Burnt Hills is on the road this week for the playoffs…YES, you read that right and YES it’s been a long time since we have said that. It’s true though. The Spartans will be taking on Averill Park on Friday night. 

Anyone who follows high school football understands you just don’t want to play Burnt Hills, regardless. Listen, Averill Park is very good again this season, but even they know what Burnt Hills can do. AP Head Coach Zach Gobel says, “They know how to win, they play tough football games and they always get up especially if they think they’re the underdogs.”

Coach Gobel is very familiar with Burnt Hills. His son Rece played football for Matt Shell. His wife is a teacher in the Burnt Hills district and Gobel said he really likes Burnt Hills, he just likes Averill Park a little bit better. Gobel had a huge smile on his face when we were talking about Burnt Hills. He said the closeness of the coaching staffs and his relationship to Burnt Hills makes these games ever more fun.

You might remember a few years ago these two met during the regular season on our air and Burnt Hills won 28-27. Averill Park actually went for two and the win at the end of the game and came up just short. Gobel brought that game up in our conversation this week. We still talk about how great of a game that was. He says they’d go for two and the win again.

This is a big game. It’s win or go home time. Averill Park has played in a lot of big games in recent years and they’ve won some big games, but Gobel and the players say the next step is winning those big games more consistently. This would be a good place to start.

The line for Averill Park this year is small, but they’re fast. They use that to their advantage. Senior lineman Mike Minehan talked this week about using that speed and protecting his quarterback and running backs. Dan McShane was really impressive earlier this season when we saw Averill Park. It was a loss to Troy, but the junior was outstanding. He’s strong and was just breaking through tackles. You can tell just talking to him that he’s a team first player. I tried to ask about his season and things he did in the offseason to prepare and he always brought it back to the team. ‘We want to win a Super Bowl, we lifted together through the summer.’ Great to hear those things.

Burnt Hills has been on our air every year since we’ve started doing games. There aren’t many other teams that can say that. The reason: they’re good every year. I think people might be surprised they are 4-3 on the season. One loss was to Class AA Bethlehem, one was last week to Queensbury and the other was on our air against Ballston Spa. 

Matt Shell said mid-season they had a lot of guys in new positions and he was pleased at that point with how players were adapting. As we know, things change. Burnt Hills started to play some tougher teams and took some losses. The entire offensive line was new for Burnt Hills this season and we saw that a bit in that game against Ballston Spa. I have a feeling we might see a rejuvenated Spartans team this week. Matt Shell, I’m sure, has watched a ton of game film on Averill Park and they will try to beat the more experienced team.

Class AA and Class D have one more week of the regular season remaining. Classes A, B and C start the playoffs on Friday.