Peru fends off Red Storm on the gridiron | News, Sports, Jobs

After the Red Storm scored its first touchdown to make the score 12-6, the Nighthawks responded by scoring 28 unanswered points on the way to a 47-14 victory over Saranac Lake, dropping the Red Storm’s overall record to 1-7.

Despite the loss, Saranac Lake head coach Eric Bennett was again proud of how his team has continued to battle this season.

“The scoreboard isn’t what we wanted but these kids are as consistent as it gets,” he said. “They keep battling, they persevere and they’re doing everything for the right reason. I really couldn’t be prouder of them.”

The Red Storm had its best offensive performance since its Week Two win over the Plattsburgh Hornets on Sept. 8, combining 254 yards of offense. Saranac Lake found success in the run game, with senior Logan Daunais-Martelle rushing for a game-high 121 yards on seven carries.

Saranac Lake players Emerson Sloan, left, Brady Owens, Carter Nicastro (63) and Riley Hadynski celebrate after Sloan scored Saranac Lake’s second touchdown of the game on Friday in Peru.
(Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

While trailing 19-6, Daunais-Martelle torched the Peru defense for a 21-yard carry — his fourth run of 15 yards or more — to the Nighthawks’ 37-yard line. However, the senior back suffered a game-ending injury on the play.

“That was a bit of a deflator because we were moving the ball,” Bennett said. “We were getting things going at our pace. I’m extremely bummed for him and I’ll be checking in with him soon. I really hope he is OK and I feel really bad for him as a human being.”

After the big gain, Saranac Lake’s offense struggled to pick up positive yardage and was forced to punt the ball back to the Nighthawks at their own 15.

On just 10 plays, Peru drove the length of the football field to extend its lead to 26-6 when senior quarterback Ethan Breen tossed an 11-yard pass to senior wide-out Preston Daniels, followed by a successful extra-point kick from Maggie Garrow. The sophomore kicker finished the game by converting on five of her six extra-point attempts.

Saranac Lake went three-and-out and punted on its next possession, giving the ball back to the Nighthawks at their own 33. After four plays, Peru reached the Red Storm’s 18-yard line. When Breen completed a short pass to teammate Trenton Taylor, but on the tackle, Saranac Lake’s Owen Muncil punched the ball away from Taylor, which landed right in the hands of Peru’s Gavin Theriault, a junior offensive guard. Theriault dashed 15 yards for the touchdown to give his team a 33-6 lead at halftime.

“I was happy with the way we came out early,” Nighthawks head coach Ryon O’Connell said. “We played a pretty solid football game. Coach Bennett does a great job with Saranac Lake. I thought our kids executed well and it was a good win.”

Peru turned in a dominating performance to claim its third straight victory while improving to 6-1 overall. The Nighthawks found success in the passing game with quarterbacks Breen and Jake Frechette recording 260 yards on 20 competitions while scoring two touchdowns.

O’Connell said the team originally came into the contest with a balanced gameplan, but the passing game kept working, so they stuck with it.

Seven different Nighthawks running backs combined to record 165 yards and five touchdowns. Sawyer Schlitt led the way, scoring three Peru touchdowns while piling up 87 yards on seven carries before an injury in the first half sidelined him for the remainder of the contest.

Senior Landen Duprey had a strong performance in the win, finishing as the game’s top receiver with 118 yards on 6 catches. Duprey was one of 13 Nighthawks to either record a catch or carry the ball.

“It was good to get everybody in the game,” O’Connell said. “Everybody was catching or doing a little bit of something. They work hard all year and it was good to get them the ball too.”

Peru grabbed a 6-0 edge on their first offensive possession, with a four-play drive that was capped off by a 42-yard touchdown run by Schlitt with 4 minutes, 42 seconds into the first quarter.

On the ensuing drive, the Red Storm got off to a hot start when Daunais-Martelle carried the ball 32 yards on a misdirection play to the Saranac Lake 44. Bennett said his team was trying to get any advantage they could, with the trick plays.

The Red Storm drive was halted after three plays went nowhere, causing Saranac Lake to punt for the second straight drive.

