Eagles Dominate In Last Regular Season Game
The Sullivan Eagles gave a stellar performance at their last regular season football game on Thursday. The home crowd showed up to support Sullivan against the North County Raiders. Last season, the Raiders shutout Sullivan, 37-0. Sullivan’s dominance didn’t let North County get away with that again. The Eagles defeated the Raiders, 34-13.
In the first quarter, neither team could meet the endzone. North County received the ball on the open kickoff and fumbled the ball. The Raiders recovered, but this gave Sullivan the motivation to start the game right. Dominic Ransom intercepted the ball, and Sullivan took over on their first drive. Gabe Dace converted on a third down when he ran the ball for seven yards. Jeremiah Rodriguez converted another third down to a first, but Sullivan turned the ball over on downs. North Country converted on a third down when the Eagles had a penalty for roughing the passer called against them. Cayden Thacker recorded a tackle that had the Raiders faced with a third down.
In the second quarter, North County scored right away. Gavin Dace tackled the Raiders and they were at third down and goal. North County scored when quarterback threw a three yard pass to tight end Dan Gantz. After the kick was good, North Country was on the board 7-0 with 11:15 left. Ransom performed well on both sides of the ball and ran for a first down. The Eagles gave up the ball on downs after Gabe Dace threw an incomplete pass to Sam Summers. Sullivan’s dominant defense held North County. Jonathon Martin broke up a pass that brought them to a third and one. The Raiders took a timeout with 4:14 left. When North County tried to kick a field goal, the kick was no good. Sullivan took over and Franky Erxleben had a huge run right off the bat. Erxleben is a tank and, when he gets hit, he keeps going and that’s exactly what he did to earn the extra yards. North County earned a turnover when they intercepted the ball from Gabe Dace.
In the third quarter, the Eagles were visibly aggravated and came out as a new team for the second half. Erxleben ran the ball for positive yards and Sullivan handed the ball to Kayden Bryan, who then ran the ball for a third and six. The third down was converted when Gabe Dace found his brother, Gavin Dace, down field for a twenty yard pass to put Sullivan at a first and goal. Sullivan broke finally onto the scoreboard when Exrleben ran the ball in for six yards. Gabe Dace scored the extra two points on a quarterback keep and Sullivan took the lead, 8-6. North County’s Jobe Smith had two huge runs back to back. Sullivan’s defense shined once more when Ransom again intercepted the ball for Sullivan. The motivation had Sullivan earn a first down when Martin ran a successful wide receiver sweep. Sullivan achieved a first down when the Raiders got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called against them. Gabe Dace ran the ball into the endzone himself and picked up the two point conversion on a pass to Summers. Sullivan led the Raiders now, 16-7. Jordan Rice almost picked off the ball, but North Country found Brice Varner wide open for a big first down. The Raiders converted another first down, but Colton Brendel tackled North County and they were at another third down. On the third down, Moore struggled. He dropped back when he saw three Eagles defenders on the blitz. He sent up a prayer, but Brendel jumped and intercepted the ball. Brendel took off for the endzone and Moore tried to stop him but missed the tackle. Brendel sprinted towards the end zone with Martin blocking and Sullivan scored another touchdown on the interception. The two point conversion was no good, but Sullivan now extended their lead against the Raiders, 22-7.
In the final quarter, Sullivan sealed the game away. North County stormed out the gate and almost got a touchdown but got brought back on a holding penalty. The Raiders got their touchdown back when Smith ran the ball in for fifteen yards. It wasn’t enough to bridge that gap and North County was still down, 22-13. The Eagles made a successful onside kick and Brendel recovered to give Sullivan excellent field position. Rodriguez ran the ball again and Erxleben ran the ball in for a two yard touchdown. The score was 28-13 with a little over ten minutes left of play. The Raiders took a time out with a little over nine minutes left. North County had the ball and threw an incomplete pass for a fourth down and one. They were stopped in the back field and Sullivan got the ball back. Ransom made a ten yard run into a first down. Erxleben put the Raiders away when he ran the ball in the endzone for ten yards. Sullivan secured a 34-13 victory.
“We just played great in that second half,” said Head Coach Eddie Haar about the win. “Our defense stepped up, special teams stepped up, and offense stepped up moving the ball. It was just a great overall team win and I'm really happy for our kids and our seniors.”
The Eagles had another big night with 285 rushing yards. Erxleben led with 81 rushing yards. Gabe Dace followed with 80 yards. Ransom ran for a staggering 48 yards. Martin had 25 and Dayton Skaggs ran for 22 yards.
Gabe Dace also threw for 46 yards. Gavin Dace received for 44 of it and Summers had the other two.
Sullivan is the number one seeded team in districts and will play Salem at home on Friday in their first game of districts.