Sports
S. Gallia Beats Eastern At Home
By: Kaleb Carter
Posted on:
The South Gallia Rebels had revenge on their minds as they played host to the Eastern Eagles on a beautiful Friday evening in the rolling hills just outside of Crown City. After a 62-6 thrashing at the hands of the Eagles a year ago, the Rebels pleased the home crowd with a satisfying 20-13 victory.
Ethan Spurlock gave South Gallia solid field position at the 37 on the opening kickoff. Right from the get-go, the Rebels (3-2, 2-2) seemed bent on pounding the rock between the tackles. Coach Jason Peck’s squad gave the ball off on handoffs three straight times to start the game. On fourth-and-1 from his own 47, quarterback Landon Hutchinson followed right behind the center to pick up the first down.
Four plays later, Hutchinson slung the ball out to Ethan Spurlock on a screen pass to the right sideline. Spurlock made a man miss, squeaked between two more defenders and made a fourth tackler miss before reaching across the goal line to score the first points of the contest. A missed extra point left the score at 6-0 Rebels.
The Eagles (2-3, 2-2) then mounted a drive, traveling 59 yards. Quarterback Dylan Bresciani plunged in for the score from 1 yard out to finish it off. The Eagles converted on the extra point, and went up, 7-6. It would be their only lead in the game.
Bresciani ran for 51 yards on five carries, but he was inefficient throughout the evening passing the ball, going 0-6 with two interceptions.
After a nice Spurlock kickoff return, South Gallia started with the ball on its own 40. It took all of two plays for the Rebels to score this time around. A 64-yard Jacob White run to the 6-yard line set up the offense for a touchdown run by Spurlock. On the 2-point conversion, Mikey Wheeler hauled in a pass in the left corner of the end zone to put South Gallia up, 14-7.
The two teams battled for the next couple possessions, trading punts and gaining little ground. South Gallia put together a drive midway through the second, and found itself on the Eastern 5-yard line. Hutchinson then rolled out on fourth down, but was tackled along the sideline to turn the ball over.
The two teams exchanged fumbles on the next two plays, leaving Eastern with the ball after a small slew of miscues. But nothing came of the Eagles drive, and Eastern was forced to punt.
South Gallia capitalized four plays later when Hutchinson hooked up with Jared Northup for a 26-yard score. The 20-7 score held until the half.
South Gallia managed to fend off a fierce effort from Eastern in the second half, as the Eagles scored to make it 20-13. Zach Browning was on the receiving end of a 29-yard score to cut the deficit to 7, but it was just not enough.
The Eagles finished with 180 yards rushing, and went 1-for-8 through the air for 29 yards. Chase Cook had the only completion for Eastern.
South Gallia plays host to Federal Hocking (3-2, 2-1) next week. Eastern will welcome the Belpre Golden Eagles (1-4, 0-3) to Reedsville next Friday.