SARANAC LAKE — After securing a nail-biting victory last week, the Saranac Lake football team turned in a strong all-around performance to claim a 33-8 victory over the Ticonderoga Sentinels on Friday evening.
Playing on homecoming day at the new Wilson Raymond Field, the Red Storm led 26-0 at halftime and were never really threatened the rest of the way. The team improves to 3-1 overall and remains undefeated in Champlain Valley Athletic Conference play.
Senior Scottie Nicholas paced Saranac Lake’s balanced offensive charge, running for a game-high 82 yards while adding two touchdowns on the ground. Fellow senior David Montroy also had a solid day, churning up 59 yards on the ground on 11 attempts.
Eight different Red Storm players recorded either a catch or a rush to combine for 237 yards of offense. Saranac Lake’s head coach Eric Bennett said any time they can disperse the ball like that, or get the ball in the hands of their playmakers, it makes it tough for the opposing defense to key in on one guy.
“So hopefully we can just keep getting better and develop that, and present some problems for opposing defenses,” he said.
Sophomore quarterback Evan Harvey had another efficient outing, completing seven of 10 passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns. Harvey ignited the Red Storm offense that scored touchdowns on their first five drives.
Ticonderoga, which moved back up to 11-man football this season, after playing two years of eight-man, started with the ball and went three-and-out and punted, giving Saranac Lake the ball at its own 27. The Red Storm then strung together a 14-play march, capped off by Harvey tossing a 20-yard touchdown pass to Alius Martelle.
After recovering a Sentinels’ fumble on the Ticonderoga 23-yard line, Nicholas needed just one play before reaching pay dirt to push the score to 12-0 at the end of the first quarter. Saranac Lake failed on both of its first 2-point conversion attempts.
On the Sentinels’ ensuing drive, the Red Storm’s Owen Lawrence intercepted a deep pass before returning the ball to the Ticonderoga 9-yard line. Three plays later, Martelle ran for his second score of the contest, pushing the advantage to 19-0, following a successful extra point kick by Lawrence.
Saranac Lake built on its lead as Lawrence scored on an 18-yard reception late in the second quarter, splitting past the Sentinels’ secondary before reaching the end zone. After the intermission, Nicholas returned the second half kickoff 52 yards, which set up his own score a few plays later on a 17-yard outside run. Lawrence then closed out his team’s scoring with his second successful extra point kick.
Bennett was proud of how his team executed on both sides of the ball.
“I thought that we had some good perimeter play with our offense, which loosened up some things for us,” he said. “And we played some stout (defense) again.”
It was the third straight game the Red Storm defense has held its opponent to just a single-digit score. The team has given up just two touchdowns and one field goal during that stretch.
Ticonderoga’s lone touchdown came on a 1-yard scamper from quarterback Jackson Dorsett, following a 14-play drive at the end of the third quarter. The Sentinels then converted on the 2-point attempt with a trick play that saw Dorsett hauling in a short pass from running back Evrit Drinkwine.
Ticonderoga’s offense finished the game with 136 rushing yards — most of which came in the second half. Blaek Peters ran for 74 yards to lead his team, while Brady Kennedy, a linebacker filling in for an injured player, recorded 46 yards on the ground.
The Sentinels have now fallen to 0-4 to kick off the season, while Saranac Lake pushed its win streak to three games. But Bennett said his team isn’t focused on that; instead, they’re just looking to go 1-0 next week.
“That’s our goal and our kids are focused,” he said. “They know that at the end of the day, what you do now is what matters. So we’re not going to get too caught up in what our record is. We’re just going to come out, practice hard, and hopefully have a victory (in our next game).”
The Red Storm will hit the road for the first time this season. They’ll take on the Plattsburgh Hornets at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The Hornets are currently 0-4, and most recently lost to the Moriah Vikings 48-22 on Friday.
—
Saranac Lake 33, Ticonderoga 8
TCS 0 0 8 0 – 8
SLCS 12 14 7 0 – 33
Scoring Summary
First quarter
SL- Martelle 20 pass from E. Harvey (pass failed), 4:42.
SL- S. Nicholas 23 run (run failed), 3:15.
Second quarter
SL- Martelle 7 run (O. Lawrence kick), 11:08.
SL- O. Lawrence 18 pass from E. Harvey (O. Lawrence kick), 2:05.
Third quarter
SL- S. Nicholas 17 run (O. Lawrence kick), 8:30.
T- Dorsett 1 run (Dorsett pass from Drinkwine), 0:05.
Individual statistics
Rushing
T- Peters 18-74; S. Frasier 3-(-2); Blanchard 2-3; Drinkwine 4-22; Kennedy 6-46; Dorsett 1-1, TD; Team 1-(-8). Totals: 35-136, TD.
SL- S. Nicholas 5-82, 2TD; E. Harvey 4-15; Montroy 11-59; Martelle 1-7, TD; Kilbourne-Hill 1-(-1); M. Nicholas 1-3; Webb-Brown 1-(-3). Totals: 24-162, 3TD.
Passing
T- Dorsett 2-5-1-(-7).
SL- E. Harvey 7-10-0-75, 2TD.
Receiving
T- Blanchard 1-(-5); Bechtold 1-(-2).
SL- Martelle 3-44, TD; O. Lawrence 3-29, TD; Webb-Brown 1-2.
Interceptions
SL- O. Lawrence.