Prep Football: Price is right for Eagles

There was a lot that Brandon Hampton could have hung his hat on after his Eagles shut down and shut out Sesser-Valier-Waltonville-Woodlawn Friday night to the tune of 52-6.

The eighth year head coach could have pointed to a four touchdown performance from junior running back Payton Price.

Hampton could have patted his defense on the back nearly pitching a second straight shutout, holding the Red Devils to just six points and 215 yards of offense, 79 of which came through the air, which was one of his biggest concerns coming in.

Instead, the one thing that highlighted Hampton's night was his offensive and defensive line as they beat the Red Devils for the third straight year.

"We just dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides the football," Hampton said. "No matter what else happened we were trying to knock them off the football on both sides of the ball. We got some turnovers, but never let (Ross) Owens hit us with the home run over the top. Look, that kid is going to make some plays, but we really limited him (tonight) and I just thought we were so much more physical on both sides of the ball."

Hampton - of course - was referring to S-V-W-W's 6-foot-4, 180-pound senior wide receiver, who hauled in 1,000-plus yards a year ago and was held to just 61 yards on six catches Friday.

Hampton credited his secondary, one that included the likes of Isaac Bethel, Drew Woolcott and Price, but primarily, Bethel for the defense applied to Owens.

"(S-V-W-W) went after Bethel and I think he kind of took the challenge right there," Hampton added. "Our defense really battled all night long and the offense really got us going quick with some quick hits"

Quick might be a bit of a understatement.

On Eldorado's (2-0) first possession, they needed just 1:03 to score after Price took the third handoff the game 35 yards to the house.

After the Eagle's forced S-V-W-W to punt on its second series of the game, Eldorado wasted little time, taking just 51 seconds to score after Price split the seam and sprinted 77 yards for his second score of the game.

Price scored two more times on the night, bringing his season total to seven. The junior running back now has 389 yards on the season.

In the end though, it wasn't Price's ground game that impressed Hampton the most.

"I thought more than anything - and I hope the film is correct - he played one of the more complete games I've ever seen him play. He is unbelievable with the ball in his hands, but it's what his he doing for his team when he's not carrying the football. Tonight, I saw him fake well, saw him block great and really give a great overall and team effort and he played great defensively too."

The Red Devils (0-2) got one back in the second quarter when Jared Leslie scored from 15 yards out with 9:49 to play in the first half.

After that though, the route was on for Eldorado, who tacked on two more scores in the second quarter - one from Alex Molinarolo from three yards out and another from Tre Vessell from two yards out - as Eldorado led 30-6 at halftime.

Price had a 14-yard TD run in the third quarter and capped off his night with a 78-yard score midway through the fourth quarter.

The other score came compliments of Adam Ninness as he hooked up with Max Kaiser from 25 yards out to start the fourth quarter.

Eldorado finished with 520 yards of total offense as the Eagles rushed for 493.

Price had 11 carries for 265 yards, while Vessel had 95 yards on 14 carries. Woolcott had 35 yards on five carries, while Molinarolo finished with 25 yards on five carries.

Also getting into the action were Jacob Traxler (2-22), Ninness (1-18), Wayne Isiah Barton (1-13), Wayne Roberts (1-12) and Connor Watt (1-8).

Eldorado will look to get back to its home turf as they welcome Carmi-White County to Boz Adams Field Friday at 7 p.m. The Eagles have played two straight games on the road, and will hit the road for two more following Friday night's game with C-WC.

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter

Eldorado 16 14 6 16 - 52

S-V-W-W 0 6 0 0 - 6

Scoring Summar

First Quarter

ELD - Price 35 run (Woolcott run), 8:52

ELD - Price 75 run (Ninness run), 5:04

Second Quarter

S-V - Lesie 15 run (conversion failed), 9:49

ELD - Molinarolo 3 run (Vessel run), 6:49

ELD - Vessel 2 run (conversion failed), 2.2

Third Quarter

ELD - Price 14 run (conversion failed), 7:38

Fourth Quarter

ELD - Ninness 25 pass to Kaiser (Traxler run), 11:53

ELD -Price 78 run (Roberts run), 8:31

Team Statistics

ELD S-V-W-W

First Downs 14 7

Rushes-Yards 44-493 32-136

Comp-Att-Int 2-5-0 7-19-1

Passing 27 79

Total Yards 520 215

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-1

Penalities 5-55 6-50

Individual Statistics

RUSHING - ELD: Price 11-265, Vessel 14-95, Woolcott 8-35, Molinarolo 6-25, Traxler 2-22, Ninness 3-18, Barton 1-13, Roberts 1-12, Watt 1-8. S-V-W-W: Leslie 17-80, Rock 6-29, Smith 8-25.

PASSING - ELD: Ninness 2-5-0 27. S-V-W-W: Smith 7-19-1 74

RECEIVING - ELD: Kaiser 1-25, Woolcott 1-2. S-V-W-W: Owens 6-61, Lance 2-18.