EATON —The Eaton football team dropped its final game of the season when Valley View defeated the Eagles at home 45-7 on Friday, Oct. 28.
The Spartans attempted five passes in the game, dominating the Eagles at the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively and compiling 388 yards on 36 rushing attempts while only allowing the Eagles 135 yards on 26 attempts.
Head coach Brad Davis said his team did not do a good enough job handling the Spartan line.
“We did not win our battles at the line of scrimmage. We tell our guys that each play consists of 11 individual battles,” Davis said. “If we can win those battles the play will be successful. We did not get consistent enough play on either side of the ball at the line of scrimmage.”
The teams remained level until three minutes to go in the first quarter when an 80-yard touchdown run by Jake Neatherton opened the scoring, giving the Spartans a 7-0 lead.
The lead was 13 after Collin Genslinger found the end-zone from 21 yards on the first play of the second quarter.
Genslinger scored again at the six minute mark in the second quarter, this time from 79 yards, for a 21-0 lead.
Neatherton finished off the strong second quarter by the Spartans with a ten-yard touchdown, for a 28-0 lead heading into the locker room.
The Eagles caught a break when Tyrell David recovered a “squib” kick on the opening kickoff of the second half and the Eagles quickly found the end-zone after quarterback Lew Bowser finished the drive with a touchdown run.
“We typically squib kick our kickoffs,” Davis said afterwards. “We were fortunate to get a bounce there and recover it; it was just a result of a good kick and good hustle and effort to make the play.”
The Eagles nearly recovered the ensuing kick with the same strategy, but it was not meant to be as the Spartans came up with the loose ball.
The Spartans were threatening again when an interception by the Eagles ended the drive. However, a pass interference called brought the play back and the Spartans made the Eagles pay when Neatherton took a short pass 49 yards to the end zone a few plays later.
The Spartans went on to add a field goal and a touchdown to end the third quarter for the final of 45-7.
The season marks the end of what Davis called a frustrating season and also the careers of the seniors.
“This group of seniors has been through and experienced just about as much adversity as a group can go through in their career,” Davis said about the seniors. “We tell them to find positives out of any situation and continue to move forward. So, we hope that these tough experiences help them down the road in their lives. That’s the beauty of this sport; there are so many parallels to be made with life.”
The Eagles finish the season at 2-8 and 1-5 in the SWBL Southwestern Division.
