The Eagles were in for a classic Friday night football game against Trinity Christian from Monterey, Oct. 2. After the Eagles scored in the last six seconds of the game, the score was even and they headed to overtime.

The Eagles started off the game on the 33- yard line after a kick return by sophomore Tyler Villines,. The team ran the ball exclusively for the first few plays, with runs of ten yards or more. The offense was in a good spot to score first, being on the three-yard line. On third down, quarterback Tyler Breedlove, then threw for the first time, earning an interception.

The team rushed for over 120 yards and two touchdowns. Led by Villines with 50 yards and a touchdown and junior Slater Wade, with 23 yards and a touchdown. The team had many dropped passes with only eight completions for 103 yards. Wade caught a crucial touchdown late in the game that gave the Eagles a chance to win. Breedlove went to receiver in the last drive of the game and caught a total of three passes for 40 yards. He also caught the two-point-conversion from Villines, with 6 seconds left and tied the game.

The team found themselves in overtime and they decided to play defense first. In high school overtime rules are different than college or professional. In 8-man football the ball is placed on the 10-yard and each team gets a chance to score. If the first team scores the next team has to score and tie it up to go to another overtime.

Defense stopped Trinity all four downs and it was the teams turn to score. Villines got sacked for a four yard loss on the first play, the Eagles rushed to the line and called a play, the defense was caught off guard. Villines threw to Breedlove and he ran it in for the 14-yard touchdown.

The defense scored first, Linebacker Daniel Ayres recovered a fumble for a five-yard touchdown after a failed fake punt. After that touchdown the team executed their assignments and held Trinity for at halftime 20-14. The defense combined for 77 tackles, which is the most this year. Ayres led the team with 18 tackles and Senior Bailey Brogan with ten tackles.

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The defensive group was led by Ayres. He believes he gave a spark the Eagles needed to play harder on defense and he elaborates on the success of league he aspires to achieve.

“I think me playing a good game helped the defense,” Ayres said. “We got more motivated and confident to be able to stop their offense. A game like that will put us on the right track. It was such a difficult opponent that when we go into league games we will know we’ve played some tough teams so we can battle through anything. I believe we will go far in league and win a Valley Championship.”

Head coach Mick Fuller was pleased with the teams performance and proud the Eagles overcame the adversity they faced.

The Eagles will face off with their rivals, Kings Christian, at 7 p.m., Oct. 9. Come out and support your Varsity football team in Lemoore.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @tyler_breed and via email: Tyler Breedlove.

For more football articles, read Football sport short: Mojave.