Playing on the road for the first time this season, the Red Storm pulled out a gritty — and at times sloppy — 25-14 victory over the Plattsburgh Hornets on Saturday. It’s Saranac Lake’s fourth consecutive victory, as they improve to 4-1 overall and 4-0 in league play.

“The fact that our kids won a football game with six turnovers is borderline remarkable,” Red Storm head coach Eric Bennett said. “It’s obvious that you cannot sustain a football season turning the ball over that many times. But I’m proud of the grit our kids showed.”

Saranac Lake started with a bang on scoring touchdowns on its first two drives, after the Hornets had a pair of special teams miscues, to claim a 14-0 lead. However, the hosts were able to capitalize on some rare Red Storm special teams mistakes — two bad snaps on punt attempts — to tie the game at 14-14 before the end of the opening half.

After the intermission, Saranac Lake’s defense took over, shutting out the Hornets while forcing two safeties, before senior Scottie Nicholas essentially closed out the afternoon with a 65-yard kickoff return. It’s the third time in the last four games that the Red Storm have returned a kickoff for a score — Nicholas returned two of those.

Saranac Lake’s Evan Harvey (6) races toward the endzone for the Red Storm’s first touchdown during Saturday’s game against Plattsburgh. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“It’s funny because special teams have carried us a lot,” Bennett said. “Those were two huge, tough snaps in the first half (that allowed them to tie the game), but special teams came through again. Scottie just found the crease again and ripped it. What a player he is for us.”

Evan Harvey and David Montroy also added a touchdown for the Red Storm — both in the first quarter and both on the ground. Owen Lawrence was a perfect three-for-three with his extra point attempts.

After the Hornets’ opening drive punt went shorter than intended, Saranac Lake used just four plays to reach paydirt as Harvey, the Red Storm’s quarterback, scored on an 18-yard scamper.

On Plattsburgh’s second drive, its punt attempt was botched, forcing its punter to throw away the ball, which gave Saranac Lake possession at the Hornets’ 37. Montroy then scored on a 4-yard carry a few plays later.

The punt attempts didn’t get much better from there.

Saranac Lake’s Austin Webb-Brown returns an interception during the final play of the first half of Saturday’s road contest against Plattsburgh. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Up 14-0, Saranac Lake’s first punt attempt of the game sailed over its punter’s head, as Plattsburgh’s Josiah Wineglass recovered the ball in the endzone for his team’s first score.

Another high snap on the Red Storm’s next punt attempt — and a personal foul penalty — gave the Hornets the ball at the Saranac Lake 15. Plattsburgh’s quarterback, Colden Johnson, then hooked up with wide-out Ryan Colburn for the score, three plays later.

Johnson turned in a solid day, completing 15 of his 31 passes for 197 yards and just one interception. That turnover came at the end of the first half when Saranac Lake’s Austin Webb-Brown jumped ahead of a Hornets receiver for the pick, while preventing a score.

Most of Johnson’s passes were to Colburn, who recorded a game-high 137 receiving yards on 12 catches.

“(Colburn’s) excellent,” Bennett said. “We had all kinds of plans for him, and he still made plays. So, it’s back to the drawing board a little bit for us.”

Saranac Lake’s David Montroy, right, pressures Plattsburgh’s Colden Johnson, forcing him into an intentional grounding safety during Saturday’s game in Plattsburgh. The Red Storm earned its fourth victory in a row with a 25-14 win over the Hornets. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

The Hornets outgained Saranac Lake on offense 210-110. But the Red Storm came up big when they needed to, especially on the defensive side, as they sacked Johnson numerous times.

“I thought we were able to apply a lot of pressure today defensively,” Bennett said. “Especially down on the goal line.”

With the game tied 14-14, Montroy pressured Johnson deep in Hornets territory, forcing an intentional grounding in the endzone, which earned the first safety.

“That was obviously critical to the game, and I’m really proud of the way our defense played,” Bennett said.

After getting the ball back from the safety kickoff, Johnson seemingly halted a big Red Storm drive by intercepting Harvey’s deep ball on the Hornets’ 2-yard line. However, a bad snap in the endzone, along with heavy pressure from the Red Storm pass rush, caused the ball to go out of bounds, resulting in another safety.

The two defensive scorers essentially reignited a Saranac Lake team that was lacking a bit of spark after coughing up the early two-score lead. Bennett was proud of how his team battled back from those errors to play a “rock-solid” second half.

“Our team doesn’t get up too much and they don’t get down too much,” he said. “They’re pretty steady. They don’t panic. I think they persevered and played with a lot of grit. I think that won the day for them.”

Harvey closed out the game, completing 12 passes for 82 yards. Lawrence hauled in six passes for 31 yards and Braydon Harvey had 48 yards on four catches. Montroy led Saranac Lake with 47 rushing yards on 19 carries.

The Red Storm will host the undefeated Peru Nighthawks at 7 p.m. on Friday night at the new Wilson-Raymond field. The Nighthawks have outscored their opponents 205-26 so far this season.

“We know we’ve got a formidable opponent coming up, and we’re excited for Friday night,” Bennett said.

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Saranac Lake 25, Plattsburgh 14

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Red Storm 14 0 11 0 — 25

Hornets 7 7 0 0 — 14

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First quarter

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SL — E. Harvey 18 run (O. Lawrence kick), 9:11.

SL — Montroy 4 run (O. Lawrence kick), 4:55.

PHS — Wineglass 0 fumble recovery (Rios kick), 0:44.

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Second quarter

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PHS — Colburn 15 pass from Johnson (Rios kick), 6:56.

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Third quarter

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SL — Safety, intentional grounding by Johnson, 5:38.

SL — Safety, snap out of end zone, 0:38.

SL — S. Nicholas 65 kick return (O. Lawrence kick), 0:27.

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Individual statistics

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RUSHING

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SL — S. Nicholas 1-1; Montroy 19-47, TD; E. Harvey 8-20, TD; Team 2-(-24); Webb-Brown 2-0; Martelle 2-(-23); O. Lawrence 2-7. Totals: 36-28, 2TD.

PHS — Wineglass 2-4; Anderson 3-22; DeJesus 2-5; Johnson 9-(-7); Team 2-(-8); Custode 1-(-9). Totals: 19-7.

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PASSING

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SL — E. Harvey 12-22-2-82.

PHS — Johnson 15-31-1-197, TD; Mitchell 0-1-0-0; Custode 1-2-0-6. Totals: 16-34-1-203, TD.

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RECEIVING

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SL — O. Lawrence 6-31; B. Harvey 4-48; Martelle 1-3; S. Nicholas 1-0. Totals: 12-82.

PHS — Colburn 12-137, TD; Holland 3-25; Augustin 0-35; Boire 1-6.Totals: 16-203, TD.

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INTERCEPTIONS

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SL — Webb-Brown.

PHS — Colburn; Johnson.