High School Fridays: Queensbury @ Troy (football), 4/23/21

 I don't think it's any secret what Troy High coach Bob Burns was doing in practice all this week.

After learning that his Capital Division champion Flying Horses would have their shot at revenge at Queensbury in the Class A semi-finals, Burns had to have dusted off the video of the last Class A Super Bowl, back in November 2019 to remind his seniors that they had some unfinished business.

Conversely, the Spartans, having played just three regular season games due to COVID, might have felt like they were in the path of a runaway train. And couldn't get out of it.

Their convoy offensive line couldn't help Jason Rodriguez most of the night. Save for a couple of big runs, Rodriguez was bottled up. Colby Anderson was turned into colby cheese. Shawn Collins, the Spartans' quarterback/punter, was relieved of the latter duties after a blocked punt. Defensively, Queensbury had no answer for Troy's quick strike offense. Alex Wolfe threw two touchdown passes to Xavier Leigh, and ran two in himself. 

Troy slammed the door shut in the third quarter. Avvon Smith, pressed into service on kickoffs and punts due to an undisclosed injury to Phil Ryan, returned the second half kickoff all the way to the Spartans' 5. He'd finish with two rushing touchdowns of his own, and, after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Spartans in the fourth quarter allowed Troy to kick off from the Queensbury 30, Smith had that rarest of things in high school football, a touchback. The Spartans couldn't do anything with it, and Troy advances to the Super Bowl for the 2nd straight season, 48-0.

Enjoy the video. Mind the occasional buffering and screen freezes. The wind caused some issues.

Troy now moves on to play the other Spartans, arch-nemesis Burnt Hills next week, likely at Shenendehowa.

Speaking of the Plainsmen, they were eliminated from the Class AA tournament, upset by Guilderland, 17-14.

Meanwhile, Troy's women's volleyball team ended its season tonight, dropping a five set thriller to Saratoga. Troy finishes 5-10 (3-10 in the Suburban Council) on the season, as their 4 match winning streak came to an end.