Two weeks ago, CBA's hopes for a perfect season were dashed with a last minute loss to Shaker. Tonight, the Brothers returned to Spectrum News 1's Friday Night Matchup, this time on the road at Guilderland, in a game with playoff implications.
The Dutchmen, in turn, were coming off a close loss to Shaker, and needed the win to avoid being the #4 seed in Class AA, which would mean a rematch with Shaker in two weeks. CBA took the opening kickoff, but couldn't do anything on their first possession. Guilderland, after a punt, was driving until Brendan Simek recovered a fumble for CBA. The Brothers then marched down the field, and Simek cashed in the turnover himself, barreling in from a yard out to give CBA a 7-0 lead.
Unfortunately, that was the extent of CBA's offensive output.
Guilderland QB Ty Santabarbara, the victim of mistaken identity six weeks ago at Troy, coughed up the football for another fumble, but this time, CBA couldn't do anything with it. In the second quarter, the Dutchmen got on the board with a shade more than three minutes to go in the half, as Santabarbara found Aiden Chrysler in the end zone. Chrysler made sure the ball didn't fall to the ground, treating it like it was made of rich, Corinthian leather. Dillon Blanchard converted the extra point, and we were even at 7 at the break.
In the third quarter, Blanchard and Mitch MacKissick made more of an impact not only on offense or defense, but on special teams as well. Pinned deep in their own end, Guilderland set up a punt, but MacKissick muffed the snap, and ran it out for a key first down. Late in the quarter, Blanchard caught a pass from Santabarbara, and nearly went the distance before being tackled at the CBA 5 on the last play of the quarter. Two plays into the fourth quarter, Santabarbara ran it in himself, and Guilderland took the lead for good at 14-7.
Blanchard, MacKissick, and the Dutchmen defense shut down CBA after that, and after Chrysler intercepted a pass from Donald Jones, Blanchard put the game away with a 28 yard field goal. Chrysler made sure of it with another pick, this one off starting QB Jack Gregory, on CBA's final possession, and Guilderland moves into 3rd with a 17-7 win. CBA, due to the tiebreakers, falls to 4th, and will close the regular season next week against second place Shenendehowa, knowing they could see either Guilderland or Shaker again, pending the results of next week's games.
Going back to week 1 at Troy, Santabarbara was repeatedly misidentified by Troy's PA announcer as junior Michael Scuzzarella, whom we credited that night, though both players' names were on the program.
So what did in CBA? The same bugaboos that hurt coach Bob Burns at Troy over six seasons. Penalties. Defensive & offensive lapses. Turnovers, even though the Brothers had created three of their own on defense. The two interceptions by Chrysler in the fourth quarter made all the difference in the world. Unlike Troy, CBA couldn't recover due to Guilderland's swarming, smothering defense.
Earlier this week, election mailers in Troy revealed that Burns is not running for re-election to the Rensselaer County Legislature, and his schedule at CBA is likely the reason why.
Update, 10/21/21: Burns is running for re-election, but as an independent this time, having left the Democratic party, per the Albany Times-Union.
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