LAKE HUNTINGTON – The Sullivan West Bulldogs opened up their season as defending Section IX 8-Man champions at home on Friday against the Onteora Eagles. The Bulldogs never had the final outcome in question as they put on a show for their home crowd, winning 44-0. The defending champions made a statement as they were clicking on all cylinders on both sides of the ball and had backups in the game by early in the second half. 

The first touchdown for Sullivan West came just over three minutes into the game after the defense forced a three-and-out to begin the game. Junior Seamus Johnston took it to the house on a 34-yard run. The Bulldogs special teams then pinned the Eagles to within the five-yard line and the defense forced a three-and-out. 

The Bulldogs got the ball back at their own 39-yard line and drove down the field once again, capped off by a 15-yard touchdown run by freshman running back Paul Nunnari. After a two-point conversion, Sullivan West led, 16-0. 

After recovering a fumble on the ensuing Onteora drive, senior quarterback Adam Ernst found senior receiver Evan Ebert for his first touchdown pass of the season with 3:16 remaining in the opening quarter. 

Sullivan West was going to be punting the ball for the first time in the game to open the second quarter before a running into the kicker penalty on Onteora made it 4th-and-5. The Bulldogs then went for it and got the first down on an offsides penalty on the defense. 

Junior receiver Dylan Lockwood had a big catch and run down to the Eagles’ six-yard line before junior running back Hubert caught a pass from Ernst and ran it in for six to make it 28-0. 

Following a big return from Onteora’s Jameer Maize to the Bulldogs’ 41-yard line, the Sullivan West defense stepped up and forced a turnover on downs at the 37-yard line. Hubert raced down to the Onteora 30-yard line as the Bulldogs were in business again. 

But then Maize made another big play as he picked off Ernst at the 15-yard line with 7:11 remaining in the half. Ernst made up for his turnover shortly after, recovering a fumble by the Eagles at the 45-yard line. 

A couple of plays later, Hubert took the handoff from Ernst and ran it 40 yards to the house for his second touchdown of the game. 

After the kickoff, a broken play would have put Onteora on the board as senior tight end Cole Matteson caught a pass and ran to the endzone. 

However, an ineligible receiver downfield penalty was called which negated the only potential score for the Eagles of the game. At halftime, the Bulldogs led 36-0. 

It was more of the same dominance to begin the second half as Hubert took the second-half kickoff and returned it to the Onteora 34. Ernst then found Lockwood who caught the pass and ran for a 34-yard score. 

That made it 44-0 after a two-point conversion. With just under 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter, Ernst was pulled from the game for backup quarterback, sophomore Jesse Milk, as the Bulldogs began to rest their starters and let off the gas. 

“I think the boys spoke with their play, they came out and executed,” said Sullivan West Assistant Coach Justin Diehl. “They did their job. First-team starters, both defense and offense, can’t really say anything bad about them. They picked up right where we left off last year after the Sectional Championship. We got a hell of a squad. We just got to keep our heads down and keep working. We might be back there this year. We’ll see.”