Belpre Keeps Its Playoff Hopes Alive Against Eastern
By: David Butz
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The last few weeks of the football season are almost always going to come with potential playoff berths, knockouts, and a couple of teams just trying to stay alive. This week 9 matchup between the Belpre Golden Eagles and the visiting Eastern Eagles certainly fits that description.
With those playoff hopes in mind, both teams were certainly aggressive early on. However, instead of gutsy calls and big plays, the first quarter of the contest was riddled with penalties and missed opportunities by both teams.
After 3 missed passes for potential touchdowns on Eastern’s first two drives, the Eagle’s sideline definitely quieted down early. Belpre on the other hand stayed true to their ground and pound game plan throughout the contest. Despite the Golden Eagles also having a huge dropped pass in the first quarter, the offense wouldn’t be halted for long.
With Belpre’s dynamic running game in full effect, the Golden Eagles were finally able to break the stalemate and go on a 10-0 run later in the second quarter. That trend of tough running by running back, Jesse Collins and quarterback, Connor Baker were unstoppable in the second half.
While Eastern went into halftime only down 10, they wouldn’t be able to hold off Belpre in the second half.
Belpre’s defense, spearheaded by Gavyn Freeland’s 10 tackles, four of those being. He also tallied two sacks. This keep Eastern’s offense off the field all night.
That dominating Belpre running game was on full display as well, as Collins would finish the game with 161 yards rushing and Baker would put up 90 yards rushing with three scores and only 12 yards passing on four attempts. The team as a whole would finish with over 300 yards on the ground, most of which coming in that dominant 2nd half.
After a late score by Eastern, and a special team’s touchdown from Belpre’s Logan Adams, Belpre would officially end the Eagles playoff hopes with a 30-7 win. The Golden Eagles on the other hand, keep their playoff hopes alive as they look forward to next week’s big matchup against the Waterford Wildcats.
While eliminated from playoff contention, Eastern will still have a chance to bounce back against the Southern Tornadoes.