Eagles Show Character is a 32-22 Win at Mead
Eagles show character is a 32-22 win at Mead……
Most coaches will attest to the fact that a first game is not always pretty or executed like games late in the year, but the Eagles of Allen, may have beaten the odds, as they won their opener at Mead on Friday night by a 32-22 count.
The smaller Eagles, had very limited practice sessions the last 10 days, but came out an executed fairly well, scoring on all four of their first half possessions. The smaller Eagles consistently kept the Raiders on their heels by continuously running into the teeth of the larger Raiders’ defense.
The Eagles opened the season, stopping the Raiders, and mounted a near 6 minute drive when Kobe Kumm ran over from one yard out to take a 6-0 lead. The Eagles played stifling run defense throughout the period and into the second period.
In the second period, Kumm found pay dirt again from 7 yards out to move the lead to 12-0. Mead marched to the Eagle two yard line following the kickoff, but a goal line stand gave the Eagles the ball, and they then went 78 yards and increased the lead to 18-0 on a Kobe Kumm to Ty Krommenhoek 18 yard pass.
Mead answered quickly, when they found an uncovered receiver for a 36 yard pass to close the gap to 18-8 with only 2.8 seconds left in the half.
Instead of kneeling on the last play of the half, following the kickoff, the Eagles spread out the Raiders, and ran the ball up the middle, as Anthony Isom bolted for 54 yards and a touchdown on the final play of the half to re-establish momentum at 24-8.
The Eagles then methodically drove the ball in the third period and increased the lead to 32-8 as Kumm ran in from a yard out and the ran in the PAT to push the lead to 32-8. All seemed to be rolling for Allen at this point, until cramping and lack of practice conditioning caught up with the team. Mead eventually scored on the Eagle defense on a 5 yard run with just over nine minutes left to close the lead to 32-14.
The Raiders immediately kicked onside, and a favorable bounce of the ball gave it right back to them. 2 minutes later following a pair of marginal penalties, they tacked on a second touchdown for the period, and closed the score to 32-22.
The Eagles held off another advance late in the fourth frame, to close out the win.
Offensively for the Eagles, Anthony Isom led the running attack, carrying 19 times for 173 yards and a score. Kobe Kumm, ran 17 times for 74 yards and three scores. Kumm hit two passes on the night for 49 yards. Ty Krommenhoek snared a pass for 18 yards and a score, while Ryan Anderson had a key 31 yard catch and run in the late second period.
Defensively, several Eagles hit double digits in tackles. Anthony Isom led the way with 13, Reed Hingst added 11, Josh Olesen and Steven Sullivan added 10. Olesen added a fumble recovery.
The Eagles move to 1-0 on the season and will travel to Bloomfield on Thursday.
COACHES COMMENTS:
“It was definitely a game that we depended on what our team has learned during the time that they have been in the system. Without true unified practice time, we had to depend on what we knew and how to do it, while coming together on the fly. It was pleasing to see effort such as this. The coaches probably couldn’t have asked for a better effort. It was difficult at the end of the game, as limited conditioning definitely played a part in this game being closer than it was for most of the night. We definitely are a work in progress. We will get to work on identified deficiencies we noted Friday and try to get them corrected. Good effort team!”