SARANAC LAKE -- A Jon Barge kickoff return and a Ticonderoga penalty helped give Saranac Lake a three-point cushion Saturday, and then the Red Storm held the Sentinels scoreless for the rest of the second half to open with a 15-12 Northern Football Conference win.

Barge, a senior running back, led all rushers with 108 yards on 20 carries.

Ticonderoga jumped out to a 12-0 lead and was up 12-7 at halftime.

"I thought we were doing OK in the first half of the football game, and then the second half belonged to them," Ticonderoga coach Bob Sutphen said. "We didn't do much offensively, and I don't know how much they did offensively either in the second half. They just had some big plays on us defensively, and there's the difference right there."

Barge started the third quarter by running the kickoff back 70 yards -- with the help of a great block by David Snyder -- to give Saranac Lake a 13-12 lead. The point after attempt went wide, but a penalty against Ticonderoga gave the Red Storm another chance, and this time Sean Ryan ran it in for two points.

"We thought we'd have an edge on special teams because of our depth," Saranac Lake coach Mark Farmer said. "We have a lot of good kids on special teams."

Saranac Lake got the ball right back after Snyder snagged an interception on the Sentinels' first play of their drive, and Ticonderoga had to punt on its next drive.

In the fourth, the Sentinels had two possessions in the final 2:30. Steven Burpoe ended the first quickly with a pick. On the second, Anthony Barnao completed three straight passes to move Ticonderoga past midfield. But the drive stalled, and Barnao's desperation heave fell to the ground as time ran out.

"The key to the fourth quarter for us was the amount of people we played," Farmer said. "We rotated guys all game long. We said to the kids, We're going to use our depth.' And I think depth was the difference. We were a little fresher when we needed to be.

"The only adjustment we made at halftime was to tell the guys to continue to pressure and push, push, push so we could run them out of gas late."

Farmer added that depth at quarterback, where Jon Mauler filled in while starter Brandon Patraw was cramping up, and running back, where Ryan had some quality carries, were especially key.

Burpoe added 56 rushing yards to his two interceptions, and Snyder had three catches for 38 yards. Patraw completed four passes for 49 yards.

Ticonderoga's opening drive of the game ended with Burpoe's first interception of the game, but then the Sentinels forced a turnover. Bryant Austin took the ball away from Dan Sweet and ran it 60 yards down the sideline for a touchdown just under five minutes into the game.

At the end of the quarter, Bryant capped a 67-yard drive with a touchdown scamper from the 27-yard line.

Late in the second, Patraw hit Snyder near the sideline for a 29-yard pass, and Patraw finished the drive by running for a nine-yard score to make it 12-7.