TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Past the midway point of the regular season, the Niskayuna football team looks to be miles ahead of the competition in Class A.
While they haven’t faced a team from the Grasso Division yet, and won’t until sectionals, Nisky is the only state-ranked Section 2 squad in the class, and is having its way so far with its Capital Division foes.
Following a league-opening, 49-7 victory over Bethlehem two weeks ago, Brian Grastorf’s bunch went on the road Friday night and ripped past Troy, securing a 51-13 victory.
“We knew Troy was probably going to be near the top [of the division],” said head coach Brian Grastorf. “To get homefield advantage in the playoffs, to get that one seed, we knew we’d have to take care of business tonight. They got some talented players; they’re tough up front. But our guys stepped up to the challenge, and executed tonight.”
Entering the week, Troy appeared to be the biggest potential divisional threat to Niskayuna. The Flying Horses defeated Columbia in their Capital Division opener, and were riding a three-game win streak into Friday’s matchup.
But they proved no match for the eighth-ranked team in the state, as Niskayuna raced out to a 31-0 halftime edge, and scored the first 51 points of the contest.
To the surprise of no one that’s familiar with this team, senior wide receiver Cameron Grasso led Nisky in the victory. He accounted for four touchdowns – three of which came in the first half – and the total yardage of those four scores amounted to 215.
But before he even lined up at receiver, Grasso made his impact felt, returning the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown to put Niskayuna on the scoreboard in a flash. Later in the quarter, the future UAlbany Great Dane took a pass from Thomas Boler 61 yards to the house, extending the margin to double digits.
Nisky opened up the second stanza with a 28-yard field goal from Owen Sanderson. The senior placekicker was busy with PATs the remainder of the quarter, as Boler threw two more touchdown strikes of 23 and 47 yards to Brandon Merrill and Grasso, respectively.
The start of the second half proved just as disastrous for Troy as the start of the first. The Flying horses muffed the opening kickoff, and Niskayuna recovered it. Moments later, Boler linked up with Grasso once more – this time from 32 yards out – and the visitor’s lead swelled to 38 points.
Nisky kept the ball primarily on the ground the rest of the way, and that resulted in a pair of rushing touchdowns; one from Omari Forrest and the other courtesy of Caleb Johnson.
Troy managed to avoid the shutout, as Nymiear Jenkins reaching the end zone twice in the final stanza.
Niskayuna (4-1, 2-0) will look to keep rolling next week against winless La Salle. Troy (3-2, 1-1) has a chance to bounce back with 1-4 Bethlehem coming to town.
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