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Redbirds run wild on Harrisburg to stay unbeaten

For West Frankfort head coach Brian Beery, Friday night's game was one that he admitted he was looking forward to.

It wasn't because his Redbirds were unbeaten at 3-0, it was because he wanted to see what he could get out of his 6-foot, 205-pound senior running back Madison Allen.

Beery might have gotten more than he bargained for and so did Harrisburg as Allen scored two touchdowns and rushed for 195 yards in a 42-7 victory over the Bulldogs at Johnson Field.

"I was waiting for this night because teams are going to start keying in on (Adam) Eaton and trying to take him away," Beery said. "I knew that everybody else would open up and sure enough that's what happened. Allen had a great game tonight. Harrisburg started off the game trying to take Eaton away and sure enough Allen had a big game."

Eaton had a big game in his own right as the 6-foot, 190-pound junior quarterback scored four touchdowns, ran for just over 100 and threw for 50.

Things didn't go so great for West Frankfort in the early going as the Redbirds turned the ball over on their first possession, which then led to a Harrisburg fumble at the one-yard line.

WF fumbled again on their second possession, but again, Harrisburg couldn't capitalize throwing an interception in the end zone for a touchback.

Harrisburg's defense was its best offense in the early going, but not being able to put points on the board - and pressure on West Frankfort - was the difference according to Harrisburg head coach Gabe Angelly.

"We did exactly what we wanted to do when we came out in the game. We switched up some things defensively and we were getting some penetration in the backfield and when we did that, we put ourselves in good position and man we just couldn't punch one in and kept shooting ourselves in the foot on those early possessions.

"We told our kids if we could get the lead early and get up on these guys and put some pressure on them, lets see how West Frankfort reacts, but once they got up 14-0 the momentum swung and kind of snowballed on us."

After the interception by Harrisburg, Eaton started the Redbird scoring in the second quarter with a QB keeper from 19 yards out. That followed a pair of runs by Allen, one from five yards out and another breakaway TD from 61 yards out.

Eaton provided a 64-yard touchdown run and bookended the first half with a 15-yard run to give West Frankfort a a 35-0 halftime lead.

Eaton's 42-yard run with 19 seconds to go in the third quarter started the running clock and Harrisburg's only score was a six-yard catch and throw from Isaac Crabb to Will Holland with 6:01 to play in the fourth quarter.

"We got off to a slow start and didn't take care of the football like we should, but then we got the ball rolling," Beery said. "Our offense kicked in, the defense - again - had another solid showing. Our defense has played lights out this year. We bend, but we don't break very often. It was just a great showing on both sides of the football."