NORTH TONAWANDA — Christian Earnst lifted the inhaler to his lips and took a deep breath.
He was about to play in front of his biggest audience of the season, against his school’s biggest rival and Earnst came down with a virus. He made sure his inhaler was on the sideline, though, as he tested his lungs by running through, around and past the Tonawanda defense.
In a rivalry that has created 115 games worth of memories, Earnst cemented himself as one of the best T-NT Classic performers ever. It would have been hard to believe Earnst could top his 208-yard, three-touchdown outing against Tonawanda a year ago, but he figured out a way.
It took four plays before Earnst hit paydirt on a 32-yard touchdown run and then he returned to the end zone three more times before getting his final carry with roughly two minutes to play. Earnst finished with 212 yards and four touchdowns on 13 carries, leading North Tonawanda a 52-18 win Friday.
“I think that everything was just working,” Earnst said. “Everything was just flowing. The O-line was doing their job and clearly it showed.”
In three T-NT games, Earnst ran for 422 yards, just a portion of his 2,542 career yards. The third player in school history to crack 2,000 yards, Earnst rolled to 212 yards despite his team’s 2-6 record.
Earnst followed up his 32-yard jaunt with scoring runs of 23 and a pair of 46-yard touchdowns as North Tonawanda ran up its series record against Tonawanda to 74-32-9.
“Christian’s a dynamic back,” North Tonawanda head coach Chris Tideswell said. “He reads the hole well. He hits it well. He has great cutbacks. I’m definitely going to miss him next year. He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever coached, on the field and off the field.”
Mitchell Sayeta scored on a 60-yard kickoff return in the second quarter, while Jacob Smith had a rushing score. Andrew Williams Jr. added a 37-yard touchdown pass and a 47-yard rushing score.{h2 style=”text-align: center;”}NT defense applies pressure on Tonawanda
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As if putting 52 points wasn’t enough, North Tonawanda received complementary play from its defense. The Lumberjacks brought pressure from both sides of Tonawanda’s offense, sacking quarterback Cole Keleman four times.
Coming into the game with just 44 points all season, Tonawanda (0-8) momentarily stayed in the game by answering a 14-point hole on the first of Keleman’s two touchdown passes, this time a 10-yard toss to Ethan Rojas.
But North Tonawanda was able to button up its defense, forcing five punts and three interceptions from Williams, Preston Manzare and Eli Ortiz. Keleman ultimately finished the game 12 of 27 for 180 yards.
“We knew what they were going to do,” Tideswell said. “We just played with confidence and it was great.”