Lumberjacks football races past St. Lawrence
TUPPER LAKE — The Tupper Lake football team secured its first winning season since 2019 with a 48-6 victory over the St. Lawrence Larries on a rainy Friday evening. The Lumberjacks recorded a win last week after the Livingston Manor Wildcats were forced to forfeit the contest because they didn’t have enough players.
The Lumberjacks quickly proved on Friday that their winning-season was no fluke, scoring two touchdowns in the first half to lead 12-0, before extending their lead after intermission with five scores.
Tupper Lake’s junior running back Luke Robillard powered the team with three touchdowns on a wet night. He carried the ball 14 times for 170 yards. On the defensive side, Robillard led the team with 13 tackles.
“He’s around the ball all day on defense and when he runs the ball, he runs hard,” Lumberjacks head coach Dennis Klossner said.
Tupper Lake finished with 407 yards of offense in comparison to the Larries’ 189 total yards. Klossner gave credit to his offensive and defensive line for its play in the trenches.
“I’m always proud of our line because a lot of people don’t realize what Luke’s doing, what Brayden Shannon is doing and what all these guys are doing on the field, comes from the line,” he said. “Both sides of the ball, our offensive and defensive line did a tremendous job every week. Week in and week out, (they’re) working hard.”
The Lumberjacks led 28-0 before St. Lawrence got their first and only score of the night and were never really threatened on the way to way to improving to 4-1 overall.
“Overall I’m proud of the kids,” Klossner said. “We saw some good things from all of them. Every kid that got on the field did a tremendous job. We saw some good movement. Sean Bujold did a really good job of coming in the second half — the fourth quarter — and ran well for us.”
With a 34-6 lead in the fourth quarter, Tupper Lake scored twice with Bujold and Kyler McClain running into the endzone to extend their team’s lead. Bujold, a junior, ran in the Lumberjacks’ final score of the contest.
While McClain is a starter on the defensive side, he and Bujold have had limited offensive touches this season. When they got the ball on Saturday, they took advantage other their opportunities, combing for 109 rushing yards on eight carries.
“We’re just deep in the backfield, so when they get their opportunities they try to take advantage of it,” Klossner said. “That’s what we talked about, just try to take advantage of the opportunities when they get on the field.”
Tupper Lake’s running attack picked apart the Larries’ defense. On the other side of the ball, the Lumberjacks’ defense made life difficult for St. Lawrence all night, forcing multiple fumbles, while also holding St. Lawrence to a turnover on downs on their first drive.
With the ball back on their own 29-yard line, Tupper Lake used three plays to reach the back of the endzone with Robillard running in from 14 yards out.
The Lumberjacks’ defense stepped up again, forcing a fumble on the Larries’ 49. But, Tupper Lake was unable to take advantage of the solid field position, punting the ball back to St. Lawrence after sophomore quarterback Wyatt Godin’s pass on third down slipped through the hands of senior wideout Tyler LaPlante.
While the rain was pouring down in the early stages, Klossner said it didn’t impact his team’s performance.
“We hung on the ball, we didn’t fumble. We were still able to throw, we just didn’t connect early or until after the rain I guess — or in between,” he said. “The rain doesn’t bother us, and I don’t think it bothers St. Lawrence because they’re toe-to-toe and they just go forward anyway.”
After being pinned on their own 4-yard line, the Larries picked one first down before the Lumberjacks stopped St. Lawrence behind the line of scrimmage twice, forcing another punt.
On the ensuing drive, Robillard needed one play to reach the endzone, rushing from 47 yards out to make the score 12-0.
Both teams had three-and-out punts before Tupper Lake’s defense forced another fumble in the second quarter but were unable to score. The Larries’ Devon Spinner had a 40-yard run before intermission, but the team was held short of the endzone.
Toward the midway point of the third quarter, the Lumberjacks got the ball back on their own 23-yard line, but an offsides penalty set them back 5 yards. Klossner said his team has some things we’ve got to work on, especially related to discipline.
“We had a couple of offsides,” he said. “We shouldn’t be going offsides on defense when the ball is right there in front of us. We had a few miscues.”
The Larries had well over 80 yards in penalties. The Lumberjacks weren’t much better with around 60 yards lost from infractions.
“St. Lawrence is a good team, but I think we put ourselves in some bad positions early,” Klossner said. “But I was very happy with the way we played. We’ve just got to work with our conduct on the field a little bit — and I’ll leave it at that.”
Backed up at their own 18-yard line, Godin completed a massive strike to a wide-open LaPlante for a 41-yard gain to St. Lawrence 41. Robillard finished the drive with a 41-yard dash for his third score of the game, and on the two-point conversion, LaPlante made a juggling catch to push the score to 20-0.
On St. Lawrence’s next possession, the Larries’ senior tailback Jacob LaSalle coughed up a fumble on his first carry of the game, which Brayden Shannon was able to scoop up and score from 36 yards out. After Robillard ran in for the two-point conversion, the Lumberjacks led 28-0.
LaSalle made up for the fumble when he took the ensuing kickoff 50 yards to the Tupper Lake 32 and the Larries picked up another 15 yards after a Lumberjacks player was flagged for a late hit on the play.
On the next play, LaSalle carried the ball 17 yards for his team’s first score to make the game 28-6.
Tupper Lake nearly responded when Robillard reached the endzone on a 40-yard run, however, a block in the back penalty nullified the score and put the ball on the St. Lawrence 20-yard line. The Lumberjacks scored two plays later on when Godin found Logan Flagg on a 10-yard crossing route.
Godin completed three of his seven passing attempts, compiling 72 yards. He also threw one touchdown and completed one two-point conversion attempt. His lone interception came on a two-point conversion attempt in the first quarter.
“Wyatt Godin did a good job commanding the offense,” Klossner said. “It was a little rough at first with the rain and not used to seeing the big boys, but then he settled down and got a lot better.”
Following the contest, the Lumberjacks will have a chance to record its fifth win of the season when they travel to Ticonderoga on Friday for its third matchup of the season against the Sentinels at 7 p.m. The last time a Tupper Lake football team recorded five wins in a season was in 2011.
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Tupper Lake 48, St. Lawrence 6
Lumberjacks 6 6 22 14 — 48
Larries 0 0 6 0 — 6
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Scoring
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First Quarter
TL — Robillard 14 run (Run failed), 7:02
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Second Quarter
TL — Robillard 47 run (Pass failed), 3:47
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Third Quarter
TL — Robillard 41 run (LaPlante pass from Godin), 5:57
TL — Shannon 36 fumble return (Robillard run), 6:50
SL — LaSalle 17 run (Kick failed), 7:08
TL — Flagg 10 pass from Godin (Run failed), 8:37
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Fourth Quarter
TL — K. McClain 10 run (Run failed), 1:45
TL — Bujold 20 run (Bujold run), 8:25
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Individual Statistics
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RUSHING
TL — Robillard 14-170, 3TDs; Shannon 7-56; K. McClain 2-43, TD; Bujold 6-66, TD. Totals: 29-335, 5TDs.
SL — Spinner 13-87; E. LaBrake 12-22, TD; LaSalle 8-65; Shawtraw 6-(-10); Wagner 4-1; No. 25 3-4. Totals: 46-169, TD.
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PASSING
TL — Godin 3-7-1-72, TD.
SL — Shawtraw 1-4-0-20; Spinner 0-1-0-0, Wagner 0-4-0-0. Totals: 1-9-0-20.
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RECEIVING
TL — LaPlante 2-62; Flagg 1-10, TD. Totals 3-72, TD.
SL — E. LaBrake 1-20.
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INTERCEPTIONS
SL — Snyder.