Clinging to a three-point lead, Moriah scored 23 unanswered points in the final quarter to pull away for a 47-21 victory over Saranac Lake in Champlain Valley Athletic Conference action. The Vikings were seeking their third straight win, and also looking to get their head coach, Don Tesar, his 100th career victory at the school. They accomplished both goals, but Saranac Lake made the task anything but easy.

After grabbing an early 12-0 edge and then upping their lead to 18-6 early in the third quarter, the Vikings were able to pull away down the stretch after the Red Storm closed to within 24-21 on an 18-yard touchdown run by Ben Munn four minutes into the second half. Moriah came up big on the first play of the final quarter when Jeff Strieble tossed a 48-yard scoring pass to Jerin Sargent, and from there, the Vikings added two more touchdowns and five more points on conversion plays to improve to 3-2. Saranac Lake fell to 1-4 with the loss.

Tesar is in his 19th season leading Moriah’s varsity program, and became the sixth coach in Section VII history to reach the 100-win plateau. In that number is former Saranac Lake coaching legend John Raymond, as well as Larry Ewald, who coached Saranac Lake for one season and later led Peru to a state football championship in 2001.

Sargent’s touchdown grab to start the fourth quarter was one of three big plays that stung the Red Storm. The other two came in the opening minutes of the game, the first on a 73-yard touchdown run by Dyllon Bougor on Moriah’s third offensive play of the day, and the second was Strieble’s 81-yard scoring toss to Maddox Blaise with 6:16 gone in the contest.

Ben Munn gets a block from Red Storm teammate Ryan Meyer on a carry in the first half of Saturday’s game against Moriah. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Those three plays, as well as a 230-yard rushing performance by Bougor, turned out to be big factors in helping Tesar earn his 100th win.

“Longevity,” Tesar said with a smile describing what it takes to achieve the feat. “To be with a program that long and to survive, you gotta win games. It’s a credit to all the kids I’ve had.”

Saranac Lake was going up against an opponent that had scored more than 40 points in each of its last two games, and it appeared that a similar scenario might play out again as the Vikings put up two quick touchdowns and made it look easy.

The Red Storm actually got off to a great start when senior Dawson Hough recovered the opening kickoff to put Saranac Lake’s offense in business at Moriah’s 40-yard line, but the Vikings defense forced a punt. With the ball at their own 20, the Vikings took just three plays to score, with Bougor sprinting past the Red Storm defense for 73 yards on a third-down run. Saranac Lake went three-and-out on its next possession, and after another punt, Moriah was on the board again one play later when Maddox Blaise jumped for a Strieble pass, grabbed the ball in double coverage and broke free after the catch for an 81-yard touchdown reception.

After falling in a 12-0 hole, Saranac Lake found some life, and Munn played a big role in the comeback. The junior running back was out of the lineup a week ago and returned to score all three of Saranac Lake’s touchdowns against Moriah. Munn’s first score came on a 21-yard run 4:22 into the second quarter. It capped off a 74-yard, 12-play march and cut Saranac Lake’s deficit to 12-6. Moriah answered on its next possession when Blaise ran in from the 8, and the Red Storm responded with another scoring drive the next time they had the ball, eating up 58 yards in 11 plays with Munn banging into the end zone from the 2-yard line. Quarterback Rhett Darrah made the conversion kick to send Saranac Lake into halftime trailing 18-13.

Red Storm junior Kenny Dashnaw returns a kick for Saranac Lake on Saturday. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

The Vikings turned an interception by Sargent into points to kick off the third quarter. Sargent, who had two picks in the game, grabbed an errant pass from Darrah and returned it to the Saranac Lake 26. Bougor then ran the ball four straight times and scored on a 3-yard run to put Moriah in front 24-13 with 3:18 gone in the third. But Saranac Lake came up big again with its third touchdown just 42 seconds later, with Munn scoring on an 18-yard burst around the left side of his line. The play that set up the score was a 45-yard reception by senior Jacob Shipman, who also scored on the conversion pass from Darrah that made it a 24-21 contest.

The two teams then traded punts, and as quickly as Saranac Lake made it a ball game, the Vikings turned things into a rout. On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Strieble connected with Sargent on the 48-yard touchdown play, and Blaise added another score on a 6-yard run with 4:05 left on the clock. Moriah’s final touchdown came on a 4-yard run by Sam Ganji with 1:48 remaining. Those points were set up by a Vikings’ fumble recovery at Saranac Lake’s 15.

