The fine-tuning might come this week after the way the Eagles ran through Fenwick for 473 yards behind their four wingmen in a 48-20 Greater Catholic League Coed victory Thursday night at Roger Glass Stadium.
“We’ve been waiting on it to happen,” White said.
Last week the Eagles (5-2, 1-1) were humbled 35-0 at Cincinnati McNicholas and held to 203 rushing yards, almost 100 yards below their average. Practice had a renewed purpose this week.
“First day we had a lot of energy,” junior wingback Aiden Lowery said. “We weren’t going to let one loss define us. We knew we could play better than that.”
On the Eagles’ first play, Lowery weaved his way up the field for 60 yards from the 20 to the 20. Three plays later he scored on a 3-yard run for a 7-0 lead. The Eagles were just getting started. They followed up that 80-yard drive with an 87-yard drive and a 90-yard drive for a 21-0 lead. In the first quarter, the Eagles rushed for 252 yards. By halftime they led 35-7.
The defense made big plays, too. Colin Kadel’s interception at the Eagles’ 13, Gunner Davis’ fumble recovery at the Eagles’ 11 and Zyon Woods’ interception near midfield were drive starters for the Eagles.
“It was really important,” Kadel said of the turnovers. “Coming off last week we didn’t produce much on defense. Our main goal today was getting turnovers and changing the game.”
The offense ran like a snowplow the entire game through Fenwick’s defense. The line created holes and the Four Wingmen, who each stand 5-foot-7, darted, dashed and mashed their way to 459 yards on 42 of the team’s 48 carries and averaged 10.9 yards a carry. They entered the game averaging 298.7 rushing yards and 6.5 yards a carry.
“We really focused on staying low this week in practice, and everybody doing their job and everybody being one Eagle,” Lowery said.
Lowery had 172 yards and four touchdowns on 11 carries and junior fullback Nydrell Wright had 146 yards on 13 carries. Both eclipsed 100 yards in the first half. Junior wingback Ethan Stacey had 90 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries and sophomore wingback Malachi Ringer had 51 yards and a touchdown on five carries.
“We run the ball – that’s what we do,” White said. “We’re either going to win running it or lose running it. I think we can run the ball against most of the people we play as long as we execute actually our plays. That’s been a struggle for us. Today we finally put it together.”
Fenwick is a run-heavy team, too, but not to the degree of CJ. When the Falcons (4-3, 0-2) fell behind early they had to give junior quarterback Austin Rickert a chance to bring them back. Rickert’s 1-yard run made the score 28-7 halfway through the second quarter. Then he threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to Shaefer Janeck early in the second half to make the score 35-14.
But the Eagles’ running game couldn’t be stopped, and six plays into a 67-yard drive Lowery scored from the 1 for a 42-14 lead. This game meant a lot to Lowery because he broke his leg in Week 6 last year in a loss at Fenwick.
“I was really circling this game on the calendar,” Lowery said. “I was looking forward to it.”
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