MARYVILLE — Eagleton’s offense overwhelmed the North Greene Huskies as they scored on every possession in a 62-28 win over North Greene on Friday at Eagleton College and Career Academy.
“First off,” North Greene coach Eric Tilson said. “We’re grateful just to have an opportunity to play football. Very thankful to Eagleton for inviting us to play. They didn’t have to do that. It’s not guaranteed they win the game, so I’m grateful they gave us an opportunity to play an extra 48 minutes.”
“And against a good football team, we’ve got a good measuring stick for us. They are a playoff team in 2A. Overall, we had a hard time getting off the bus. I think we left our minds there for a little bit.”
The Eagleton offense accumulated 538 total yards, led by running back Colton Relation’s 221 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries. Quarterback Nathan Clemmer had a night as well, completing 15 of 18 for 226 yards and tossing three touchdowns.
“They were a little faster than what we were expecting,” Tilson said. “Their running back, he was legit. And he showed it tonight. We thought we had to take care of Clemmer, and all the sudden we gotta take care of their run game. They had enough variants and they’re well coached. It forced us into some bad decisions, defensively, and we gotta respond to it.”
The Huskies had more success than most against the Eagleton defense, one that gives up just 17 points per game. And 28 points is the most points they’ve allowed all season.
Thomas Darnell finished 15 of 26 with 144 yards, one touchdown and one interception. On the ground, he led the Huskies with 137 yards and two TDs on 13 carries.
“Pleased with Darnell tonight,” Tilson said. “He overthrew a slant and that was his first pick in about five games. We’ll take it. He overthrew it and he knew he overthrew it. But other than that, when we take care of the football, we’re in a pretty good spot. When we don’t, this is what happens.”
Darnell’s top target was Jake Duffy who hauled in five passes for 33 yards and one score. Brandon Weems caught four passes for 49 yards and Yeshua Vaught caught three for 36. Vaught also churned out 96 yards on 23 carries and scored once.
Eagleton opened the game with a 72-yard drive that took up just over two minutes, capped off by a 40-yard Relation scamper off the right tackle. A successful PAT made it 7-0.
North Greene looked to be driving down the field themselves on the ensuing possession, until Darnell led his receiver a little too much, resulting in an interception. It only took the Royals a handful of plays to go 57 yards to take a two touchdown lead, with Relation scoring his second long rushing TD of the night from 37 yards out.
Down 14-0, North Greene’s offense tried to make up some ground on its next drive but was forced into a three-and-out. The Royals took over after the punt on their 37 and went to the air. After a few plays, Clemmer connected with Navaar Macdonald-Risner, who high-pointed the ball over the Huskies defender and ran in for a 63-yard score. A missed PAT made it 20-0, with 2:37 left in the first quarter.
The Huskies’ next drive started at their 39. Vaught picked up 11 on the first play, followed by a 9-yard catch and run on the second play. Eagleton’s D forced a fourth-and-4, but Darnell successfully drew them offsides with a hard count to give the Huskies a fresh set of downs. A 13-yard pickup from Vaught put the Huskies inside the Royals’ 30, but a fumble on the next play recovered by Eagleton gashed their hopes once more.
On the ensuing Royals drive, Clemmer threw his second touchdown, a 50-yard strike to Lane Cope on a fade route to make it 27-0 in the first minutes of the second quarter.
The Huskies finally reached the end zone on their next drive, starting at their 44. Vaught led the drive with a 22-yard reception and a 20 yard run on third-and-13. He scored from 3 yards out to make it 27-7 after a Juan Soto PAT.
However, Eagleton was quick to score, only needing three minutes to go 65 yards, with Relation scoring on a 15-yard sprint, 34-7.
North Greene churned out their second scoring drive in the waning minutes of the first half. After getting down inside the 5-yard line, Darnell threw three straight incompletions. On fourth-and-goal, the Huskies used a little trickery. Darnell faked the pitch right to Vaught and found Duffy wide open on the left for a 3-yard score, 34-14 with less than a minute left in the half.
The Royals however, returned the ensuing kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown, giving themselves a 41-14 lead at the half.
In the third, the Huskies scored on a 31-yard run and a 2-yard run, both by Darnell. In between those touchdowns, Clemmer threw his third touchdown to Cope.
Up 48-28 to start the fourth, Eagleton scored twice more on a Relation 5-yard run and a 2-yard run from Wyott Matossian for the final score.
After the game, Tilson praised his players for being able to handle the crazy schedule they’ve been dealt, dealing with postponements and cancellations.
“It was a crazy week,” he said. “Your mindset shifts from playing to not playing. ‘OK, we’re back to playing Cloudland again. OK, now Cloudland can’t play.’ We’re in the middle of practice when we are finding this stuff out. That’s a lot on a 17-18 year old kid. So I commend them for being able to reset, move on and be able to come out here and play tonight. That’s some of the things you don’t see on a stat sheet.”
North Greene fell to 4-2 and faces Unaka on the road Friday, Oct. 18.
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