilderland got the opening kick-off and drove and marched down the field fueled by big runs by Drew Smith and Kevin Forbes and a pass play from quarterback Greg Barcomb to Paul Malamood.

But a fumble on the Saratoga 24-yard line turned the ball over to Saratoga. Three plays later, Saratoga quarterback Dan McLaughlin threw a pass that was intercepted at the 30-yard line by Dutchman Nick Ranalli. Ranalli ran down the visiting team’s sideline for a touchdown and got the Guilderland team and the homecoming crowd fired up.

Guilderland used great defense in the first quarter to maintain its lead and a great punt on the first play of the second quarter by Nick Zanotta pinned the Blue Streaks at the one-yard line.

Saratoga was able to move the ball up the field, though it ended up punting from its own 39-yard line. The punt was down at the Guilderland 27.

Next came the first big mistake.

Mistakes

A fumble on the first play from scrimmage was recovered by Saratoga at the 27-yard line.

Five plays later, James Deloatch punched in from the one-yard line and the extra-point kick gave Saratoga the lead, 7-6.

Guilderland punted on its next possession and Saratoga marched down the field, using its stable of running backs.

Zorry Williams capped the drive with a nine-yard run into the end zone. The extra-point kick was good and the Blue Streaks led by a 14-6 score.

When Guilderland got the ball back, big mistake number-two happened and put the Dutchmen in a tough predicament.

Another fumble — this at the Guilderland 13-yard line — was recovered by Saratoga and the Blue Streaks took advantage.

It took just three plays for Saratoga to take advantage of the extreme short field. McLaughlin ran the ball into the end zone from the one-yard line with 57 seconds left until halftime to give his team a 20-6 lead and to leave the Dutchmen and their fans shell shocked.

The third quarter was scoreless as the defense on each team did a great job of shutting down the others offense.

Dutchman Jarrell Gatterson intercepted a pass early in the third quarter and returned it to the Saratoga 39-yard line, but the Dutch offense couldn’t take advantage.

The Blue Streaks were driving at the end of the third quarter and added to their lead six seconds into the final frame.

Vonzel Legall scored on a 23-yard run to make the score 26-6.

The Dutchmen pressed and were forced to try and make a big play and pass the ball. But Barcomb was intercepted and the game was essentially over as both teams played their second strings.

The Dutchmen had problems moving the ball from the first quarter on against the Saratoga defense.
"They got some speed on that side of the ball," Penna said. "They get overlooked because of their offense. But it was an uphill battle for us in the second half. We were too far in the hole to get out."

Guilderland had just 143 yards of total offense while Saratoga had 226 yards running the football. The Blue Streaks added 62 passing yards.

But the turnovers were the killers.
"We knew coming in we had to play mistake free football," Penna said. "They’re the best team in the AA’s. We came out on fire and then got the interception. We kind of stumbled from there and the fumbles hurt. The defense locked down on their backfield early."

"Big game"

The loss drops the Dutch’s record to 3-2 overall but to just 2-1 in Division I Class AA play. The Dutch still have a shot at the playoffs as the second-place team in the division and can clinch the automatic spot if they win at Queensbury on Saturday.

The Spartans lost by two points against Saratoga a couple of weeks ago but got pounded by Class A team Burnt Hills last Saturday.
"We’ve got a big one next week," Penna said. "We have to clean up our mistakes and have more discipline. The winner of next week’s game is in the playoffs. It is our first playoff game."

Game time will be a 1:30 at the school located in Warren County.
"We’ll find out this week if we are a good football team. It’s about reacting and responding. We’ve got the kind of people that respond when confronted with adversity. I’m proud of the kids; they fought. They’ll be up for another big game."