High School Fridays: Class AA football championship (Guilderland vs. Shenendehowa), 11/8/19

The calendar says it's the second weekend in November. For the players, coaches, officials, & fans at Picken Memorial Field at Troy High, it felt like the second weekend in January.

Troy High hosted the Section II Class AA football championship game tonight, with a game time temperature of 28 degrees. Across town at Lansingburgh, Stillwater and Cambridge-Salem were playing under the same exact conditions. Scoring was going to be at such a premium, you couldn't blame Section II if they were giving away discount coupons at the gate after the game.

The weather overshadowed the fact that Section II's pretzel logic allowed Guilderland, the #4 seed, to be designated as the home team over second seeded Shenendehowa, which had won seven straight going in.

Shen won the coin toss, and opted to defer to the second half. The strategy worked, as Guilderland was forced to punt on their first two possessions. However, the Dutchmen's defense kept the Plainsmen off the board until the final 70 seconds of the first quarter, when Brodie Vincenzi hit Josh Szwarzberg with a 25 yard touchdown toss. Szwarzberg made a highlight reel sliding catch to beat the defense.

In the second quarter, Shen turned their ground game loose, particular senior tailback Billy Beach. The Binghamton-bound running back punched it in from 3 yards away, giving the Plainsmen a 14-0 advantage headed into halftime.

The second half was all about milking the clock. Neither team found the end zone in the third quarter, but then, the teams combined for 28 points in the space of six and a half minutes in the fourth quarter.

It started with Vincenzi's second touchdown pass of the night, this one to Dustin Lewis for 29 yards. Less than two minutes later, Josiah Woodrow put the game on lockdown as he carried Guilderland defenders into the end zone from 27 yards out.

Roughly 30 seconds later, Guilderland finally got on the board to avoid a shutout. Michael Gitto (pronounced Gee-toe) found Brad Igweike for a 72 yard bomb to trim the lead to 28-7. Shen's defense hassled Gitto the entire night, including three pass deflections and two sacks. The Plainsmen had the last score, as Beach iced it with his 2nd TD of the night, this one from 24 yards, to make the final score 35-7, as Shen won their first AA title since 2014.

Up next for the Plainsmen will be a regional game vs. a team from Section IX next Friday at Shaker. Back in Lansingburgh, Stillwater won their first sectional title, claiming the Class C crown with a 21-0 win over Cambridge-Salem.

Tomorrow night, Troy and Queensbury will play for the A title at Shen. They've got a tough act to follow.