LAKE HUNTINGTON – In the first round of the 8-Man Sectional playoffs on Friday, the 3-seed Sullivan West Bulldogs (6-1, 2-1) easily handled the combined 6-seed Pine Plains/Rhinebeck Bombers team (2-4, 2-2), routing the visitors 68-20. 

The win sets up a rematch with the Eldred Yellowjackets this Friday, November 8 after Eldred defeated the Bulldogs, 48-36, in week 4. That was Sullivan West’s only loss on the season, but they had been without star junior running back Alec Hubert who got injured in the first game against Pine Plains/Rhinebeck the week prior. 

The running game, led by Hubert, dominated the contest for the Bulldogs on Friday. The junior has stepped into the shoes of Rally Cruz this season and ran with it, literally, and he set a personal record of touchdowns against the Bombers. Hubert scored five touchdowns in the game, all in the first quarter as the Bulldogs burst out to a 42-12 lead in the opening 12 minutes. 

“It felt great, unreal,” Hubert said of the five touchdowns. “It feels good to be back in the first playoff game and doing that.”

Hubert’s mom, Christina, is on the sidelines every game taking photos for the team and is also a teacher at Sullivan West. He said it felt good to have her watching as he scored the touchdowns. 

“I promised her a few touchdowns tonight and I made sure that happened,” Hubert said. 

Broken plays led to the two scores the Bulldogs allowed in the first quarter. Joseph Ramirez recorded an 80-yard touchdown catch and run with under five minutes to go in the quarter and a long run by Brett Macre on the Bombers’ next drive made it 30-12. The game wouldn’t stay that close for long as Hubert recorded his fourth and fifth touchdowns just a couple of minutes apart. 

Evan Ebert scored the first non-Hubert touchdown of the game for Sullivan West as he took the handoff and ran it in for a 10-yard score on their first possession of the second quarter. At halftime, it was 48-12. 

The Bulldogs began to rest their starters in the second half and backup quarterback Jesse Milk, a sophomore, took over for senior starter Adam Ernst. The offense kept its same dominance and Milk ran for two touchdowns, including a 30-yard scramble. The defense also dominated outside of the two touchdowns they allowed. Freshman Dylan Scardefield recorded three interceptions in the second half, including a pick-6 with under five minutes left in the game. 

The third touchdown from the Bombers came from a kickoff return from Ramirez following the Scardefield pick-6. 

“Anytime you put up 50 more [points] than your opponent in a playoff game, that’s a hell of a sign,” Sullivan West Coach Justin Diehl said. “I’m really proud of our offensive line tonight. They are the heart and soul of this team and without them, we don’t do what we do. Alec had an amazing game. Pine Plains is a good team, we were just able to execute and our boys did a great job tonight.”

Diehl noted that they only had one completion in the first half from Ernst as they relied heavily on the run game. 

“It was good to see our run game be the thing that carried us through this one,” he said. “It makes it a lot harder for teams to key in on our pass game. We’re going to keep rolling, but the job’s not finished.”

Diehl also said it was good to see the seniors go off of their home field on a high note. 

On the rematch against Eldred, Diehl said, “We want it. This is what we’ve been working for since that week four matchup. This is what we’ve been building up for. We’ll see if the boys are up to the task. We’re going to have a hard week of practice and hopefully we can come out on top again.”