Indian River knew what it had to do heading into its Class A state playoff football game against Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake on Friday at Watertown High School.

The Warriors, in their final season representing Section 10, were aware that to win they'd have to stop the Spartans' Paul Layton.

That task, however, was easier said than done.

Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake's senior quarterback accounted for four touchdowns, rushed for 178 yards and passed for 109 more as Section 2's Spartans dominated in their 35-12 win over Section 10/7's Warriors.

"It's bittersweet, honestly," Warriors quarterback Corey Brown said. "We had a great game, we had a great season. They were just a lot better than we thought they were."

Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake (11-0) was able to overcome its 2006 loss to Indian River and won its first state playoff game. The Spartans advanced to play Section 1's Nyack next weekend at Kingston.

Indian River (10-1) struggled to make stops defensively, and only four Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake drives ended without points. Layton missed a pair of field goals in the first half, but the Spartans were not forced to punt until late in the third quarter. The Warriors fourth stop came late in the game when the Spartans were playing mostly backups on offense and turned the ball over on downs.

"Our offense was great," Layton said. "Our offensive line opened a lot of holes and we were able to run the sweep effectively, which opened up the passing game."

The Spartans opened the scoring in the first quarter following a Curtis Dukes fumble. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake set out on a 10-play, 68-yard drive during which they averaged 6.2 yards per carry. The Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake offensive line smothered the Indian River defensive front, setting the tone for the rest of the game.

"They were on us and moving us," Indian River coach Cory Marsell said. "They were quick on us and we should've been getting off the ball better than we were."

The drive was capped off on a 14-yard run by Layton, who then added the extra point.

The Spartans scored again on their next drive and overcame a pair of holding penalties that negated long gains by running backs Brandon Beatty and Nicholas Henderson.

On third-and-four from the 29-yard line, Layton used play-action to draw the Indian River safeties before throwing a rainbow to the back-right corner of the end zone and the outstretched hands of Kraig Page.

The Warriors were finally able to score in the closing moments of the first half following Layton's second field-goal miss of the game. Dukes opened the drive with a pair of 10-yard runs. Zane Fish completed a pair of passes for 52 yards and eventually scored on a 5-yard keeper.

Dukes finished the game with 165 yards on 19 carries for Indian River.

The Spartans outgained the Warriors only 195-163 in the first half, but Indian River struggled to finish drives as its quarterbacks found themselves under constant pressure from Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake's line.

"They're a very quick team," Brown said. "I give props to our line. Our line stuck it out. They were throwing the blitzes hard."

The teams traded scores in the third quarter as Layton scored on a 1-yard plunge and point-after kick. Brown connected on a 37-yard pass to Andre Green on the following drive. Indian River's try for a 2-point conversion was unsuccessful, however, and the score was 21-12 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Spartans added a pair of touchdowns in the fourth as Tyler Paluba scored on a 4-yard run followed by Layton's 12-yard draw.

The Warriors watched as a pair of fourth-quarter drives ended due to turnovers. A fumble on their own 40 led to Layton's third score, and Fish threw an interception on the second play of the ensuing drive.

"We just couldn't finish things like we should've finished them," Marsell said. "I attribute that to their defense."