SHERBURNE – Need to know how much better Sherburne-Earlville’s football team is this season over last year? Friday night’s victory over Utica Notre Dame is the only evidence we need to present.

A season after suffering through a season-ending 56-29 loss to the Jugglers, the Marauders wrapped up their first outright Section III division championship with a 38-13 romp over UND.

Other than two-time all-state selection Austin Jasper, this collection of S-E gridders is devoid of star players, and instead comprised of unsung, blue collar individuals who have all bought into the mantra, “team before self.”

“There are no egos on this team, and we trade a lot of guys in and out,” said S-E head coach Mike Jasper. “We don’t care who scores and how, these guys just want to win.”

Hard to say who was more fired up after the victory, the coach or the two-dozen exuberant young men who have done nothing but win this season in amassing the school’s first 6-0 start since joining Section III 11 years ago. For that matter, it’s been decades since a Sherburne-Earlville football team – excluding the Tri-Valley League years – won its first six games.

And it’s been a no-frills, nothing-fancy approach to every win: Run the ball well, stop the other team’s running game, and limit mistakes. “We’re just a physical team, and we do certain things well,” Jasper said.