Despite the loss, head coach Eric Bennett liked the fight he saw from his Red Storm players, although he wasn’t happy about giving up the passing touchdown that essentially put the game out of reach.

“A big play down the sideline,” Bennett said describing the turning point. “It’s something we worked on all week. We just didn’t widen with the motion man, they ran the wheel and made a big play. After that we just couldn’t come back.

“I love the heart of our team. They’re really growing,” Bennett added. “A lot of people would have said ‘That’s it,’ packed it in at 12-0 right off the bat, and again, our kids kept plugging and made it a game. We were competitive up until the fourth quarter.”

The Vikings racked up 429 yards on offense while the Red Storm offense totaled 246 yards.

Like Bennett, Tesar said big plays helped turn the game in Moriah’s favor. Although the Vikings came through with their third lopsided win in a row, their coached praised Saranac Lake’s effort.

“We were able to move the ball but they had ball control in the first half. We scored on big plays,” Tesar said. “We were able to punch the ball in but didn’t have the ball a lot. Those guys, they did some very good things today. Once we did better stuff in the second half, things started rolling for us. They were able to run Munn inside. Their option worked well, and they played hard.”

Munn led Saranac Lake with 75 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries. He also picked up 30 yards on a halfback option throw from Dylan Stewart that set up the Red Storm’s second score. Strieble only had one throw off the mark and finished with 5 completions on 6 attempts for 146 yards and two touchdowns.

Long after the game had ended, Bennett, as well as about 10 of his players, gathered on the Vikings side line to congratulate Tesar for reaching the 100-win plateau.

“First of all, getting to 100 wins means you have a coach who’s continually dedicated to his community and his program,” Bennett said of his counterpart. “You can’t get to 100 without putting in a lot of time, a lot of hours, and so, I’m happy for coach Tesar. It couldn’t happen to a better guy. He’s a class act, he’s a grinder. You can tell he’d do anything for his kids.”

Saranac Lake has two regular season matchups remaining, starting on the road Saturday against Beekmantown, which is the lone unbeaten team remaining in the CVAC. The Vikings next host AuSable Valley Friday at Linney Field.

Bennett hopes his team can carry some of Saturday’s positives into that matchup.

“It’s nice to see our offense click a bit and churn some yards. It’s positive,” Bennett said. “I thought we started playing better defense. Upward and onward – Beekmantown next week.”

—

Moriah 47, Saranac Lake 21

Vikings 12 6 6 23 – 47

Red Storm 0 13 8 0 – 21

Scoring

First Quarter

M – Bougor 73 run (Kick missed), 3:37

M – Blaise 81 pass from Strieble (Kick missed), 6:16

Second Quarter

SL – Munn 21 run (Kick missed), 4:22

M – Blaise 8 run (Run failed), 5:39

SL – Munn 2 run (Darrah kick), 10:30

Third Quarter

M – Bougor 3 run (Pass failed), 3:18

SL – Munn 18 run (Shipman pass from Darrah), 4:00

Fourth Quarter

M – Sargent 48 pass from Strieble (Bougor run), :11

M- Blaise 6 run (Blaise run), 7:55

M- Gangi 3 run (Bougor kick), 10:12.

Individual Statistics

RUSHING

Moriah – Bougor 23-230 2TDs, Strieble 2-6, Blaise 8-55 2TDs, Sargent 2-(-1), Fleury 1-0, Gumlaw 1-12, Gangi 1-4TD, Team 1-(-23). Totals: 39-283.

Saranac Lake – Shipman 7-24, Darrah 18-16, Munn 10-75 3TDs, Reyell 1-(-2), Brown 1-(-1), Stewart 1-(-3), Buckley 2-9. Totals: 40-118 3TDs.

PASSING

Moriah – Striebel 5-6-0-146 2TDs.

Saranac Lake – Darrah 4-11-1-78, Stewart 2-3-1-50.

RECEIVING

Moriah – Blaise 1-81 TD, Sargent 3-60 TD, Fleury 1-5.

Saranac Lake – Meyer 2-17, Shipman 2-61, Munn 1-30, Gladd 2-20.

INTERCEPTIONS

Moriah – Sargent 2.