Eagles Soar Past North Country With A 40-14 Win

Sullivan (7-2) dominated North Country (3-6) on their home field, securing a 40-14 victory in their last regular season matchup.

The Eagles hold the No. 1 seed in Class 4 District 2 and are set to compete in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 3 against the winner of the Windsor and Union game.

Head coach Eddie Haar is eager to use this time to fine-tune various aspects of the team and prepare for districts, stating, “I think we’ve improved a lot on defense as a whole and our offense is much more consistent these past few weeks, but we still have plenty to work on this week with it being a bye week.”

In addition to these improvements, more football players are gradually returning to the field, leaving behind their casts and crutches.

After defeating North Country, offensive/defensive lineman Cayden Thacker was selected by Haar to be the “Monster Player of the Week” in his first game back after recovering from a grade 3 MCL sprain, which had sidelined him for 8 weeks. As is tradition, Thacker had the honor of shaking up a Monster Energy can and spraying it around all the players, celebrating another strong performance to wrap up the regular season.

Running back Chase Blue had been sidelined for a few games due to the same sprain injury. In his second game back, he spearheaded the final touchdown drive for the Eagles in the 4th quarter. In total, he averaged a team-high of 10 yards on 5 rushes.

Franky Erxleben led the team with 120 rushing yards on 20 carries, Dominic Ransom ran for 24 yards, Robert York II gained 22, Mark Jennings secured 17, Dayton Skaggs carried for 12, Isaiah Skaggs made 7 and Jeremiah Rodriguez had 5.

Eagles quarterback York achieved a season-high passing yardage against the Raiders, throwing for 250 yards on 8 completions out of 14 attempts for 2 touchdowns.

His receiving weapons included Seth Valley, who caught 3 receptions for 131 yards, as well as two touchdowns. Brendel made 4 catches for 108 receiving yards and Ransom had one reception for 11.

Sullivan took an early 6-0 lead after Erxleben carried the drive with several strong rushes through the Raiders’ defense and capped it off with a rush into the end zone.​ But, the Eagles failed on their first two-point conversion attempt of the night. Due to senior kicker Wyatt Kraus playing boys soccer against Valley Park at home, they opted for two-point conversions instead of field goals.

With 2:31 left in the 1st quarter, York threw the ball 34 yards to Brendel on 3rd and 24 at midfield. Then York delivered another precise pass to Valley for a 51-yard touchdown, leading to a 12-0 score.

The Eagles then seized another 6 points after Erxleben dove through the defensive line for a 12-yard touchdown.

On the following kick return to North County, Raider Brice Varner escaped the Eagles, running to the left midfield to score, making it 18-7. Sullivan was frustrated but used it as motivation to crush North County even more.

The Eagles increased their lead to 26-7 when Erxleben jumped over a Raider into the end zone and Brendel caught the pass for Sullivan’s first successful 2-point conversion.

York then threw 47 yards to Valley, who had no one around him, for his second touchdown of the game, extending the lead to 32-7.

At the start of the 4th quarter, Haar began to insert his backups and JV players onto the field. Both Blue and Jennings showed that the future of this rushing game is in good hands.

Blue started his drive with a few-yard gain, then took it down the field to North County’s 30-yard line. He capped off his drive with a 4-yard touchdown and a 2-point conversion, sealing Sullivan’s final score of the night.

On the other side of the ball, the JV defense allowed Raider Aaron Cook to break loose and cook up an 83-yard touchdown, resulting in a final score of an Eagle 40-14 victory.