EATON — Eaton scored on its first play from scrimmage, then rolled off 30 unanswered points over the final two-plus quarters to knock out Greenville 44-13 in the high school season opener for both football teams on Friday, Aug. 19 at Eaton.
“The keys for us offensively were to take care of the football and take what they gave us,” Eaton coach Brad Davis said. “Defensively, we needed to limit their tailback’s (Brock Short) success. He’s a dynamic player, capable of an explosive play every time he touches it.”
Davis said his team met those goals.
“We were able to accomplish those goals,” he said. “(We were) pretty balanced offensively with no turnovers (our 1 turnover came on a muffed punt) and defensively allowed an 80-yard rushing TD to him. Other than that, we did OK.”
After the Eagles defense forced a 3-and-out, the offense wasted little time reaching the end zone.
Quarterback Brock Ebright, who completed 16-of-20 passes for 259 yards, connected with Leslie Orr (4 catches, 82 yards) for a 58-yard touchdown.
Greenville responded with a scoring drive of its own but missed the point after try to keep it a 7-6 game.
The Eagles extended their lead to 14-6 when Ebright connected with Brayden Deem for a 5-yard TD pass.
The Green Wave responded once again as Short ran 80 yard on the first play of the next series for a touchdown to cut Eaton’s lead to 14-13.
Ebright scored on a quarterback sneak late in the quarter to give the Eagles a 21-13 lead at the half.
Eaton began the third quarter with an impressive drive that was capped by a 21-yard touchdown run by Cordis Berard (14 carries, 102 yards) for a 28-13 lead.
After the defense held, the offense put together another solid drive that ended with a Danny Caldwell 13-yard touchdown run to extend the Eagles lead to 35-13.
After a muffed punt that resulted in the Green Wave taking over at the Eagles 4-yard line, Eaton’s defense was forced to step up.
Eaton kept the Green Wave out of the end zone, forcing a turnover on downs at the 2-yard line.
Eaton added a safety for a 37-13 lead then Berard added his second touchdown of the game on a 17-yard run.
“Good start to the season, getting the first W is important,” Davis said.
Eaton is scheduled to travel to Springfield Shawnee, who lost 31-7 to Valley View last week, on Thursday, Aug. 25.
