PLATTSBURGH — If one wanted a track meet Friday night, they would’ve had it during the first quarter of the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference game between Plattsburgh and Peru.
The first five drives of the game had touchdown plays of no less than 59 yards, often happening within the first three plays of a drive beginning.
Sawyer Schlitt opened the scoring with a dash of 78 yards as the Nighthawks opened in a Wing-T formation. Schlitt would close out the scoring session of the first quarter with a 59 yard dash with just under seven minutes to go in the quarter.
Between Schlitt’s two touchdowns were two bombs by Plattsburgh’s Dan Hartmann. The first was a 62-yard connection with Braden Calkins followed by a 65-yard pass to Dom DeAngelo as he ran a crossing pattern.
Peru’s Wyatt Bridges scored between Hartmann’s passes as he gashed the Hornet defense, on a fake to Schlitt, for 65 yards.
The scoring was frantic and fast paced. After grabbing a 20-14 lead, the Nighthawks got their feet under them and clamped down.
“At that point, everyone started to get calm,” Peru linebacker Elliot Supley said. “Everyone started to know their roles.
“There might have been a few slip ups, but everyone started to understand their roles and come together as a team, and we played pretty good defense for the most part.”
While the game slowed and continued, the one thing you never want to see happen at a game occurred.
Plattsburgh senior linebacker, Tristan Russell, walked off the field and collapsed on the sideline. Medical personnel rushed to take care of him and the game was halted on an extra point attempt.
An ambulance was rushed to the scene and he was taken to the hospital for further observation.
After the announcement of a halt of the first half, both Peru and Plattsburgh players gathered at midfield and said a prayer together.
“Our heart and our prayers are, you know, with Tristan,” Peru head coach Ryon O’Connell said. “And I think it’s bigger than football, and his health was more important than any football game that anybody will play. It’s important that we came together and, you know, as a community, PHS and Peru we wish him the best.”
As of this writing, Tristan is out of the hospital and back home recovering.
Plattsburgh High Athletic Director Chris Hartmann said he should make a full recovery and that the entire community is behind him.
Back to Friday where players and coaches eventually headed to their respective areas to wind down and prepare to continue play. It was a unique situation to be in as play had been halted for roughly 30-45 minutes.
But, the game must go on.
“It’s a long delay,” Supley said. “You don’t want to be sore, like, start letting get cold. So we all knew that they were gonna come back out and play hard, and play for [Russell]
“We didn’t flip off a football mindset. We kept it off. We talked football the whole time. We just stayed together. We all, we all kept each other good. We all let each other know that we never know when the last time we could play football. So we all just kept our heads on.”
Supley had a personal highlight for himself in the second quarter that he was relishing after the game.
On the first play after the Nighthawks extended a drive for the Hornets, Supley intercepted a Hartmann pass and took it to the house. His teammates blocked for him and cheered as he ran the 40 yards to push the Peru lead.
“It’s super exciting. Senior linebacker, I’ve been looking for that moment forever, and I saw that ball come to me. I caught it, and I just knew I had to go. I don’t even I don’t even remember it. I just ran as fast as I could.”
With the second half beginning on an extra point attempt by Peru’s Maggie Garrow, the game had a different atmosphere as players continued to push to the end.
One thing Peru did was try to slow DeAngelo, and they did for the most part. DeAngelo still finished with 131 yards receiving and a touchdown.
“Dom D’Angelo is an amazing wide receiver,” Schlitt said. “So the game plan coming into this football game is basically just stay on him, double up, keep our assignments, blitz our gaps.
“I think in the end, we really did a great job blitzing and giving [Hartmann] some pressure, because when we gave him too much time to throw, he made some amazing throws.”
Hartmann closed out the Hornet scoring on a four yard scrambler in the third quarter. In the fourth, the Hornets tried valiantly to close the gap, but two touchdowns by Peru — including a one yard plunge from Brady O’Connell — closed the game out.
Hartmann did finish with 250 yards and three interceptions on 10-30 passing. He was just under duress for a majority of the game, as he was sacked 10+ times on the night.
“Two weeks ago, when we played, we responded well in the second quarter,” Ryon O’Connell said. “I thought we responded again today.
“You know, give PHS credit, they jumped on us early. But going forward, we have to be better coming out of the gate. Great first play for us, but then we got to be able to switch over to defense and make a big stop to keep the momentum. “
Up next for Peru (1-1, 1-0) is rival Beekmantown (2-1, 1-0), Friday at the Apple Bowl.
Schlitt, Supley and Ryon O’Connell all stated the need to have a good week of practice and fix the mistakes — penalties, fumbles, assignments — as they prepare for the Eagles.
“[Beekmantown is] always a great team,” Schlitt said. “I think we really need to nail it down in practice.
“We do have a lot of mistakes during practice, and I think this week we’re really gonna get it down. We’re gonna keep our mistakes down. We’re just gonna try to be more sound and listen better. Be under control.”
Peru 54, Plattsburgh High 22
PCS 20 19 1 14 – 54
PHS 14 0 8 0 – 22
First quarter
PCS- Schlitt 78 run (Garrow kick).
PHS- Calkins 66 pass from Hartmann (LaDue run).
PCS- Bridges 67 run (kick failed).
PHS- DeAngelo 66 pass from Hartmann (run failed).
PCS- Schlitt 59 (Garrow kick).
Second quarter
PCS- Schlitt 22 run (Garrow kick).
PCS- Supley 51 interception return (kick missed).
PCS- Schlitt 11 run.
Third quarter
PCS- (Garrow kick).
PHS- Hartmann 4 run (Hartmann pass from DeAngelo).
Fourth quarter
PCS- Carpenter 23 pass from Frechette (Garrow kick).
PCS- O’Connell 1 run (Garrow kick).
Individual statistics
Rushing
PCS- Schlitt 20-198, 4TD; Bridges 3-78, TD; Hendrix 1-21; Carpenter 2-6; Frechette 6-(-2); Porter 1-17; Team 1-(-1); O’Connell 1-1, TD. Totals: 35-318, 6TD.
PHS- Hartmann 12-(-59), TD; Calkins 3-(-8); Brooks 1-(-3); DeAngelo 1-(-1); Rickson 1-5; Team 1-(-1). Totals: 19-(-67), TD.
Passing
PCS- Frechette 7-12-0-109, TD; O’Connell 0-1-0-0. Totals: 7-13-0-109, TD.
PHS- Hartmann 10-30-3-250, 2TD; DeAngelo 0-1-1-0. Totals: 10-31-4-250, 2TD.
Receiving
PCS- Schlitt 1-11; Starke 2-50; Taylor 3-25; Carpenter 1-23, TD.
PHS- Calkins 3-110, TD; LaDue 1-8; DeAngelo 5-131, TD; Brooks 1-1.
Interceptions
PCS- Starke; Supley, TD; Bridges; Carpenter.