’Jacks football wins home opener over Falcons
TUPPER LAKE — In the Tupper Lake football team’s first home game in over a year, there were no jitters. It was strictly business. The Lumberjacks dominated from start to finish and handed the South Lewis Falcons a 40-6 loss on Friday night.
Tupper Lake wasted little time, scoring on its first four drives while rolling out to a 26-0 lead at halftime. In the second half, the team recorded two more touchdowns, before the Falcons found the back of the end zone in the final quarter.
“We came out strong right out of the get-go,” Lumberjacks head coach Dennis Klossner said. “We’ve got a great group of kids. They work hard all week. We did scrimmage them early in the year, and they are a good team, but we just came out firing and put it all together. We still had a few miscues, a few mistakes that I’m not happy with, but overall the kids played a great game.”
The team’s effort of Friday improve on what has already been a strong season for Tupper Lake, which secured its fifth win. The Lumberjacks’ only loss this season was against Morrisville-Eaton on Oct. 4, but it’s win total has already matched last season’s record.
“It’s very exciting, but I’m happy for the kids. They’ve worked hard for this for years,” Klossner said. “This year specifically they came together as a whole team, they came to summer speed camps, they lifted all last winter and they’ve been preparing for this for a while. I’m just excited for them because they’ve put a lot of hard work in and they deserve it.”
Luke Robillard ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns to lead the way for Tupper Lake on Friday. Kyler McClain scored twice while churning up 34 yards, while Sean Bujold added 52 yards on the ground on eight attempts. Fellow running backs Brayden Shannon and Karter Kenniston scored one touchdown each.
“I feel blessed. We’ve got a lot of weapons,” Klossner said. “Luke runs hard, Brayden runs fast, Kyler is very elusive out there and Karter’s got a lot of power himself.”
Klossner also credited the play of the offensive line, which paved the way for a combined 327 yards on the ground.
“I mean they’re opening holes and we’re getting to the second level before we’ve got to lay it low and lower our shoulder pads,” he said.
While it was a relatively quiet night for senior quarterback Wyatt Godin in terms of passing the ball, he was still effective when he needed to be. Godin’s both attempts included a 15-yard touchdown pass to Shannon and 28-yard throw to Liam McClain.
Robillard got the ball rolling for Tupper Lake, scoring the first two touchdowns on runs of 6 yards and 4 yards. Kenniston added the 2-point conversion attempt on Robillard’s second score.
While trailing 14-0, the Falcons had a solid drive of their own, marching all the way to the Tupper Lake 25-yard line. However, a botched snap over the head of South Lewis’ quarterback pushed the ball back more than 40 yards, forcing the Falcons to punt.
Godin then hit Shannon for a 15-yard touchdown pass to extended the lead, before Kyler McClain scored his first touchdown on a 1-yard carry.
He added his second touchdown on a 6-yard carry in the third quarter, before Kenniston closed out the game with an 18-yard burner in the fourth.
Conner Carpenter took a quarterback keeper 4 yards for South Lewis’ lone score. Damien Cough led the Falcons with 83 yards on 13 carries. South Lewis recorded 151 yards of total offense.
Robillard and Cohen Gerstenberger each recorded eight tackles in the win. Robillard also had two sacks, while Bujold had seven tackles and Garrett Pelkey had six.
“We’ve got kids that really like to hit. They’re coming up on the ball, they’re holding their own, they’re staying home and they’re not cheating or anything,” Klossner said. “They’re hard-nosed hitters and love to play the game of football.”
The Lumberjacks will close out the regular season at 5:30 p.m. this Friday at home against the Waterville Eagles. Waterville is 4-2 overall and topped Tupper Lake 12-7 in last year’s matchup.
Following that game, the Lumberjacks will host Ticonderoga at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1 in the first-ever 8-man football playoff game for Tupper Lake.
–
Tupper Lake 40, South Lewis 6
–
Falcons 0 0 0 6 — 6
Lumberjacks 14 12 6 8 — 40
–
SCORING
First quarter
–
TL — Robillard 6 run (Pass failed), 4:41
TL — Robillard 4 run (Kenniston run), 10:39
–
Second quarter
–
TL — Shannon 15 pass from Godin (Run failed), 1:51
TL — K. McClain 1 run (Pass failed), 8:41
–
Third quarter
–
TL — K. McClain 6 run (Run failed), 3:54
–
Fourth quarter
–
TL — Kenniston 18 run (Bujold run), 00:05
SL — Carpenter 4 run (Run failed), 4:09
–
Individual statistics
RUSHING
–
TL — Robillard 16-116, 2TDs; Shannon 7-61; Kenniston 4-37, TD; Godin 2-30; K. McClain 7-34, 2TDs; Bujold 8-52; Fleishman 1-(-3). Totals: 45-327, 5TDs.
SL — Cough 13-83; Carpenter 18-(-1), TD; Bourgeois 2-28; Sampson 1-0; N. Dailey 1-(-2); Reed 1-(-3). Totals: 36-105, TD.
–
PASSING
–
TL — Godin 2-2-0-43, TD.
SL — Carpenter 3-10-0-46.
–
RECEIVING
–
TL — Shannon 1-15, TD; L. McClain 1-28. Totals: 2-43, TD.
SL — Cough 1-30; R. Dailey 1-20; N. Dailey 1-(-4). Totals: 3-46.