Smith, Booker speed by Shen

Guilderland backs total 242 yards, six scores in win

By TIM WILKIN, Staff writer
 First published: Saturday, October 13, 2007
Times Union

CLIFTON PARK -- Since they were both three or four years old, Paul Booker and Andrew Smith can't really remember doing anything without the other.

"If you see one of us, you're usually going to see the other one," Smith said Friday night. "Booker and Smith or Smith and Booker. We're like a law firm."

Shenendehowa High School football coach Brent Steuerwald and his Plainsmen saw way too much of the way too tough duo of the Guilderland football team.
Booker and Smith ran wild to lead the Dutchmen to a 34-21 win over the Plainsmen in the regular season finale for both teams.Guilderland, Shenendehowa and Ballston Spa all end the regular season with 6-1 records. The champion of the regular season will be decided by quarter points but all three will be in the playoffs next week.That didn't seem to matter at the moment on the chilly Shen campus. Everything was good for the Dutchmen, who beat the Plainsmen for the second straight year and ruined Senior Night for their opponents.
That was because Booker and Smith did whatever they wanted. Booker rushed the ball 15 times for 125 yards and scored four touchdowns and Smith had 117 yards in 12 carries, scored once and threw for another score as the Dutchmen frustrated Shenendehowa most of the night."This was just a huge game for us," said Booker, who said he didn't start playing football until eighth grade. "I never thought we would be here. It just means so much."Booker, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound senior running back, put the Dutchmen on the board with a 7-yard run in the second quarter and then showed his speed and quickness with a 21-yard burst on Guilderland's next possession.Then, with 1:30 left before the half ended, Booker hauled in a 48-yard scoring pass from Smith to make it 21-0."There was too much Smith, and if it wasn't Smith it was Booker," Steuerwald said. "Guilderland showed great versatility and we had a hard time tackling. That team should go far in the playoffs."
 

Shenendehowa did rally in the second half, cutting the lead to 21-14 on two third quarter touchdowns but Booker and Smith made sure there would be no last second rally. Booker scored on a 38-yard run and, after Jason Beard's 1-yard run kept Shen's thin hopes alive, Smith snuffed them out.He broke loose for a 60-yard run to put the game to bed." I am telling you, he (Booker) is mammoth," Smith, the senior quarterback, said. "It's so easy to see him to throw to him and no one was able to stop him." Guilderland coach Dan Penna said Booker was a tight end as a sophomore before being moved to the backfield. Good decision.
"Paul runs very hard, he runs extremely hard," Penna said. "He played well. I really don't know if too many people thought this was going to happen." Smith did.
"If we played our game, we knew this could happen," he said. "We're not shocked by this. We played our game."