ST. EDMOND
The St. Edmond Gaels hosted the Eagle Grove Eagles Monday night, where they bested the Eagles in an exciting 63-34 battle.
“We knew going into the game that we were going to see a team that played good man-to-man defense,” noted Coach Pedersen, as he reflected on Monday night’s game.
The first quarter started with seven points from the Eagles while seventeen were scored by the Gaels. The match was far from over, however. The Eagles played better offensively in the second quarter, though struggled with their defense. Acknowledging their capitalizing performance, Pedersen added, “We were able to take advantage of our quickness on a number of backdoor cuts and finish at the rim.”
After the conclusion of the second quarter, the Eagles conceded 11 points while scoring nine to end the first half. At half-time, the Eagles were down 28-16.
The third quarter saw the piling of points from the Gaels, as they added 15 to their score. Meanwhile, the Eagles added seven, sealing the third quarter while down by 20 points at 43-23. “We had too many turnovers and the Gaels capitalized,” Pedersen commented. “The Gaels had 21 points off of turnovers. Capitalizing off of our turnovers and having an offense that was really efficient, doomed us in the second half,” he continued.
Pedersen’s description of the second half was fittingly put, as the Eagles let up 20 points alone in the fourth quarter. The Eagles scored 11 in the final quarter, ending the match 63-34. This was the 10th loss to the Gales since 2010.
Stats: RBD AST STL BLK PTS
Tate Richardson 3 0 0 1 5
Drake Canavan 2 3 0 0 9
Jordan Morris 0 0 0 0 7
Jaxon Morris 2 1 1 1 10
Kale Wildering 1 1 1 1 0
Cody Gearhart 0 0 0 0 0
Jaden Armstead 0 0 0 0 0
Titan Christensen 5 0 0 1 2
Brandon Crail 1 0 0 0 0
Jensen Cooper 2 1 0 0 1
Cole Fourage 0 0 0 0 0
The Eagles’ next match was set for Tuesday, Jan. 11, at 7:30 PM where they hosted…
FOREST CITY
Another rivalry for the Eagles, as these conference competitors have quashed the Eagles for a historical 14 consecutive season matchups. It wasn’t 14 until Tuesday night when the Eagles lost 48-33. “Forest City has always been a team that likes to press and play a good 2-3 zone and that’s exactly what we saw last night,” Pedersen claimed, previously mentioning how he knew what to expect from the Indians. Being in the same conference, the team may just get quite predictable after playing against them multiple times.
The first quarter opened up in a close game between the Eagles and Indians, as the Eagles were only down by three at the end of the first quarter. Heading into the second quarter with 11, and 14 for the Indians, the Eagles scored the least amount of points in the entire game, as they scored five while conceding 10. “I thought we were able to handle the press fairly well,” said Pedersen, “but we did not shoot the ball particularly well.”
As the third quarter approached, the Eagles were down 24-16. Scoring only six points, the Eagles’ struggle continued to transfer from their offense to their defense as they conceded another 10 points. The third quarter ended 34-22 with the Indians on top. The fourth quarter mirrored the first quarter…literally, as the Eagles scored 11 and the Indians put away an extra 14 points to secure the win.
The game ended 48-33 with the Indians capturing another victory over the Eagles. Coach Pedersen recognized the reasons for their mistakes, as he noted, “We missed a lot of good open shots. This is partly due to tired legs and to good defense by Forest City.”
Stats: RBD AST STL BLK PTS
Tate Richardson 5 0 0 1 1
Drake Canavan 9 2 2 0 11
Jordan Morris 4 1 2 0 8
Jaxon Morris 2 1 1 1 10
Kale Wildering 5 0 0 0 1
Cody Gearhart 0 0 0 0 0
Noah Thul 0 0 0 0 2
Jaden Armstead 1 0 0 0 0
Titan Christensen 2 0 0 1 0
Brandon Crail 0 0 0 0 0
Jensen Cooper 3 1 0 0 4
Cole Fourage 0 0 0 0 0
Though down another loss, the only where left for the Eagles was up, as their next game took place on Thursday, Jan. 13, at 7:30 PM against…
BISHOP GARRIGAN
What a start to the game for the Eagles. If the second half would have repeated the first half’s performances, the Eagles would have gone to a 2-10 record. Up by 12 points at one point, the Eagles ultimately fell to the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears with a devastating defeat of 62-47.
The first quarter saw sheer domination from the Eagles, as their offense proved well, piling points over the Golden Bears. Not only did their offensive playmaking prove they were the better team at that point, the Eagles defense denied points from the Golden Bears constantly, as they finished the first quarter only allowing eight points while slamming 20. Something changed from the Golden Bears and Eagles when the first quarter closed. The second quarter completely flipped, as the Golden Bears became the dominating team, adding 18 points while the Eagles only added nine. Half-time came with a 29-26 score with the Eagles on top.
The third quarter saw another slow start from the Eagles, as they struggled to continue their stellar defensive performance. The Golden Bears poured 22 points over the Eagles, while the Eagles only managed to score nine points again. The fourth and final quarter continued the curse for the Eagles, as they scored nine points again to finish the game, while conceding 14. After a tremendous start to the game, the Golden Bears stole the show with three powering quarters over the Eagles. The game ended 62-47 with the Golden Bears taking the win.
The next matchup for the Eagles will be set for Monday, Jan. 17, where they are set to face Clarion-Goldfield-Dows at Clarion with tip-off set for 7:30 PM.
sports@eaglegroveeagle.com
