By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
PULASKI—Brock Egnarski had two interceptions and a fumble recovery and Isaac Hanke kicked a 29-yard field goal late to lift the Pulaski Red Raiders to a 12-10 win over the Notre Dame Academy Tritons in a football game played September 20 at Saputo Stadium.
“You have to tip your hat to Notre Dame tonight,” said Jerad Marsh, Pulaski head coach. “They are an extremely well coached team that plays hard. We’ve had some battles the past couple of years.”
For the second week in a row, Pulaski (5-0 overall) running back Ben Redlin lit up the stat sheet rushing for 136 yards and one touchdown.
Not to be outdone was Tritons (1-4 overall) tailback James Arett who carried the rock 27 times for 95 yards.
After a quick three and out by Notre Dame to start the game, Pulaski wasted no time putting points on the board, going four plays in 78 yards (all courtesy of Redlin) to go up 6-0 with 8:21 left in the first quarter.
The Red Raiders quickly got the ball back on offense and just two plays later appeared to take a two-touchdown lead after Joe O’Leary galloped into the end-zone from 26 yards out. A holding penalty negated the play and Pulaski had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Hanke to go up 9-0 with 3:04 left in the opener.
“We have I think five returnees from last season, so you’ll see those ups and downs like we experienced today,” added Marsh. “We got off to a good start but the penalty at a key time pushed us back a bit and gave Notre Dame the momentum it then gained throughout the next couple of quarters.”
The Red Raiders only mustered 34 yards of total offense in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame gave itself scoring opportunities, but an interception and fumble stymied any points from being put up.
Midway through the third quarter, with the Red Raiders still holding a nine-point advantage, Notre Dame got a special-teams break when Pulaski muffed a punt setting up the Tritons just 34 yards away from the end-zone.
Four plays later, Aiden Wolfram booted a 34-yard field goal to cut the Pulaski margin to 9-3 with 3:50 left in the third quarter.
After Pulaski punted to open up the fourth quarter, backup Tritons tailback Will Zellner took the first pitch from scrimmage and went 48 yards down the sidelines for a touchdown and a Notre Dame 10-9 lead.
“I thought the run started with our defense,” said Mike Rader, Notre Dame head coach. “They played with a lot of emotion. That window opened up for us and the kids saw that they were right there with Pulaski.”
With the Red Raiders undefeated season on the line and 3:23 left on the game clock, Pulaski surprisingly enough turned to its pitch-and-catch game completing three passes… putting them inside the Tritons 15-yard line on its final drive.
Facing a fourth and six, Hanke calmly booted a 29-yard field goal with 36 seconds remaining in the game to put Pulaski back on top 12-10.
The Tritons reached midfield on its final drive but Egnarski was there again to pick Tritons quarterback Hogan Anderson off sealing the deal for the Red Raiders.
“We knew Notre Dame would run the ball, run the ball, and run some more,” said Egnarski. “We knew when they put it up that us defensive backs had to be ready to create some turnovers. We knew we had to come back and pull this one out to continue our drive towards first place in the conference.”
Box Score:
Notre Dame: 0, 0, 3, 7—10
Pulaski: 9, 0, 0, 3—12