The Eagles varsity team hosted the Maple Valley-Anthon Oto Rams in a regular season game played at the football field at Eagle Grove Elementary last Friday. The game got off to a slow start, but built to a back and forth battle as the game wore on.
In the first quarter, the Eagles didn't manage to take off any more than the Rams managed to find a foothold. And both teams played the other to a standoff in which neither team scored.
But in the second quarter the Eagles did manage to launch, scoring the first touchdown of the game and getting the extra points to boot. With The first half ending Eagles over Rams, 8-0.
The Rams came on the field after halftime ready to butt heads, but the Eagles were on their A game too. The Rams managed to get on the scoreboard with their first touchdown of the game, but missed the extra points. Failing to tie the game up, and instead the Rams trailed the Eagles, down by 2. Then the Eagles took it to the End Zone three times in the third, scoring a total of 22 points.
Going into the fourth down by 24 points, the Rams threw it into high gear, taking the end zone twice but again missing extra points, for a total of 12 points in the final quarter. The Eagles didn't score in the third, but still held a 10 point advantage as the clock counted down, giving the Eagles the win 30 to 20.
Once again the Eagles showed their preference for a ground game, with only eight passing attempts, compared to the Rams 35, with both teams completing roughly half of their attempts. But with the Rams, notably, scoring touchdowns on two throws, and the Eagles scoring only on runs. The Rams covered 248 yards in the air in 16 completions, while the Eagles covered only 27 yards in just three completions. While the Eagles made hay off one interception that covered 60 yards.
The Eagles showed the most strength in their rushing game. In 42 rushing attempts the Eagles covered 307 yards, with their longest rush covering 68 yards. Both teams sacked the opposing quarterback once, but the Rams led the Eagles in tackles, taking Eagles to the grass 56 times to 31.
Leading Eagles were seniors Tate Richardson and Cayden Schultz, and junior Jake Jeske. Richardson and Schultz led in touchdowns with two each. Jeske led in tackles with five.
