High School Fridays: Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake @ Troy (Class A football championship), 4/30/21

 Tonight's Class A championship game is sponsored by Rice Krispies. Yes, it's a blustery night, and that means Troy High's ancient sound system is compromised. The YouTube feed, as you'll see, was plagued with frequent freezes and, during the first quarter, the screen went dark a few times. And now you know why they haven't committed to using the stream for home baseball & softball games or lacrosse, starting next week.

It was a battle of undefeated teams, as Grasso division champion Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake rolled into town, on a night where Burnt Hills was also hosting the Suburban Council volleyball championships for both men & women (more on that later)., and hoping for one big celebration at the end of the night. Normally, the title game would be at a neutral site, but in this abnormal season, Section II decided that Troy, with its turf field, and with some tiebreakers in their favor, would host the game.

You count on your hand, leaving room for some fingers, how many times Troy had beaten Burnt Hills prior to this game. The Spartans felt so confident, they posted a highlight reel of a 2008 Class A semi-final game vs. Troy, which they won, 38-20.

Motivation can be a wonderful thing. And, after a slow start, Troy basked in its glow.

With the Spartans' defense keying on senior tailback Xavier Leigh, who statistically did not have his best game of the season on offense, quarterback Alex Wolfe scored the game's first touchdown late in the first quarter on a 16 yard run. Will Ryan, back after a week off, nailed the extra point, and Troy led, 7-0, after the first quarter.

For Burnt Hills, it only got worse after that.

In the second quarter, with the Spartans' offense stifled by a swarming Troy defense, Wolfe directed the Flying Horses on another drive, capped with Avvon Smith running it in from 3 yards out. Another Ryan PAT made it 14-0.

Then, it was time for the air show.

Late in the period, Burnt Hills was forced to punt, but a low snap was fielded by the punter, who made the  mistake of dropping to one knee at the 11 yard line. Oops! Wolfe took advantage, and slung a dart to Nasir Dawud-Soto. This was wrapped in between TD tosses to Tyrell Penalba and Soto, and Troy took a 35-0 lead into the break.

In the third quarter, Wolfe put the game away with a short TD run. However, on a low snap on the extra point attempt, Wolfe picked it up, then hit a strike to Penalba in the back of the end zone for a 2 point conversion. 43-0 Troy after three. Just eight seconds into the fourth quarter, Burnt Hills finally got on the board with a field goal, but, by then, it was too little, too late.

Leigh finally cracked the scoring column a few minutes later, breaking off a 79 yard run. Ryan added another PAT, his 6th of the night, and it was 50-3. Leigh had lost two fumbles earlier, but made up for it with the big run, plus some key plays on defense. Unfortunately, late in the quarter, Leigh was knocked out by a gang tackle in what would be his final play. Burnt Hills had conceded the game by punting a couple of plays earlier when otherwise they were in four down territory. Leigh was ruled down by contact, although the Spartans tried to sell another lost fumble. One play later, the game was over, and Troy had smacked another Spartan monkey off its collective back, following a demolition of Queensbury last week.

Enjoy the video:

In all, Troy allowed just 48 points on the season, or an average of 6.6 points a game. The Flying Horses rolled up 347 points in 7 games, for an average of 49.4 points per game.

Meanwhile, Burnt Hills' women's volleyball team captured the Suburban Council title, beating Shenendehowa in straight sets to complete a perfect season. The men's match, also vs. Shen, was not completed at press time. The men's title match was moved from Shen to Burnt Hills due to a power outage in Clifton Park that affected the Shen campus, leaving both school buildings in the dark.