PLATTSBURGH — The Lake City Stars appeared to be in for another long night when Vern Harrison fumbled on the first carry of the game and the Scranton Eagles recovered.

The fumble, however, was one of just a few mistakes made by the Stars in the entire football game as they rolled past the Eagles, 27-6, at Melissa L. Penfield Park on Saturday.

Lake City scored the first points of the game as Eddie Castine hit Shane Racette on first down for a 25-yard touchdown.

Lake City Stars’ Matt St. Clair (2) runs past Scranton’s Bill Sandly (15) and Lati Woodruff (11) during a 35-yard run in the second quarter which set up a touchdown. The Stars defeated the Eagles, 27-6, at Melissa L. Penfield Park Saturday. (P-R Photo/MICHAEL BETTS)

The score was set up as the Stars defense held the Eagles deep in their own territory and gave Lake City’s offense the ball in great field position, thanks to an Eric Bjornstad and Shane Cheeseman sack. The score put the Stars up for good as Scranton could only climb to within six points the rest of the game.

"We definitely picked it up tonight," Lake City head coach Ed McCallister said. "We killed ourselves early and often in the first half, though, but Scranton was very aggressive on defense. We came back and played a strong second half."

The defense again played a strong set of downs holding Scranton to a three-and-out while a terrible punt by the Eagles set the Stars up at the Scranton’s 37-yard line.

On first down, Matt St. Clair took a reverse hand-off from Castine and raced 35 yards down to the two. Three plays later, Castine took it over for a one-yard touchdown run and a 12-0 lead.

Scranton got on the board late in second quarter as Bill Sandly bowled in for a four-yard touchdown run. It was the lone points allowed by the Stars on the night. Sandly finished with 55 yards rushing on 18 carries. The Eagles, as a team, picked up just 85 yards on the ground.

"We need to come focused and ready to play a football game; like we did against Orange County," McCallister said. "I never thought we’d get to the point where we are complacent.

"A win is a win though and our defense was solid all game."

The Stars secondary, which a week ago was torched for 143 yards and two touchdowns, picked off two of Mike Arcure’s passes. Earl Parks picked one off in the second quarter and Evan Murphy grabbed an interception in the end zone late in the fourth.

Lake City rounded out the scoring with two touchdowns in the second half as the rushing attack really picked up. Brandon Kelleher went over for a three-yard run and Jed Randall ran for a four-yard score in the fourth.

The Stars picked up 145 yards on the ground as nine different players touched the ball. Harrison led the attack with 31 yards while John Faheey picked up 25 and Kelleher added 23.

Castine finished with 96 yards through the air as James Blocker picked up 27 yards, St. Clair and Racette 25, and Chris Verkey 19.

"We moved the ball much better in the second half," McCallister said. "We were able to mix the pass and the run very well.

"We will look and see where we are at tomorrow, but the bottom line is we have to keep winning. As long as we are winning we know where we will be."