Prep Football: Rolling Along
It's a phrase all too common that's used in sports, but for Brandon Hampton, Friday night was a true "measuring stick" game for his Eagle program at the current juncture.
After a pair of road wins against lower-tier Black Diamond Conference foes in Vienna-Goreville and Sesser-Valier-Waltonville-Woodlawn, Eldorado put up its undefeated start to the season against not only a physical Carmi-White County ball club that features southern Illinois' best quarterback, but a BDC rival game that is rarely short on drama between the two schools.
Eldorado pinned its ears back on defense, doing what it could to limit Jake Simon from beating them with the home run ball, while the offense responded to early adversity in a 30-6 win Friday night at Boz Adams Field.
"It was a must win game for us," Hampton said. "We opened up 2-0 on the road and were really excited to get back home in front of our people. We knew we had a tough challenge on our hands against a proud football team that is very well coached and they fought us tonight for four quarters.
Hampton referred to Friday night's win as a street fight, saying that he had talked to his team all week about being prepared for the challenge.
"Carmi has a really good defense and Jake Simon is one of the best quarterbacks that I have seen around, but at the end of the game, we had enough in us right there to put them away up front and I'm really proud of the way the defense played."
The defense gave up an early score to Carmi-White County (1-2, 1-1) as the Bulldogs took an early 6-0 lead on Eldorado after Drew Lucas caught a two-yard pass from Simon with 6:36 left to play in the first quarter.
The score marked the first time all season, Eldorado (3-0, 3-0) trailed all season, but responded with four unanswered touchdowns to come back for the win.
Max Kaiser came up big for Eldorado on the night, catching a pair of first half touchdowns and making a one handed interception in the back of the end zone to help propel Eldorado to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2013 when they started 7-0.
Kaiser caught back-to-back touchdown passes from Adam Ninness, one from 41 yards out with 4:04 to play in the first quarter and another from 33-yards out with 4:54 to play in the first half as the Eagles took a 14-6 lead into the locker room.
Kaiser then padded his resume as he snagged a Simon pass out of mid-air with one hand, coming down hard on the ground and maintaining possession as Carmi came out after halftime, threatening to score.
That interception set the tone for the second half - especially for the Eldorado defense - who came up with multiple stops, helping Eldorado to the win.
But it might not been as big as the defensive stand Eldorado had prior to halftime, keeping Carmi-White County out of the end zone when Drew Woolcott broke up a Simon pass to Justice Stubblefield at the goal line.
"Our defense held right there and that was huge for us. We would have liked to have executed a little more offensively, but there's no doubt, (tonight) was a street fight."
Despite throwing for 196 yards on 17-of-34 passing, Hampton complimented his defense for doing its job Friday.
"Simon is such a hard guy to get too because he's so far back and he can retreat and throws off his back foot and you think, 'man, that's great,' but he has a cannon. So what we tried to do is really mix the front, mix the coverage and try to keep him guessing a little bit. He's a tremendous talent, but I felt like our defense fought hard."
Eldorado finished with 162 yards on the ground, including two more scores, both coming in the fourth quarter as Payton Price punched in his eighth TD of the season from 15 yards out and Tre Vessel scored from four yards out with 1:46 to play in the game as the Eagles capitalized on a CWC fumble.
Vessel paced the Eagle ground game with 62 yards on nine carries, while Andrew Burnett had 26 carries for 97 yards for Carmi-White County.
In the game, Carmi-White County outscored Eldorado 277-262 in total offense, but Eldorado held the Bulldogs to just 81 yards on 32 carries.
Eldorado will hit the road for two more games away from home as they travel to Christoper-Zeigler-Royalton this week and will be at Hamilton County the following Friday.
"C-Z-R is team that right now we just don't know much about, but I do know it was a dog fight against them last year here at home. I can see it being the exact same kind of football game we just got done playing right here, where we had to put them away late. C-Z-R will be ready to play, they'll be at home and they have some really special players."
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
Carmi-White Co. 6 0 0 0 - 6
Eldorado 6 8 0 16- 30
SCORING PLAYS
First Quarter
CWC - Drew Lucas 2 catch from Jake Simon (kick failed), 6:36
ELD - Max Kasiar 41 catch from Adam Ninness (run failed), 4:04
Second Quarter
ELD - Kasiar 33 catch from Ninness (Payton Price run), 4:54
Fourth Quarter
ELD - Price 16 run (Trey Vessel run), 5:27
ELD - Vessel 4 run (Ninness run), 1:46
TEAM STATISTICS
CWC ELD
16 First Downs 13
32-81 Rushing 33-162
17-34-1 Pass-Att-INT 5-8-0
196 Passing Yards 100
277 Total Offense 262
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 1-0
2 Turnovers 0
10-90 Penalty 5-40
RUSHING
CWC - Andrew Burnett 26-97, Jake Simon 6-(-16); ELD - Trey Vessel 9-62, Adam Ninness 5-35, Payton Price 9-30, Drew Wolcott 4-18, Jacob Traxler 3-12, Alex Molinarolo 3-5
PASSING
CWC - Jake Simon 17-34-191 (1 TD, 1 INT); ELD - Adam Ninness 4-8-100 (2 TDs, 0 INT)
RECEIVING
CWC - Justice Stubblefield 6-61, Drew Lucas 4-61, Andrew Burnett 4-20, Easton Stewart 2-46, Justin Lamp 1-8; ELD - Max Kasiar 2-74, Drew Wolcott 2-15, Isaac Bethel 1-11