MINEVILLE — Hard nosed, gritty and gutsy. That’s the football Moriah is used to playing.
Friday night, they played their brand of football in a 18-7 victory over Saranac.
“I think the kids played gutsy, tough physical Moriah football,” Moriah head coach Casey Nephew said. “You know they’ve kind of bought into being physical and ball control and they did a nice job with that today. The whole team, all of our kids, from the first guy to the last guy on the roster, have been working hard and it really has shown the last couple weeks.”
And the Vikings have improved since dropping their first two contests to open the season. After scoring a total of eight points against Greenwich and Plattsburgh High, Moriah (2-2, 2-1 CVAC) has scored 38 against Saranac Lake and Saranac.
“That’s what our hope is,” Nephew said. “You know, continue to get better and be playing your best football late in the year. We have a really good group of kids that are working hard and want to be good football players and a good football team and it’s really really enjoyable for the coaches.”
After Saranac scored to take a 7-6 lead in the second quarter, Moriah responded as halftime approached to take a 12-7 lead. Momentum started to swing the Vikings’ way on that final drive and Nephew said it carried over into the remainder of the game.
“It seemed like when we were driving late in the first half, the kids were confident that they were going to score, and you know they kind of carried that into halftime,” he said. “And you know defensively, we’ve been very, very tough. Saranac’s got a lot of explosive athletes, and I think we did a pretty good job containing them for the most part today.”
After a turnover gave Moriah a short field at the start of the fourth quarter, Viking quarterback Joey Kazlo scored from 11 yards out to give his team an 18-7 lead.
However, on the ensuing kickoff, the Spartans’ Lincoln Wilkerson returned it to the Moriah five-yard line. If Moriah’s Austin Mandy didn’t catch Wilkerson, there’s no telling how the game could’ve ended.
“On that play, great hustle by Austin,” Kohin Sargent said. “If he didn’t make that tackle, it could have been a completely different game.”
But, the Vikings stood tall and forced the Spartans to turn the ball over on downs. It would be the last time Saranac had the ball as Moriah ran the final eight minutes off the clock.
In the end Skyler Frasier led the way with 29 carries for 98 yards and one score. Kazlo added nine carries for 46 yards while going 5-for-8 for 56 yards in the air.
His lone touchdown pass went to Sargent, as he accounted for all but four of Kazlo’s passing yards.
“If we have to throw it, we’ll throw it,” Nephew said. “You know, a few of our our big pass plays, Saranac came up to try to stop the run and you know pull the safety up a little bit closer, and and we had to take a couple shots, and you know that that is going to be key to us being successful is taking what the defense gives.”
While the offense got the points, the defense kept Saranac in check, limiting the Spartans to only 109 yards of total offense.
Skyler Walker led the rushing attack with 63 yards on seven carries. Quarterback Corbin Duffield finished 9-for-20 for 66 yards and one touchdown, which went to Antoney Bingham.
And the Vikings want to carry the momentum into Friday’s game against Peru. Frasier knows its a tall task facing the Nighthawks but he and his team have all the confidence in the world right now.
“Yeah, I feel like we have a lot of momentum,” Frasier said. “Like (Kazlo) said, our defense is probably top tier in stopping the run, and then our offense is really good at backing it up.”
—
Moriah 18, Saranac 7
MCS 6 6 0 6 – 18
SCS 0 7 0 0 – 7
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
M- Frasier 1 run (pass failed) 6:40
Second Quarter
S- Bingham 19 pass from Duffield (Pflanz kick) 6:45
M- Sargent 6 pass from Kazlo (pass field) :26
Fourth Quarter
M- Kazlo 11 run (kick failed) 9:34
Individual Statistics
Rushing
S- Walker 7-63. Pflanz 2-1, Team 1-(-1), Duffield 3-(-20). TOTALS: 13-43
M- Frasier 29-98, TD. Kazlo 9-46, TD. Mandy 5-(-3). Team 2-(-2). TOTALS: 45-139, 2 TD
Passing
S- Duffield 9-20-0-66, TD
M- Kazlo 5-9-0-56, TD
Receiving
S- McDevitt 3-12, Bingham 2-26, TD. D’Ambro 2-3, Walker 1-27, Smith 1-(-2)
M- Sargent 4-52, TD. Frasier 1-4