The weather was ideal for a game on the gridiron Friday night in Wright County, but the stars wouldn’t align for Old Eagle High as they looked to defeat 1-7 Garner-Hayfield-Ventura. Usual suspect Drake Canavan finished his senior year with an admirable effort, and once again was everywhere on the field for his team. His fake punt on a first quarter 4th and 5 gave the crowd a jolt of energy.
The Cardinals struck first with a rushing touchdown on the goal line, but Coach Willard’s team held their heads high. Connor Christopher was the catalyst on a scoring drive that featured two game breaking runs. He juked helpless defensive backs and turned on the after burners on a 20-yard rushing touchdown. The Eagles converted the two-point conversion and took an 8-7 lead in the second quarter.
In the second half, running back Lucas Gral and Garner-Hayfield-Ventura would storm back with a touchdown of their own. Penalties would hurt the Eagles when they got the ball back, and the Cardinals capitalized on the possessions they were given. A quarterback sneak and PAT gave GHV a 20-8 lead in the third quarter, and Kral continued to punish the defense on the ground with a touchdown of his own in the fourth.
Eagle Grove junior Josh Miller had himself a night on both sides of the ball, but his work on special teams returning kicks consistently gave the offense excellent field position. After a fourth quarter return by Miller, quarterback Adrian Whipple hurled the ball to targets Canavan and Brett Ascherl before handing it off to Trent Robinson for the score. Unfortunately for the Eagles, time was not on their side. The defense managed to force a fumble, but precious seconds ticked off the clock and the purple and gold ended their season with a 26-16 home loss. Congratulations to all the coaches and players on a hard fought season.
