By 
AVERILL PARK – The start was sluggish, but a second quarter scoring blitz cured the early game ailments the Averill Park football team was feeling in its Section 2 Class B semifinal against LaSalle.
After trailing 14-0 into the second quarter, the Golden Knights reeled off 27 straight points to close the first half and added one more score in the third to pull away from the Cadets for a 34-14 home win Friday night.
Averill Park (9-1 overall) will face unbeaten Glens Falls in next week's Super Bowl in a rematch of the 2025 final, won by the Black Bears 47-7.
"We've been there the last couple of years, it never gets old, it's always fun," Averill Park coach Zach Gobel said. "It is more time that I get to spend with these young men and these coaches and I'll take it. These guys have put in the time and the effort in the offseason, they do what we ask them to do in practice. They are high character guys."
Junior quarterback Mason Sansone rushed for 129 yards and three touchdowns on just six carries to spearhead the Averill Park offense. Safety Braeden Kilgallon led the defense with a pair of interceptions, the first of which he returned 17 yards for an interception to give the Golden Knights their first lead of the game at 20-14.
Kilgallon's touchdown came 24 seconds after Sansone tied the game with an 11-yard touchdown run.
"Just playing deep, but I saw the quarterback's eyes, front shoulder intention, coach always tells us front shoulder intention, go up and attack the ball," Kilgallon said. "We made a few adjustments, we did what we needed to do and got the job done."
Key moment
Trailing 14-0 and with its offense stagnant, Averill Park got the jolt it needed when Griffin Baker found a seam up the middle on a kickoff return and sprinted 79 yards for a touchdown to cut the Averill Park deficit to 14-7 with eight minutes, 27 seconds to play in the first half.
"I was just looking the ball in and I saw a hole and I just hit it as hard as I could," Baker said. "We were down 14-0, we needed to get something going so I went out there and did what I could do."
Averill Park went on to score touchdowns on its next three offensive possessions and added another on Kilgallon's pick-six.
"That woke us up and there was another dude (Kilgallon) with a pick-six and another dude (Sansone) who decided to run the ball so that worked out all right," Gobel said.
Star of the game
Sansone completed 4-of-6 passes for 47 yards, but did his damage with his legs as he correctly read the LaSalle defensive alignment.
After his 11-yard score tied the game in the second quarter, Sansone's patience in the backfield as he waited for a hole to develop resulted in a 56-yard touchdown run just two plays after Kilgallon's second interception of the half gave Averill Park a 27-14 lead with 52 seconds left in the first half.
"We have a shot every game to come back and win it, pump each other up on the sideline is how you get back in the game, energy, it is the most important thing," Sansone said. "Coach told me before the game, if they drop eight (into pass coverage), run the ball if you see a seam. His game plan was perfect, it worked. The offensive line was phenomenal, they were giving me holes left and right."
Coming out of halftime and with the ball, Sansone again displayed patience as the offensive line opened a hole and the junior took off for a 59-yard touchdown run on the first play of the third quarter to increase the lead to 34-14.
Numbers to know
207:Passing yards by LaSalle quarterback Jason Poremba, who completed 13 of 27 attempts.
11.72:Yards per rush for Averill Park in the game as the Golden Knights accounted for 258 yards rushing on 22 carries.
3:Interceptions recorded by the Averill Park defense. Kilgallon had two of them, and Landen Welcome had the other.
What's next
La Salle:The loss ends La Salle's season with a 5-5 record.
Averill Park:The Golden Knights head to the Class B Super Bowl to face Glens Falls on Nov. 14 at 3:30 p.m. at Shenendehowa High School.
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This article originally published at Averill Park football surges after slow start to return to Class B Super Bowl.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/averill-park-football-surges-slow-040953519.html
