SHERBURNE – Need to know how much better Sherburne-Earlville’s football team is this season over last year? Friday night’s victory over Utica Notre Dame is the only evidence we need to present.
A season after suffering through a season-ending 56-29 loss to the Jugglers, the Marauders wrapped up their first outright Section III division championship with a 38-13 romp over UND.
Other than two-time all-state selection Austin Jasper, this collection of S-E gridders is devoid of star players, and instead comprised of unsung, blue collar individuals who have all bought into the mantra, “team before self.”
“There are no egos on this team, and we trade a lot of guys in and out,” said S-E head coach Mike Jasper. “We don’t care who scores and how, these guys just want to win.”
Hard to say who was more fired up after the victory, the coach or the two-dozen exuberant young men who have done nothing but win this season in amassing the school’s first 6-0 start since joining Section III 11 years ago. For that matter, it’s been decades since a Sherburne-Earlville football team – excluding the Tri-Valley League years – won its first six games.
And it’s been a no-frills, nothing-fancy approach to every win: Run the ball well, stop the other team’s running game, and limit mistakes. “We’re just a physical team, and we do certain things well,” Jasper said.
How about two backs running for over 100 yards? Or, holding the other team under 100 yards rushing? And, what about the defense forcing four turnovers?
“Our kids stepped up. Their kids (Utica Notre Dame) are great players and they will make plays,” Jasper said. “What we did was contain them and not allow them any big plays.”
The Jugglers certainly didn’t make it easy on the S-E defense behind star quarterback Kevin Warmack. Warmack drove his club into Marauders territory on nearly every one of his team’s possessions. On the opening drive, UND marched inside the S-E using 14 plays and converting on a pair of fourth-down plays. But that drive stalled, and 28-yard field goal was missed.
S-E’s defense was on the field over seven minutes, but the offense needed less than three to cover 80 yards for the opening score. Brady Sopchak, who had a game-high 112 yards rushing, burst 32 yards to the UND three, the Garrett DuVall punched it in from there on the next play. Sopchak added a one-yard scoring run in the second quarter to make it 12-0 at halftime.
In the meantime, Ben Khoury halted one UND scoring drive intercepting a Warmack pass in the endzone, one of three picks for Khoury.
Over the second half, the only thing that stopped S-E was itself. Cody Marango hit Jasper on a short swing pass that went for a 28-yard score. After Warmack scored on a short run to put his team on the board, S-E responded later in the quarter on Sopchak’s 13-yard dash.
To end the third quarter, S-E senior lineman J.P. Osborne, who had his best game of the season, blew up an option exchange between Warmack and running back Brandyn Muha to create another turnover. That set the stage for a 38-yard scoring drive that ended on Jasper’s four-yard scoring run early in the fourth.
For good measure, sophomore Brodie Roebuck burst through the line on his way to a 60-yard TD scamper to complete the scoring. Roebuck finished with 110 yards on the ground.
“These kids are unselfish, and all they’ve cared about from the first day of practice is to win games,” Jasper said.
And that’s all S-E has done. The Marauders wrap up their regular season Saturday when they visit Clinton.
Score by Quarters
UND 0 0 6 7—13
S-E 6 6 12 14—38
Scoring Summary
