Saturday’s contest between Saranac Lake and Saranac Central may have had a season’s worth of both.

In the end, a record-setting passing performance by the Chiefs turned out to be the decisive factor. With junior quarterback Luke Maye leading the way, Saranac defeated Saranac Lake 34-29 to improve to 2-0 while handing the Red Storm their second straight loss to start the schedule.

In a see-saw battle at Ken Wilson Field, junior wideout Jacob Nolan scored the winning points with 1:47 left in the game when he carried a 56-yard strike from Maye into the corner of the end zone. Four offensive plays earlier, the Red Storm razzled and dazzled their way to a 29-28 lead on a hook-and-lateral touchdown and a crafty two-point conversion pass.

The Chiefs only ran 16 times for 16 yards, but when it came to airing it out, they were unstoppable. Utilizing four fast, athletic receivers, Maye completed 22 of 43 attempts for five touchdowns and a new Section VII record of 414 passing yards. Maye’s top target was Jacob Nolan, who hauled in three touchdown passes and had eight catches overall for 188 yards. Andy LeBeau also had a touchdown catch and six receptions for 107 yards, and Isaac Garman made eight grabs for 97 yards and a touchdown.

Saranac Central quarterback Luke Maye gets set to unload a pass while Red Storm lineman Jonathan Hewitt applies pressure during the second half of Saturday’s game. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Saranac Lake scored 21 unanswered points to erase a 14-0 first-half deficit, but ultimately fell short during a fourth quarter that saw the lead change hands three times.

“They made plays all over the field,” said Saranac Lake head coach Eric Bennett. “They made big plays when they had to and came out on top. They have athletes all over the place and that presented a lot of problems for us today.”

Saranac had trouble moving the ball early, going three-and-out on its first set of downs, but struck quickly on the third possession when Maye and Nolan hooked up on a 71-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass. Nolan also recorded the game’s next touchdown on a 19-yard catch on the opening play of the second quarter to cap off a 10-play, 58-yard drive. The scoring play came with the Chiefs facing a fourth-and-11 situation.

Trailing 14-0, Saranac Lake finally kicked its run game in gear, and it worked effectively for much of the game. The Red Storm’s only two ball carriers on the day were running back Jarrett Ashton and quarterback DJ. Morgan, and they combined for 292 yards on 52 attempts. Ashton finished with three rushing touchdowns and 173 yards, while Morgan ran for 116 yards on 19 carries.

Jonathan Hewitt, a junior lineman, was also credited with a 1-yard gain when he fell on a fumble after a Chiefs defender popped the ball loose from Ashton.

Ashton scored Saranac Lake’s first touchdown on an 8-yard run that capped off a 74-yard march that was all on running plays.

The Red Storm evened the score at 14-14 when Ashton banged across the goal line on a 2-yard dive and Morgan followed with a successful 2-point conversion pass to Jacob Shipman.

The game was deadlocked at halftime, and the Red Storm jumped ahead when they took the opening possession of the third quarter 60 yards for a score. Ashton capped off the advance with 22-yard touchdown run, and he then tacked on another point on the conversion kick for a 21-14 Saranac Lake advantage.

An interception by Johnny Devins set up the Chiefs for the next score. Devins picked off a Morgan pass to give Saranac the ball at its own 26, and eight plays later, Maye connected with LeBeau on a 42-yard touchdown pass. Noah Clausen made good on the point-after kick and the score was tied 21-21 with 3:55 left in the third.

The final three touchdowns came in the fourth quarter, starting with a Maye-to-Garman touchdown pass that went 18 yards.

Clausen followed with another conversion kick for a 28-21 Chiefs edge with 8:53 left to play.

Saranac Lake failed to move on its next possession and punted, and it appeared like the momentum would stay with the Chiefs, who were looking to burn some clock late. In six plays, they moved from their 32-yard line to Saranac Lake’s 33, but Ashton came up with his second interception and returned the ball to midfield to renew the hopes of the Red Storm faithful in the stands with 3:42 left in the game.

Three plays into the possession, Saranac Lake was facing a fourth-and-five at the Chiefs 45, and that’s when coach Bennett reached into the trickery section of the playbook. With the game appearing to be on the line, Morgan fired a short pass into the right flat to Shipman, who got drilled by a defender 3 yards past the line of scrimmage but still pitched the ball to Ashton, who was following on the hook-and-lateral play and sprinted another 42 yards for his fourth touchdown of the game.

