When Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s John Gload takes the field, his motor never stops running.

“Everything he does, I mean, I'm just telling you, like when he does warm ups, we’re just trying to do a walk through, and this kid, he just goes,” said Kevin DeBonis, head coach at Burnt Hills. “That's his speed, which is awesome.”

What You Need To Know

  • Burnt Hills is currently 0-1, while Columbia is 1-0 heading into Week 1

  • Burnt Hills defeated Columbia in the Section 2 quarterfinal playoffs last season

  • Kickoff is set for 7p.m. Friday night at Columbia High School and on Spectrum News 1

That’s just the way Gload is, ever since he started playing football in the second grade.

“The success of this program meant a lot to me because winning means a lot to me,” said Gload, a running back and linebacker for the Spartans. “No matter what, we need to win. And that's when I started falling in love with the sport.”

Now as a senior and a captain, Gload is making sure the Spartans remain one of the top programs in Section 2.

“I just want to be a part of this team,” Gload said. “No matter what it takes. I don't care about the stats. I don't care about any of that. I just want a winning program.”

After falling to Section 9’s Cornwall last week 33-14, Gload and his teammates are looking for its first win of the season when the Spartans travel to Columbia for this Class A matchup Friday night.

“Disheartening. You'd like to win that. But we took a lot of positives away from it,” said DeBonis, who is currently in his second season leading Burnt Hills. “And hopefully learning this week from it, and then can apply it Friday night.”

“We know what we do best. We know what we need to work on, and we just get better every week from there,” Gload said.

The last time the Burnt Hills and the Blue Devils met, Gload had his fingerprints all over the quarterfinal playoff win. Columbia is coming off a Week 0 win over Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk 28-7.

“It's a tough team every time you play them," said Jake Preston, Columbia's head coach. "We're happy to be home this time. Hopefully that fairs well for us."

“The ceiling is our limit. Like how we want to go, we can go. We just got to stay as a team," said Chris Carter Jr., a senior wide receiver for the Blue Devils. 

As for Burnt Hills, that same effort and motor, Gload knows, will be need once again in order to make sure the Spartans get off to a positive start in Section 2.

“Hard work, dedication and countless hours of studying. And just keep, keep, keep working,” Gload said.

Kickoff is set for 7p.m. Friday night at Columbia High School and on Spectrum News 1.