But on Saturday, however, the exact opposite happened as Tupper Lake was on the wrong side of that identical 26-20 score. The loss marked the Lumberjacks’ second of the season, who fall to 1-2 on the year.

In a game that saw the two teams combine for 432 rushing yards, Tupper Lake’s Luke Robillard, a sophomore, led all rushers with 157 yards on 31 carries.

“Luke had a great day running,” Tupper Lake head coach Dennis Klossner said. “He took the helmet and ran well.”

But even with Robillard’s efforts, it wasn’t enough to take down the Trojans, as their own run game helped lead the charge.

Greene’s William Dunlap, right, hauls in a pass with Tupper Lake’s Avery Amell defending him during Saturday’s game in Tupper Lake. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Despite the Greene offense using a heavily run-oriented gameplan, which saw the two opposing quarterbacks combine for just two completions, the Trojan’s eventual game-winner came through the air.

Tied at 20-20 with around eight minutes left in the game, Greene’s quarterback Jaden Eroshevich tossed the football high in the air to his wideout William Dunlap.

While Dunlap was heavily defended by the Lumberjacks’ Avery Amell, the Greene receiver was able to position himself enough to make the catch in front of Amell, before running 85 yards into the endzone.

“That touchdown pass, the quarterback said to me, ‘Oh coach, I hung that one up.’ He knows he got away with it a little bit,” Greene head coach Dave Gorton said. “But we have some really good receivers.

“In practice, I’m telling the kids, ‘If it’s a 50/50 ball, let them go get it,'” he added. “In high school football, a receiver has a huge advantage over a defensive back. It’s just the way that it is.”

Tupper Lake’s Tyler LaPlante makes a defensive stop on Greene’s Jaden Eroshevich during a Saturday’s game in Tupper Lake. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Despite giving up a few big plays, the Lumberjacks’ defense played well and helped set the tone early as they forced a fumble on the game’s opening drive.

Tupper Lake then marched 62-yards down the field to reach the end zone with sophomore running back Brayden Shannon capping off the 10-play drive with a three-yard carry for the game’s first score. Shannon finished the game with 49 yards on only nine carries after suffering an injury early in the game.

“Brayden got rolled up on early and I didn’t want to lose him defensively. We held him out on offensively,” Klossner said. “He still ran hard when we gave him the opportunities.”

After watching the Trojan offense go three-and-out on back-to-back drives, Gorton decided to switch up his offensive attack, by changing his quarterbacks.

“Jaden is a great runner and I just thought that we needed to put more pressure on them in the run game and have the quarterback as a running threat the way they were playing defense,” Gorton said.

Tupper Lake’s Jamin Whitmore, left, goes shoulder-to-shoulder with Greene’s Derek Renfer during Saturday’s home game. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“We’re trying to use both of them during the season,” he added. “They both have different skill sets. Depending on who we are playing there is going to be times where one plays more than the other just because. (Grayson Flanagan) has a great arm and just knows what to do with the ball usually.”

Gorton’s decision seemed to work out in his favor as Eroshevich drove his team 56-yards on six plays before running two yards into the endzone to tie the game at six.

With a little under two minutes in the second quarter, the Lumberjacks marched right down the field to take a 12-6 lead into intermission when quarterback Jayden Farnsworth found a wide-open Jamin Whitmore for a 17-yard strike.

Greene got off to a quick start to open up the third, forcing the Lumberjacks to a turnover on downs and then scoring on a two-play 58-yard drive. The Trojans’ Hunter Page picked up four yards on the first play, while Eroshevich ran 54-yards for his second score of the game. Eroshevich then picked up the two-point conversion on a rushing play to give his team a 14-12 lead.

On the ensuing drive, Greene’s Derek Renfer intercepted Farnsworth near midfield and the Trojans made work of their solid field position as they scored on another two-play drive, which was capped off by a 17-yard run from Joel Vielandi.

Tupper Lake’s Brayden Shannon runs to the outside to escape a Greene defender during Saturday’s game in Tupper Lake. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Greene went back to Vielandi on the two-point attempt, but Tupper Lake’s senior lineman Owen Whitman immediately shut down the Trojans’ attempt to make it a two-score game.

“(Whitman’s) coming right off from last year. He’s got speed on that D-line. If teams don’t double-team him they are going to have trouble with him,” Klossner said. “When they double-team him our linebackers are making tackles and stuff. Owen is a really good leader on the line of scrimmage under center and definitely, he is for sure our leader.”

The Lumberjacks started out with excellent field position after Greene gave up back-to-back penalties on the kickoff.

Starting on their own 48-yard line, Tupper Lake turned on the jets and scored on a seven-play drive, with Shannon scoring his second touchdown of the game from six yards out.

“We put Brayden back in towards the end because it was getting to where we needed him,” Klossner said. “He said his ankle was feeling good, but the biggest concern was that I didn’t want to lose him for the season.”

The Lumberjacks were able to tie the game at 20-20 after Farnsworth found Desmarais for the two-point conversion.

After allowing the Trojans to take the lead, Tupper Lake had one final chance to mount the comeback, but the Greene defense stood tall and forced another interception to close out the game.

Despite falling short in the end Klossner said he was proud of the way his team played.

“We started out with a bang, we came out aggressive and everything,” Klossner said. “We still played the whole game aggressively. We played a good game. A few mishaps and a few miscues, which is hard to come back from. But the kids played solid all of the way through. This is a good team and we knew we were going to be somewhat evenly matched and we were.”

The Lumberjacks will look to rebound from their 1-2 start when they host St. Lawrence Central Friday at 7 p.m.

Greene 26, Tupper Lake 20

Trojans 0 6 14 6 — 26

Lumberjacks 6 6 8 0 — 20

Scoring

First Quarter

TL — Shannon 3 run (run failed), 7:34

Second Quarter

GT — Eroshevich 2 run (run failed), 5:48

TL — Whitmore 17 pass from Farnsworth (run failed), 11:13

Third Quarter

GT — Eroshevich 54 run (Eroshevich run), 4:55

GT — Vielandi 17 run (run failed), 6:57

TL — Shannon 7 run (Desmarais from Farnsworth), 10:31

Fourth Quarter

GT — Dunlap 85 pass from Eroshevich (pass failed), 8:05

Individual statistics

Rushing

GT — Page 13-94, Eroshevich 6-79 2TDs, Flanagan 2-(-3), Vielandi 1-17 TD, Renfer 1-(-7). Totals: 23-180 3TDs.

TL — Robillard 31-157, Shannon 9-49 2TDs, Desmarais 3-32, Farnsworth 2-14. 45-252 2TDs.

Passing

GT — Eroshevich 2-6-1-109 TD, Flanagan 0-3-0-0. Totals: 2-9-1-109 TD.

TL — Farnsworth 11-21-2-83 TD.

Receiving

GT — Dunlap 2-109 TD.

TL — Whitmore 4-40 TD, Desmarais 3-11, LaPlante 2-13, Robillard 1-19, Shannon 1-0. Totals: 11-83 TD.

Interceptions

GT — Renfer, Dunlap.

TL — LaPlante.

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