By Steve Franklin
Sun Sports Correspondent
CLINTON – Sherburne-Earlville’s coaching staff issued a challenge to its players prior to Saturday’s kickoff at Clinton.
Could the Marauders dominate the way that the coaching staff believed? Could they put together 48 minutes of flawless football? Could they pick up a road win and keep their playoff hopes alive?
They certainly could.
Sherburne-Earlville racked up a season-high 365 yards of total offense, and its defense came up with five sacks and six interceptions as the Marauders rolled over division foe Clinton in dominating fashion, 35-6 in its regular season road finale.
“This is what we have been waiting for. We have been right on the edge, and this week we put it all together, especially on offense,” S-E head coach Mike Jasper said. "The defense was relentless this afternoon, it was a great performance and allowed us to get the offense going. It was a solid team win that we needed."
After a quiet opening quarter, Sherburne-Earlville’s offense erupted in the second stanza as the Marauders took advantage of a pair of turnovers.
Following an interception by senior Chris Santiago that set up S-E inside Clinton territory, the Marauders began the onslaught, stringing together a 49-yard drive that culminated in a one-yard touchdown plunge by running back Greg Duvall.
On its next possession, the Marauders gained only seven yards on three plays and appeared ready to punt.
However, with the defense playing stout, S-E elected to go for it on a fourth-and-three from its own 39-yard line. Senior Will Slentz made the move pay dividends as he found a hole and outran the Warriors’ defense for a season-long 61-yard score, putting S-E ahead 14-0.
The domination continued on both sides of the ball later in the period as safety Ethan Johnson stepped in front of one of Clinton quarterback Joe Gaetano’s pass attempts, for a leaping interception that gave S-E possession inside the Warriors’ 25-yard line.
A few plays later, Johnson – in his third year as a varsity player – put S-E ahead 20-0 as he connected with freshman tight end Austin Jasper on a four-yard touchdown toss with 51 seconds left in the half.
As the third quarter opened, Clinton’s defense would stiffen and force the Marauders to punt for the first time of the afternoon.
Any momentum that Clinton hoped to seize would soon be squandered as the vaunted S-E secondary struck again. This time it was Slentz who joined the pick-off party as he corralled a deep pass from Warriors’ backup signal caller Jordan Chrobak.
The interception spurred the Marauders once again.
After marching methodically down the field, Johnson and Jasper connected again on a pass inside the five. Duvall would punch it in from two yards out for his second score of the game ending any hope of a Warriors comeback.
A big punt return gave Clinton their best field position of the day early in the fourth, and the Warriors were able to capitalize with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Chrobak to Cody Doyle to avoid the shutout.
S-E’s Cody Williams capped the Marauders offensive explosion in the final minutes as he galloped into the end zone from 26 yards out to make the final score 35-6.
The Marauders finished the contest with 346 yards on the ground, the most in the Mike Jasper coaching era. What made the feat even more impressive was that S-E was playing without starting linemen Eric Eichler, Zack Cook, and Derek Nelson. But the revamped line of Ryan Marango, Justin Coye, Zack Martin, John Keller, and Cody Santiago rose to the occasion and owned the line of scrimmage.
