2017-18 VARSITY FOOTBALL BEAT MALONE

The St. Lawrence Central varsity football team kept its unbeaten record intact with a 17-0 victory over the Malone Huskies in the only Northern Athletic Conference contest on Saturday.
SLC workhorse Keith Felix carried the ball 21 times for 105 yards and kicked a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter to stake SLC to an early 3-0 lead as the Larries improved to 3-0 on the season. The win sets up a showdown between the only two NAC unbeatens next Saturday in Gouverneur. The Wildcats also moved to 3-0 on the season with a 28-6 win in Ogdensburg on Friday.
“This was a gutsy, gutsy win,” said St. Lawrence head coach Bruce Truax. “This was a total team effort and, because of the temperature (83 degrees at kickoff), we had to rotate a lot of guys in and out.
“We played some great defense and our offensive line was really good at times,” continued the SLC mentor. “Keith (Felix) had another big game for us on the ground. I’m not sure of his final numbers, but I am sure that he ran for over 100 yards again.”
Ben Horner scored the game’s first touchdown in the second quarter, catching an Isaiah Lyon pass in the corner of the endzone for a nine-yard TD. Lyon scrambled to his left and away from the Malone rush and found his receiver wide open for the score. Felix added the conversion run to extend the St. Lawrence lead to 11-0 with just under 10 minutes left until the halftime break.
St. Lawrence capped the scoring with 8:29 left in the contest, as Cole Coughlin bulled his way to paydirt from 10 yards out. The two-point conversion’s pass attempt was picked off by Malone’s Brendan Soulia, but the damage was already done and the Larries stayed unbeaten.
“Again, we made way too many mistakes,” stated Malone coach Greg Marshall. “Every time we were on the move offensively, we did something to knock ourselves back. We had three or four bad snaps, which cost us at least 50 yards.”
The four bad snaps cost Malone a total of 69 yards.
The first inaccurate exchange for the Huskies came on a crucial fourth and one from the SLC 35, a miscue that cost the team 23 yards and allowed the Larries to take back the ball on downs.
After the Larries had taken their 11-0 lead, the Huskies appeared to be driving down the field and were first and ten from the SLC 36, when the next bad exchange cost the Huskies another 13 yards, returning Malone to its own side of the field. Two pass attempts later and the Huskies were forced to punt and the first half came to a close with St. Lawrence leading 11-0.
Another Malone miscue, this time a 15 yard roughing the passer penalty on a third-and-seven play, kept the ball in the Larries possession, but Malone was fortunate enough to halt the SLC drive and force a punt.
On Malone’s first possession of the second half, they began who looked to be a promising drive from their own 30. Seven plays later, and the Huskies were looking at a first and goal from the nine – but a strong defensive stand by the SLC defense stopped the Malone drive at the SLC 6 and kept the Huskies from reaching the endzone.
Things went sour for Malone on its next drive, as another bad center exchange cost the team six more yards, setting up a third and 10, which quickly turned into a fourth and three via an offside call against the Larries.
Malone set up to punt the ball back to St. Lawrence, but the final pour exchange resulted in a loss of 27 yards and St. Lawrence took over on downs at the Malone 19. Three plays later, and Cole Coughlin took the handoff from Lyon and roared right up the gut of the Malone defense for a 10-yard score for the 17-0 final.
“We just couldn’t get that one big play to get us into the endzone,” recalled Marshall, who did make a point of stating that “the defense definitely played better” than it did against Gouverneur.
Malone looks to end its two-game slid in Canton on Saturday.
NAC FOOTBALL
St. Lawrence 17, Malone 0
Malone 0 0 0 0 – 0
St. Lawrence 3 8 0 6 – 17
1st Quarter
SLC: Keith Felix, 30-yd field goal, 1:42.
2nd Quarter
SLC: Ben Horner, 9-yd pass from Isaiah Lyon (K. Felix run), 9:56.
4th Quarter
SLC: Cole Coughlin, 10-yd run (pass failed), 8:29.
Individual Stats
Rushing
Mal: Hunter Swan 11-100; Timothy H. Langdon 9-57; Tyler Preve 3-6; Matt Marlow 2-4; Jordan St. Hilaire 1-1; Team 4-(-69). Totals: 30-99.
SLC: Keith Felix 21-105; Kaleb Parker 3-9; Isaiah Lyon 4-(-9); Cole Coughlin 1-10, TD. Totals: 29-115, TD.
Passing
Mal: Swan 9-12, 62 yds; Marlow 2-4, -2 yds, INT.
SLC: Lyon 4-10, 37 yds, TD.
Receiving
Mal: Evan Keegan 5-25; St. Hilaire 4-13; Preve 2-22; Langdon 1-0.
SLC: Eli Kocsis 2-27; Ben Horner 2-10, TD.
Interceptions
SLC - 1 (Sonny Johnson).
Records: Malone (1-2), St. Lawrence (3-0).