Prep Football: Dominant Defense
If one were to look on the whiteboard in the Eldorado Field House, it's right there in big black letters: Best Defense In Southern Illinois.
That's what Eldorado coach Brandon Hampton is striving for and the Eagles took its first step in living up to the mantra by dismantling Vienna-Goreville 52-0 on a steamy Saturday afternoon in Vienna.
The Eagles (1-0) limited Vienna-Goreville (0-1) to just two first half possessions as Eldorado built a quick 3-0 lead at halftime.
The Eldorado D forced Vienna-Goreville into five fumbles on the afternoon, recovering four, including the opening kickoff where Eldorado needed just two plays to score when Adam Ninness hooked up with Max Kaiser for a 35-yard bomb to open the game and the scoring.
It was a week 1 opener that EHS head coach Brandon Hampton said couldn't have gone any better.
"The theme all preseason was attention to detail," he said. "We preached the importance of not turning the ball over and limiting penalties. We only had one penalty and never turned the football over.
"Defensively, we wanted to come out here and get the shutout, force the turnovers and out hit them and I felt like we did that. I'm super proud of the effort and I don't think Week 1 could have gone any better."
After working on a nine-play drive on their first possession, Vienna-Goreville coughed the ball up again, resulting on a Peyton Price 27-yard touchdown run.
Price finished with three scores on the day, amassing 124 yards on six carries, while the Eldorado offense rushed for 249 yards and threw for 68.
Tre Vessel tacked on two touchdowns on the day, scoring after Price on a four-yard run and then again in the third quarter from one-yard out.
Price had TD runs of 27, 13 and 38 on the day, while Alex Molinarolo had a one-yard touchdown run with 10:23 to play in the fourth quarter.
"Our offensive line came out and we just dominated the guy across from us," Price said. "Our backs were running hard, doing the right things and we just got it done up front."
Price added that a good week of practice and a productive preseason proved to be beneficial Saturday.
"You can't say enough about our O-Line," Price said. "They give us such a good look and giant holes to run through that it makes our job as backs easier."
Hampton felt like the running game was going to a strength of Eldorado's going in, but much like Price, complimented the Eagles' line.
"I felt like the way we were built we could line up and physically knock them around," he said. "What I liked on the second play of the game was they had all 10 guys within two yards of the football and one within six. I liked that we executed the home run right there, took what they gave us and then after that settled in and knocked them around. We have a lot of running backs that run hard and I thought our offensive line did a good job of opening up holes for us."
Kaiser, who splits time at the tight end and linebacker spots for Eldorado, also handles most kicking duties for the Eagles.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior got the last tip of the cap from Hampton for his performance.
"The kicking game was just dynamic for us and we feel like Max is a weapon and we thought it would be there from prior years. Our kids cover kicks hard and Vienna-Goreville didn't handle the ball real well. We identified some numbers there and I thought a real great job by our staff of identifying that and then of course all the credit goes to the kids for making the play and executing. That jump started the game for us right there."
Eldorado will look to go to 2-0 when they travel to Sesser-Valier Friday for a 7 p.m. showdown against John Shadowens' Red Devils bunch, who lost to Du Quoin 46-0 Week 1.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter:
@spydieshooter.
Eldorado 08 22 16 06 - 52
Vienna-Goreville 00 00 00 00 - 0
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
ELD - Kaiser 35 pass from Ninness (Woolcott run), 11:11
Second Quarter
ELD - Price 27 run (Atteburry pass from Ninness), 9:52
ELD - Vessel 4 run (run failed), 9:12
ELD - Price 13 run (Bethel pass from Ninness), 6:08
Third Quarter
ELD - Price 38 run (Price run), 10:42
ELD - Vessel 1 run (Roberts run), 3:46
Fourth Quarter
ELD - Molinarolo 1 run (run failed), 10:23
Team Statistics
ELD V-G
First Downs 13 12
Rushes-Yards 28-249 44-99
Comp-Att-Int 2-3-0 2-5-0
Passing 68 33
Total Yards 317 132
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 5-4
Penalities 3-21 4-25
Individual Statistics
RUSHING - ELD: Price 6-124, Molinarolo 5-31, Vessel 7-29, Roberts 1-24, Woolcott 3-17, Traxler 4-16, Ninness 2-8. V-G: Wiggs 14-41, Moore 10-35, Van Ausdoll 2-22, Henderson 2-14, Breeden 2-8, Massey 3-8, Colson 8-(-6), Team 3-(23).
PASSING - ELD: Ninness 2-3-0 68. V-G: Colson 2-5-0 33.
RECEIVING -ELD: Kaiser 2-68. V-G: Henderson 1-21, Bradley 1-12.