Sullivan's third-quarter rally stuns visiting North County

SULLIVAN – The Sullivan football team made a statement on Senior Night on Thursday against visiting North County.

Trailing by a touchdown at halftime, the Eagles roared back with 22 third-quarter points and rolled over the visiting Raiders for an impressive 34-13 victory.

“It means a lot for our program going forward,” Sullivan football coach Eddie Haar said. “Being our third year here, all we’ve done is progress, we’ve progressed throughout the season. This was a great team win. We won in all three phases. Going into districts that’s exactly what we were looking for today and that’s what happened.”

Sullivan (7-2) reached seven wins for the first time since 2013 and will take a five-game win streak into the Class 3 District 4 tournament.

St. Clair (4-4) and Owensville (4-4) will play Friday to determine the order of the top three seeds. The Eagles, who lost 37-0 at North County a year ago as part of a 5-6 season, proved Thursday that they will be a contender to win the district title, something they haven’t done since 2012.

North County (7-2), which had a four-game win streak snapped, took a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Jack Moore to Dan Gantz.

The Raiders had a 35-yard field goal attempt blocked late in the second quarter, but were able to take the 7-0 lead into the intermission after a late defensive stand that included a touchdown-saving chase-down tackle from Zane Huff and an interception from defensive lineman Bryan Brewster.

Sullivan took control of the game in the third quarter with three touchdowns and two interceptions.

One play after a beautiful 26-yard pass from quarterback Gabe Dace to his brother Gavin Dace into tight coverage, Franky Erxleben scored on a 3-yard run and Gabe Dace scrambled for the 2-point conversion to put the Eagles ahead, 8-7, with 9 minutes 36 seconds left in the third quarter.

After North County’s next drive ended with Dominic Ransom’s second interception of the night, Gabe Dace struck again with a 37-yard touchdown run on a quarterback keeper and a 2-point conversion pass to a diving Samuel Summers to make it 16-7 with 4:23 left in the quarter.

The Eagles’ defense came up big again as Colton Brendel intercepted a screen pass and returned it 84 yards for a touchdown to make it 22-7 with 51 seconds left in the quarter.

What did Haar say to his team at halftime?

“We just talked about our mistakes, things we needed to clean up here and there,” the Sullivan coach said. “The kids do a great job of staying up, believing in themselves. We came out and it showed on the scoreboard in the second half.”

North County answered early in the fourth quarter.

All-time leading rusher Jobe Smith appeared to score on a 13-yard run, but was called for a personal foul for hurdling a defender on his way into the end zone. Undeterred, Smith scored on an 18-yard run on the next play to trim the deficit to 22-13.

The 2-point conversion run attempt was stuffed by Brendel and the Eagles’ defense and then Brendel snagged the ensuing onsides kick and returned it deep into North County territory.

Brendel’s kickoff return set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Erxleben to make it 28-13 with 10:22 remaining and then the junior running back added his touchdown of the night with 5:22 left to put the soaring Eagles ahead by 21 points.

“Really, offensively and defensively we just stuck together,” Haar said. “That’s something we preach in practice. It comes out here on the field. We couldn’t be more happy and proud going into districts.”

North County at Sullivan football

Photos from Nate Latsch

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