With 2:32 left on the clock and trailing 28-27, the Red Storm opted to go for the lead on a 2-point conversion play, and Saranac Lake pulled it off in spectacular fashion. The attempt started with Morgan taking a snap and handing off to Ashton. Instead of running into a pack of players, Ashton stopped and flipped the ball back to Rhett Darrah, who was sweeping into the backfield from the left side of the field. Darrah took the pitch, continued running toward the right side of the field and tossed a pass to Ryan Meyer, who was open in the end zone to snare the ball and put Saranac Lake on top 29-27.

Saranac, however, had the answer, which came in the form of a 56-yard Maye touchdown pass to Nolan. The Red Storm had one final opportunity to win the duel, and got a great drive start near midfield with 1:37 left on the clock. With no timeouts remaining, Saranac Lake needed to air it out, and two completions — one by Meyer and another diving grab by Ashton — gave the Red Storm a first down at the Chiefs’ 22-yard line.

But on the next play, Morgan threw a pass to the corner of the end zone that was intended for Ashton, who was streaking down the left sideline. Instead, Maye came up with the interception from his safety position to hand the Red Storm their second tough loss to a Class C rival in as many games.

“They couldn’t run on us,” said Ashton, who has rushed for nearly 400 yards and has seven touchdowns in Saranac Lake’s first two games. “I think their goal was to run in the beginning and we were stopping it. I think they were three-and-out their first two possessions, and then they started passing on us and got a couple big plays. They’re quick. Almost every kid on that team is fast. They get out to the sideline and it’s hard to catch them.”

“We have a lot of weapons and Luke knows how to get the ball to them,” Saranac head coach Joe Fish said. “Luke gets a lot of credit but I’m going to give credit to our line. I’m an O-line kind of guy. Those O-linemen deserve some respect because they did a great job today. One of our goals today was controlling the line of scrimmage and our lineman stepped up against their big defensive line.

“It’s a great feeling. It was a heck of a game,” Fish added. “Our kids bent but didn’t break all game and I’m extremely proud of them. They did not give up at all today and that’s what Saranac football is all about. This is a great win. This is a big win and I’m elated.”

The Chiefs next play Friday at Ticonderoga in a battle of unbeatens. Saranac Lake travels to the Apple Bowl on Saturday to take on Peru, with the opening kickoff scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

—

Saranac 34, Saranac Lake 29

Chiefs 6 8 7 13 — 34

Red Storm 0 14 7 8 — 29

Scoring

First Quarter

S — Nolan 71 pass from Maye (Kick failed), 6:57

Second Quarter

S — Nolan 19 pass from Maye (Nolan pass from Maye), :07

SL — Ashton 8 run (Kick failed), 2:39

SL — Ashton 2 run (Shipman pass from Morgan), 7:21

Third Quarter

SL — Ashton 22 run (Ashton kick), 2:51

S — LeBeau 42 pass from Maye (Clausen kick), 8:05

Fourth Quarter

S — Garman 18 pass from Maye (Clausen kick), 3:07

SL — Ashton 47 pass from Morgan (Meyer pass from Darrah), 9:43

S — Nolan 56 pass from Maye (Kick blocked), 10:13

—

Individual Statistics

RUSHING

Saranac — Devins 5-10, Maye 8-(-1), Wood 1-1, Baisi 2-6. Totals: 16-16.

Saranac Lake — Morgan 19-116, Ashton 33-176 3TDs, Hewitt 1-1. Totals: 53-293 3TDs.

PASSING

Saranac — May 22-44-2-414 5TDs.

Saranac Lake — Morgan 10-22-2-119.

RECEIVING

Saranac — Garman 8-97 TD, Nolan 6-188 3TDs, LeBeau 6-107 TD, Devins 2-22.

Saranac Lake — Shipman 3-31, Walton 1-4, Meyer 3-32, Kratts 1-4, Munn 1-0, Ashton 1-11 and 0-42TD.

INTERCEPTIONS

Saranac — Devins, Maye.

Saranac Lake — Ashton 2.

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