El Dorado Springs used a big second half to propel the Bulldogs to a 44-26 victory over the Pierce City Eagles on Friday night
The Eagles began the evening on their own 28-yard line and used a 15-play drive to jump on top of the Bulldogs 7-0.
On the second play of offense, ElDo responded with a 65-yard touchdown run from Ethan Dubois. Dayton Austin added the 2-point conversion to put the Bulldogs up 8-7.
Two plays later Riley Boyd picked off a Pierce City pass to give the Bulldog offense the football at the Eagles 43-yard line. After getting backed up due to a questionable formation penalty, the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs as the first quarter came to a close.
In the second quarter, Pierce City’s QB evaded a near sack and managed to get the ball off to a running back on a screen, who ran the ball in for a touchdown putting the Eagles back on top 14-8. On the next ElDo drive, Trenton Hardie dashed 65-yards before getting pushed out at the Eagles 5-yard line. Two plays later, Austin made it into the endzone with Boyd adding the 2-point conversion to put the Bulldogs back in the lead, 16-14 with two minutes left in the half. Pierce City then went on a 12-play drive that came up just short of the endzone as the half expired.
Before halftime began, a heartfelt moment took place as a prearranged final play of the half between the two teams occurred. On the play, from three-yards out, with the Bulldog offense on the field, Boyd took the snap and handed the ball off to four-year football player, Dalton Fuller, for a ceremonial touchdown as the team swarmed Fuller to congratulate him.
On the first drive of the second half, the Bulldogs were forced to punt but the ElDo defense stood strong and got the ball back by stopping the Eagles on 4th and 2. The Bulldogs wouldn’t look back from this point on as they scored on all but one of their remaining possessions, including a 50-yard touchdown run by Dubois, a 13-yard touchdown run by Boyd, a 59-yard touchdown run by Austin, and a 10-yard touchdown run by Hardie.
On the final Pierce City drive, Jake Schieffer picked off the Eagle quarterback to bring the ElDo offense back onto the field where the Bulldogs finished the game by kneeling down in the victory formation with El Dorado Springs winning the game 44-26.
Coach Scroggins said, “We took a huge step in the right direction and I am proud of the way our boys handled themselves. I felt like tonight, we started learning how to win when the game was on the line. At half time we were up by 2 points and the game could go either way but our boys never stopped believing and kept their foot on the throttle until the final whistle getting us an 18-point win. Nate Marsh, Dagan McIntire and Wyatt Graves all had outstanding games on the offensive line for us and I think we are getting a reputation of being a very physical team that will play until the whistle. We need to keep getting better next week in our final tune-up before districts.”
Ethan Dubois led the way on offense gaining 143 yards on 10 carries while he added 22 tackles on defense, a number that was tied by Dayton Austin. The Bulldogs next travel to Skyline to finish up the regular season.
On the defensive side of the ball, Ethan Dubois made six solo tackles and assisted on 16.
Dayton Austin made four solo tackles and assisted on 18.
Riley Boyd made three solo tackles, assisted on seven, deflected a pass and intercepted a pass.
Trey Babcock made two solo tackles, assisted on eight, recovered a fumble and deflected three passes.
Colton Collins assisted on four tackles and deflected two passes.
Keilan Jaques made two tackles, assisted on six, made three TFL (tackle for a loss), made one sack and forced one fumble.
Shelby McKinney made four solo tackles, assisted on seven and had 1.5 TFL and one sack and forced one fumble.
Jake Schieffer made two tackles, assisted on two and made one interception.
Nate Marsh made one solo tackle, assisted on four and had half a TFL.
Blake Holder had two solo tackles, assisted on four and had half a TFL.
Wyatt Graves assisted on eight tackles and deflected one pass.
Dylan Gallette made three solo tackles and assisted on eight.
Jordan Gallette assisted on three tackles.
Dakota Long assisted on three tackles.
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