EATON — The Eagles dropped a closely contested 14-7 home opener to the Brookville Blue Devils on Saturday, Aug. 28 to begin their season.
After punts on both teams’ opening possessions, Brookville began the scoring by converting on two 3rd and 3s and a fourth down attempt during the drive to find the end zone and take a 7-0 lead with 3:10 left in the first quarter.
The following possession started on a good note for Eaton with Brookville sending the kickoff out of bounds and a later conversion on 3rd and 3, but the Eagles would later fumble the ball away on 4th down.
“You can’t give teams extra chances and expect to win, especially good teams, disciplined teams, well-coached teams,” coach Brad Davis said. “You give them extra opportunities, they’re gonna take advantage of it.”
On the next drive for Eaton, senior quarterback/defensive back Dawson Blaylock started the possession off with a long run followed by a circus catch completion to junior tight end/defensive lineman Breyden Boston to get the Eagles into the red zone.
Blaylock then found sophomore wide receiver/defensive back Beau Miller, who had planted himself near the sideline in the end zone, for a touchdown as he fell out of bounds.
The teams then traded punts until halftime, entering the locker room 7-7.
The second half started sloppy for both teams as Eaton fumbled on its opening possession, followed by a Brookville fumble on the ensuing possession.
Once the Eagles had the ball back, a pass from Blaylock was intercepted and then fumbled by Brookville, which was then recovered again by Eaton, the second fumble recovery of the game for Boston.
However, Eaton would later turn the ball over on downs.
Heading into the fourth quarter, the Eagles began to build momentum as junior wide receiver/defensive back Christian Reyna intercepted the ball from the Blue Devils, but Eaton turned the ball over again on the first play of the ensuing drive.
With three turnovers by the Eagles in addition to a fumble they were able to recover after a Brookville interception, Davis said the turnovers were factors of both the defense making plays and first game jitters.
“You know, a hard-fought game,” he said. “Both teams were physical, but when it comes down to it, the ball is the most important thing when you’re on offense. We had some takeaways but we turned the ball over too many times to be successful.”
After punts from both teams following Eaton’s turnover, Brookville moved up from its 22-yard line all the way to Eaton’s 40-yard line on a 38-yard pass that saw a Blue Devil sneak past the secondary down the sideline.
Brookville then found the end zone on a similar play, scoring the deciding touchdown to make it 14-7 with 5:44 to play.
After a failed fourth down conversion near midfield for the Eagles, the Blue Devils were able to run out the clock.
“We’ve got to find a way to win. You’ve got to find a way to win,” Davis said. “So, we haven’t been able to do that successfully these last several years, so we got to figure something out.”
The Eagles will move on to Oakwood, who they will face on the road on Friday, Sept. 4.
