Both Eupora coach Stephen Edwards and Lake coach Tate Hanna thought their teams were evenly matched heading into Friday night’s Class 2A playoff game.
But turnovers are often big factors in playoff games.
The Eagles forced five turnovers and broke open a tight game in the second half to take a 27-0 win over the Hornets.
Eupora improves to 8-4 on the season and will host 12-1 Scott Central on Friday night in the third round of the Class 2A playoffs.
Edwards was certainly pleased with his team’s dominating performance.
“I was extremely pleased,” Edwards said. “They were a tough, hard-nosed football team. I’m very pleased to play like we did. I was pleased with every facet of the game. We did a good job on offense and defense as well as special teams, considering the field conditions.”
The majority of the first half was a punting contest until late in the second quarter when Edwin Herard hit Cameron Culpepper on a 15-yard pass. Culpepper made the Lake cornerback miss and then raced 78 yards for a touchdown. The PAT failed after a fumbled snap and Eupora led 6-0 at the half.
“I thought that play really opened things up,” Edwards said. “We felt a lot better about things going into the second half at that point. We wanted to protect the football and cause turnovers and felt like if we did that in the second half, we would win.”
The Eagles got the ball to start the second half and went 44 yards in seven plays has Herard scored on a 10-yard touchdown run to give Eupora a 12-0 lead.
The Hornets then gave the ball right back with a fumble, setting Eupora up at the Lake 32. Two plays later, Preston Perkins scored on a 3-yard run as Eupora led 18-0. Culpepper ran in the two-point conversion and Eupora led 20-0
The Eagles added their last score on the first play of the fourth quarter as Herard capped off a 65-yard, six-play drive with a 9-yard touchdown run. Kimble Dillinger’s PAT was good Eupora led 27-0.
“I felt like going in that we had a good game plan to stop them,” Edwards said. “I thought our kids were tuned in all week long. We were able to get a read on what they were doing and were able to get out kids lined up and that’s huge. I have been pleased with the way our defense has played the last three weeks. This group is hungry and still wants to be playing football.”
The Eagles had 161 yards rushing and 148 passing for 309 total yards. Herard had 15 carries for 98 yards while Travon McMillian had 27 yards on eight carries. Herard was 3-of-7 passing for 148 yards. Culpepper had one catch for 79 yards while Zak Morris had one catch for 39 yards. Makyrus Potts also had one catch for 30 yards.
On defense, Deunte Watson led the way with nine tackles while M.J. Thomas and Perkins had five tackles, one sack and one tackle for loss. Herard had five tackles while Parker Blaylock had four tackles. Nathan Hitt had three tackles and a fumble recovery while Campbell Vaughn also had two tackles and a fumble recovery. Morris had two tackles and an interception while Jacarius Turner had two tackles and a sack. Tyjuan Hughes also had an interceptions for the Eagles.
The Eagles will have a tall task this week as they take on 12-1 Scott Central.
The Rebels have outscored opponents 459-113 on the season and won the first nine games of the season. Their only loss is a 21-19 setback to Pelahatchie. The have wins over Enterprise (43-14), Morton (41-7), Newton County (34-6), Florence (35-20), Southeast Lauderdale (27-2), Sweet Water, Ala. (32-6), Newton (40-6), Lake (41-0), Philadelphia (30-18), Bruce (55-6) and South Delta (34-0).
Edwards said he thought it was the first time the two schools had ever played in football.
“They are extremely talented,” Edwards said. “They have big kids and several running backs. They are really good on defense and have a mike linebacker that makes every play. Defensively, we will have our hands full. But there are four teams left in the north and our kids are excited to be playing. We need a big crowd on Friday night cheering on these kids. We need a great home crowd like we had for Calhoun City.”
The Scott Central offense is spearheaded by quarterback Treyon Wash, who has thrown for 933 yards on 68-of-104 passing. He has also rushed for 732 yards on 118 carries while Jabrelynn Vivians leads the team with 790 yards on 92 carries.
Linebacker Navonteque Strong leads the defense with 112 tackles and a whopping 38 tackles for loss.
Correction:
In the November 7 edition, in the article “Forced turnovers lead Eupora to win” the article should have stated: “Two plays later, Cade Atkins hit Parker Knight for an 8 yard touchdown pass.”
We apologize for the error and any issues it may have caused.
