On Friday, the teams squared off for the first time since Oct. 2014, and the night belonged to the Red Storm as they came through with a 38-22 victory on the Lumberjacks’ home turf at Frank Tice Field.

It marked the beginning of a two-game “Fall II” season for Saranac Lake and the end of the line for the Lumberjacks, who fell in a close contest in Malone on Sunday, April 18 in the only other game they would play in their short season.

After easily giving up ground on Tupper Lake’s first offensive possession and falling behind 8-0, Saranac Lake reeled off 38 unanswered points on the way to keeping the Mayor’s Cup trophy awarded to the winner of the game.

“I thought the game went exactly like we explained to our kids,” Saranac Lake head coach Eric Bennett said. “We told our kids that it was going to take a quarter to get our legs under us and it was exactly that. I was excited our kids believed in the game plan. They executed the game plan, they didn’t panic and were able to string together some plays to come out with the win.”

Tupper Lake senior Noah Varden picks up yards against Saranac Lake Friday during his final high school football game. Varden finished with a game-high 155 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 37 carries. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Seniors Rhett Darrah and David Warner accounted for four of Saranac Lake’s touchdowns. Warner caught a pair of Darrah scoring strikes that went for 37 and 20 yards and also reached the end zone on a 19-yard run. Darrah scampered for a 5-yard touchdown, and Carter Hewitt tacked on the Red Storm’s other touchdown on a 14-yard run.

Playing his final football game for Tupper Lake, senior Noah Varden paced the Lumberjacks with 155 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns on runs of 3 and 18 yards. Junior Grant Godin picked up the ‘Jacks other score on a 17-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Jayden Farnsworth.

Saranac Lake started the game with the ball and found room to move right off the bat, advancing from its own 25 to Tupper Lake’s 14-yard line. A fumble, however, ended the march, and the Lumberjacks took over at their own 20. They put together a 14-play scoring drive capped off by Varden’s 3-yard run into the end zone. Godin followed on the conversion play, grabbing a Farnsworth pass to give Tupper Lake an 8-0 edge with 1:12 left in the first quarter.

But the host’s lead didn’t last long as the Red Storm put touchdowns on the board during their next three possessions. Warner scored the first one, snagging a 37-yard Darrah pass 1:05 into the second quarter. Darrah completed the 2-point conversion throw to Jon Kratz to tie the game at 8-8.

Tupper Lake was then plagued by turnovers. The Lumberjacks coughed up the ball three plays into their second possession, and lineman Sawyer Trudeau recovered for Saranac Lake at the Tupper Lake 28. Three plays later, Darrah was in the end zone on his 5-yard run. Hewitt tacked on two points on the conversion run to put the Red Storm on top 16-8 with 8:45 left in the second quarter.

After having first-quarter touchdown runs of 75 and 60 yards nullified by penalties, Saranac Lake’s Carter Hewitt dives over the goal line for a score that counted in Friday’s game at Tupper Lake. (Enteprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Tupper Lake fumbled again on its next march, and Saranac Lake took over at its own 34. The Red Storm then went five plays with Warner capping off the march with a 20-yard touchdown catch. Darrah connected with Kratz again on a conversion pass to send the Red Storm into halftime on top 24-8.

Saranac Lake scored two more times in a span of 70 seconds early in the third quarter to take control with Hewitt running for a 14-yard touchdown and Warner reaching the end zone on a 19-yard run.

“I never expected this,” Warner said. “With this COVID, I never thought I would see a field again after last year losing to Gouverneur, but here we are. My senior year, I can’t complain.

“The first quarter, like our coach said, ‘It’s going to be different for us. We haven’t played football since 2019.’ He was right,” Warner continued. “It took us a quarter and then that second quarter, we came out firing on all cylinders. Everything was going well. Our line was blocking well, Rhett was throwing beautiful balls and running well. One more game to go.”

The Lumberjacks tacked on the final two touchdowns of the game to close the gap on the scoreboard a bit. Godin hauled in his 18-yard pass in the corner of the end zone with 1:36 remaining in the third and Varden rounded out the scoring on an 18-yard run with 6:02 remaining in the game.

Tupper Lake’s offensive line and Saranac Lake’s defenders advance on the snap of the ball during Friday’s game at Frank Tice Field. (Enteprise photo — Lou Reuter)

“It was fun. It was short season, it was cramped, but we really enjoyed it,” Tupper Lake head coach Dennis Klossner. “The kids gave us a great effort for the three weeks or so of playing. I couldn’t be any more proud. Saranac Lake has a really nice team, and I was happy to see our kids started coming back a little bit.

“I will give Eric Bennett and Saranac Lake credit for being a class act as they finished off the game there getting people in and out,” Klossner added. “I think we were classy out there. We played hard for a two-game season. Trying to put an offense and defense in, it was hard but it was fun. The kids really came through.”

Varden finished his two-game senior season with a whopping 476 rushing yards and six touchdowns. A week ago, he ran for a school record 321 yards and scored four times in the 34-28 loss to the Huskies.

“It was very disappointing not coming out on top tonight,” Varden said. “Every single one of these boys showed up to practice and worked hard every day. They put their hearts into this team. It’s a shame that we couldn’t come out with a win, but we held our heads high. We showed courage and discipline throughout the game. We just made a few little mental mistakes. I can’t pass this team up for any other team in the world.

“Just playing the two games was fun. I’m just glad that we had a season,” Varden added. “I know every single one of these boys wanted a season in the fall. We didn’t get it and we were just holding out just to get something — glad we got to dip our feet in the water I guess. I have high hopes for the team next season. I just hope they keep up that heart and the Tupper Lake mentality.”

With the Mayor’s Cup back in its trophy case in the high school, Saranac Lake will play for a brand-new award, which is really an old milk jug, when it travels to face Beekmantown Friday in its second and final game of the season.

“We have an enthusiastic young crew, and I’m glad that we are able to give what we are able to give to our seniors, and now we’re looking to Beekmantown,” Bennett said. “We have a new trophy called the Milk Jug for that game. It’s awesome. It came from Moonstone Farm.

“I was thinking if we could have any games in these strange times, it would be cool to have something to play for, and 30 years from now, it would be cool to have this thing to continue,” Bennett continued. “Beekmantown is on board. They sent us a decal. Their’s on one side, our’s on the other — the start of a new tradition.”