After the Red Storm nearly stopped Peru on fourth down, Breen launched a 40-yard pass to Daniels, who was pushed out of bounds at the Saranac Lake 2. Schlitt scored on the next play to make the score 12-0.

The Red Storm got its first points within the first minute of the second quarter when junior quarterback Zack Goetz hooked up with senior Evan Willett on a 5-yard-scoring pass to cut the Nighthawks lead to 12-6. The drive was set up on four straight running plays from Daunais-Martelle, who churned up 66 yards on the drive.

Peru answered with the next four touchdowns to have things well in hand by the middle of the third quarter. Schlitt ran in for 1 yard to kick off the scoring barrage with 9:39 remaining in the second. Breen picked up his two passing touchdowns during that stretch and Zack Engstrom opened up the third quarter with a 21-yard scoring run.

Trailing 40-6, Saranac Lake added its second touchdown in the fourth quarter on a seven-play drive, capped off by a 7-yard touchdown run from Emerson Sloan. On the two-point conversion, the Red Storm players called their own trick play, which saw Willett take a direct snap to rush for the extra two points.

“In any other circumstance, I’d probably be losing it,” Bennett said. “But hats off to them. It was great and it’s good that they can have some fun out here in such a tough scenario.”

The Nighthawks closed out the game a few minutes later when Jakob Hailey took 5-yard handoff into the end zone. Peru will next play in the Section VII, Class B championship game on Nov. 4 against the winner of the semifinal game between Beekmantown and Plattsburgh.

Saranac Lake will take on the Saranac Central Spartans in the Section VII, Class C championship game on Saturday, Nov. 4 at a yet-to-be-determined neutral site. The Spartans, which won the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference regular season title, are currently 7-1.

Saranac Central defeated the Red Storm 42-14 in their lone match-up on Sept. 16. Bennett said motivating his players to be prepared for the championship game won’t be an issue.

“Lining up with a team like that … is the issue,” he said. “We have to put the time in, we need to — as coaches — get together as much as we can to put together a solid game plan and put our best foot forward.”

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Peru 47, Saranac Lake 14

Nighthawks 12 21 7 7 — 47

Red Storm 0 6 0 8 — 14

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Scoring

First Quarter

P — Schlitt 42 run (Run failed), 4:42

P — Schlitt 2 run (Kick failed), 9:13

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Second Quarter

SL — Willett 5 pass from Goetz (Pass intercepted), 00:51

P — Schlitt 1 run (Garrow kick), 2:31

P — Daniels 11 pass from Breen (Garrow kick), 7:32

P — Theriault 15 pass from Breen (Garrow kick), 11:04

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Third Quarter

P — Engstrom 17 run (Garrow kick), 1:28

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Fourth Quarter

SL — Sloan 7 run (Willett run), 4:45

P — Hailey 5 run (Garrow kick), 8:20

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Individual Statistics

RUSHING

P — Schlitt 7-86, 3TDs; Hailey 5-16, TD; Bridges 4-37; Engstrom 3-32, TD; Wiggins 1-3; Breen 1-2; Frechette 1-(-11). Totals: 22-165, 5 TDs.

SL — Daunais-Martelle 7-121; Willett 10-51; Muncil 6-28; Goetz: 4-33; Sloan 4-11, TD; Moffat 1-3; Coventry 1-(-7). Totals: 33-240, TD.

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PASSING

P — Breen 15-21-0-220, 2 TDs; Frechette 5-5-0-40. Totals: 20-26-0-260, 2TDs.

SL — Goetz 2-10-1-6, TD;Willett 1-2-0-8. Totals: 3-12-1-14, TD.

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RECEIVING

P — Engstrom 4-44; Daniels 4-58, TD; Duprey 6-118; Taylor 3-16; Timmons 1-(-2); Starke 1-10; Capan 1-1; Theriault 0-15, TD. Totals: 20-260, 2 TDs.

SL — Willett 2-6, TD; Muncil 1-8. Totals: 3-14, TD.

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INTERCEPTION

P — Supley.

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