Players are getting thrown into the fire this year for the Eupora Eagles and coming out better for it.
It’s especially true for the team’s quarterback position where starter Eli Clark still hasn’t returned from injury and backup BJ Cork has been limited the last two weeks. Enter freshman Peyton Perkins, who had two touchdowns and over 100 yards of total offense last week against Noxapater to help lead the Eagles to a 38-14 victory over Noxapater.
“I was proud of the way he managed it,” coach Brad Gray said of Perkins. “He was able to get the ball to guys and make plays. I didn’t think he was too high or too low. He played really hard and was excited to get out there and play. He made some freshman mistakes but we knew he would.”
In his first varsity start, Perkins performed well for the Eagles. He rushed eight times for 51 yards and a touchdown and added a 3-for-3 night with 61 yards passing and another touchdown. Eupora as a whole had a good day on the offensive side of the ball with 353 yards of total offense and 292 of those came on the ground.
It was a breakthrough game for Tre Johnson at running back as he had big play after big play with 11 carries and 167 yards and two touchdowns. Mark Pittman also was strong yet again making three grabs for 61 yards and a score and he also had three rushes for 61 yards and another touchdown as he continues his amazing senior year.
It was a game dominated by the Eagles from the early stages as they ran out to a 25-0 lead at the half and coasted the rest of the way. It was 38-6 at the end of the third quarter with Eupora in full command. There were still things to fix coming out of the game, of course. Noxapater had 238 yards rushing in the game and some little things could have been better.
It was still a win and coming off of one of those is the best time to make corrections.
“There are some things that we have to clean up and get better at going into district play,” Gray said. “We did what we had to do to get the job done and that pleases me. Our execution was OK, but we could definitely be better.”
Defensively, Ty Bingham had nine tackles to lead the way for the Eagles and Khryin Morris finished with four tackles and 2.0 tackles for loss.
After that road win, the Eagles (3-2) are coming back home for a huge game on Friday night. It’s the start of Class 2A, Region 4 play and Eupora has a brand-new district being introduced starting this week.
A strong Union Yellow Jacket team comes to town having run through its non-conference slate to this point to a 5-0 beginning. Wins over Choctaw Central, Enterprise Clarke, Leake Academy, Newton County and Lake have prepped the team for a run and Eupora has a great test in front of it to measure exactly where it is at this stage of the season.
“They’re very athletic at every position on defense and they play really hard. They’re well-coached,” Gray said of Union. “Offensively, they have a really good offensive line that’s well-coached and their scheme is really good. They’ll force you to tackle in space and to be physical because of how they play.
“It’ll be the best team we’ve seen all year and to get the win would be awesome to have a chance to get in the driver’s seat. It’s a great challenge.”
