In a battle between two state-ranked teams, the Eagles held a 7-6 lead at halftime before they pulled away in the second half to knock off the only remaining undefeated team in the section. Beekmantown improved to 4-1 overall with the victory.

While the Red Storm may have come up short Saturday, their efforts on the defensive side proved they could hang around with the red-hot Eagles, which had outscored their past three opponents by by a combined score of 118-6. Saranac Lake forced two interceptions and a few punts.

“Our kids played gritty; they tackled well and played physical football,” Red Storm head coach Eric Bennett said. “I think when your defense plays well you’ve got a chance to win games. We’re excited we’ve been doing a lot with the kids schematically and they have such high football IQs that we’re really excited about the second half of the season here.”

Offensively, junior running back David Montroy paced the Saranac Lake run game piling up 70 yards on the ground with eight carries. The Red Storm used seven players to combine for 144 rushing yards.

Saranac Lake’s David Montroy brings down Beekmantown’s Parker Broughton (33) during Saturday’s game at Wilson-Raymond Field. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Saranac Lake’s senior quarterback Zack Goetz scored once on a 1-yard scamper, and sophomore Alius Martelle recorded his first career touchdown on a 5-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Beekmantown opened up the scoring on its second drive of the opening quarter with a 1-yard quarterback keeper from Josh Sand. The Eagles’ Patrick Hagadorn, who converted on all four of his extra point attempts, pushed the score to 7-0.

On the first play of Saranac Lake’s next drive, Goetz’s pass was intercepted by Sand and returned inside the Red Storm territory.

Beekmantown then marched all the way to the Red Storm 16-yard line, and while on the verge of scoring, Saranac Lake’s Connor Coventry picked off Sand at the 2-yard line.

Bennett said his team’s character came out on game day because they weren’t intimidated and they played hard while dealing with adversity.

Saranac Lake’s Zack Goetz looks to make a pass during Saturday’s game against Beekmantown. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“They could have folded when Beekmantown scored early, and they didn’t,” he said. “We told them it was going to be a four-quarter game and we were going to go toe-to-toe with a heavyweight, and I couldn’t be prouder of a group of kids for all they’ve done and worked at to get us to this point in the season.”

The Red Storm completely flipped field position thanks to a 39-yard rush up the middle by Montroy, but after a pair of short runs and a costly penalty their drive was nearly halted. The Eagles forced them into a fourth down situation on the Beekmantown 16-yard line.

However, Saranac Lake converted on the fourth and long, when Goetz completed a screen pass to Scottie Nicholas for a gain of 21 yards.

“That’s something we’ve had for a few weeks now, and we thought it was the perfect time to bust it out,” Bennett said. “They executed it to perfection, and that’s exactly what you want. You want to be able to have great plays when you need them, and our kids executed.”

Just two plays later, Saranac Lake reached pay dirt with Goetz dashing to the outside and past an Eagles defender for the score. Nicholas’ extra point kick was just a tad bit wide, making the score 7-6.

Beekmantown extended it lead to 21-6 after intermission following a pair of touchdown passes from Sand. The quarterback completed a 27-yarder to Parker Broughton in the third quarter, and opened up the fourth with a 15-yard toss to Hagadorn.

Needing a spark, Saranac Lake pulled out a trick play when Martelle, a running back, took a handoff and tossed the ball down the field and into the hands of Coventry for a 33-yard gain into Eagles territory.

“All week Alius has been throwing dimes, and Connor came up with a huge catch there and it gave us life,” Bennett said. “That’s what you want to see. You want to see kids performing under pressure and getting it done. I think we’re set up well for moving forward.”

Martelle, who churned up 27 rushing yards on the drive, reached the end zone on a 5-yard run. However, the Red Storm failed the 2-point conversion attempt and trailed by two scores.

Beekmantown running back Shamus Bibeau’s 14-yard run with 1:16 left in the contest, put the game out of reach for Saranac Lake. Bibeau led his team with 108 rushing yards on 13 carries, while Broughton recorded 79 yards. The Eagles finished with 264 yards on the ground.

With the loss, Saranac Lake dropped to 3-1 overall. The team is slated to take on the Peru Nighthawks on the road at the Apple Bowl at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Peru is currently 2-2 overall.

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Beekmantown 28, Saranac Lake 12

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Eagles 7 0 7 14 — 28

Red Storm 0 6 0 6 — 12

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SCORING

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First Quarter

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B — Sand 1 run (Hagadorn kick), 8:26

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Second Quarter

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SL — Goetz 1 run (Kick missed), 4:25

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Third Quarter

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B — Broughton 27 pass from Sand (Hagadorn kick), 4:54

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Fourth Quarter

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B — Hagadorn 15 pass from Sand (Hagadorn kick), 4:27

SL — Martelle 5 run (Pass intercepted), 7:53

B — Bibeau 14 run (Hagadorn kick), 10:44

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Individual Statistics

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RUSHING

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B — Bibeau 13-108, TD; Broughton 12-79; Sand 6-18, TD; Ciolac 5-39; Herrera 2-20. Totals: 38-264, 2TDs.

SL — Montroy 8-70; Martelle 7-35, TD; O. Lawrence 6-26; Goetz 8-20, TD; Nicholas 3-(-1); E. Harvey 1-(-4); Cleator 1-(-4). Team: 33-144, 2TDs.

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PASSING

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B — Sand 2-7-2-42, 2 TDs.

SL — Goetz 3-10-1-41; Martelle 1-1-0-33. Totals: 4-11-1-74.

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RECEIVING

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B — Broughton 1-27, TD; Hagadorn 1-15, TD. Totals: 2-42, 2 TDs.

SL — Nicholas 2-38; Coventry 1-33; O. Lawrence 1-3. Totals 4-74.

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Interceptions

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SL — Coventry, Goetz.

B — Sand.