For Stephen Edwards, Friday night had to have felt like a game right down his ally. When Edwards’ Eupora Eagles went to work against Bruce, they were kicking off Class 2A, Region 2 play needing to find a way to get wins to have a chance in their division. It’s not really about how pretty they look doing it, Edwards just wanted his team to play hard on defense and execute on the offensive side. They did just that when they needed it and came away with a hard-fought 14-0 win over Bruce. It was a satisfying win for Edwards whose team won its second game in a row to move to 3-2 on the year. “We thought we could take advantage of some things in the running game based on film, and that’s what we stuck to,” Edwards said. “If you can run the football, play good defense and execute on special teams, then you’re going to win more than you lose.” Neither team scored for three quarters in the game as both defenses were locked in on the opponent. It wasn’t until 6:54 left that Ty Murphy would finally break the ice when he got in from 12 yards away and put the Eagles up 6-0 in the game. The Eagle defense would then get the final say in the waning minutes as Tyjuan Hughes got an interception at the 5 yard line and ran it back 95 yards for the score with 1:18 left on the clock. Murphy scored on the 2-point conversion and clinched the shutout win. Plays like Hughes made were the reason the Eagles were able to bring home the victory. The defense got it done all night when Edwards needed his team to come through. “If you don’t have a lot of speed, you have to bend but don’t break, and that’s what we did (Friday) in keeping them out of the end zone,” Edwards said. This season Edwards has had no problem putting the offense on the legs of sophomore quarterback Murphy and letting him carry the team in that regard. He had 24 carries on Friday for 108 yards and a touchdown, marking his third 100-yard performance of the season in five games. Murphy is now at 567 yards on the year with seven touchdowns while the rest of the offense has five combined. Chris Robinson led the defense with 10 tackles and 2.0 tackles for loss on Friday while defensive end Kyle Kilgore had nine tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks. Quintavis Morris and Sammie Bowie also had 3.0 tackles for loss. The defense managed 4.0 sacks on the game and 15.0 tackles for loss against Bruce. The defense will need to have an even bigger game on Friday night as they host the Calhoun City Wildcats. Due to East Webster cancelling the next two weeks of action because of COVID-19 precautions in the school, the Wildcats got the week off last week and enter fully rested as they also sit at 3-2 and 1-0 in Region 2 play. Their two losses have come against Class 3A teams Choctaw County and North Panola so they haven’t played slouches to this point. “We’re going to have our hands full next week. Until someone knocks them off, they’re the division champs,” Edwards said of Calhoun City. “No one has done it to them in a long time. They’re going to be faster than us, but we just have to find a way.” A notice for fans, the game has been moved up to Thursday night at 7 p.m. as the teams try to make accommodations for the weather that is expected to move in on Friday.
