Prep Football: Eldorado cruises to BDC road win at C-Z-R
If there has been one common theme for the Eldorado football team - at least in EHS head coach Joe Clarks' eyes - it's been the Eagles' decision to play to their opponent.
On Friday, Eldorado didn't waste much time - literally and figuratively - in disposing of Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton 54-6 on the Bearcats' Homecoming night.
Eldorado jumped out of the gate, to the tune of a 40-0 lead and was awarded the running clock to start the second quarter.
"All season long, we have played some decent teams, but at times we have played to our competition and tonight was one of those times when came out and played to our capabilities and essentially just took advantage of a developing program," Clark said. "I've been on the other end of this and its no fun and being on this end isn't really all that fun, but the reality is you would rather be on this end, get the clock going, get your guys out and focus on the next step."
C-Z-R head coach Anthony Hargrove is currently on that first end Clark referred to. But the former NFL standout with the St. Louis Rams isn't worried about the final on the scoreboard, but rather the development of a program that he is trying to build the foundation for.
"Of course the scoreboard doesn't reflect the way we want it to, but we're not looking at that right now. We're focusing on the little things like our effort, running plays and knowing situations. I think we took a good step in that direction tonight, as far as, learning the nuances of the game."
In the first quarter, Eldorado got rushing touchdowns from Jace Jenkins (four yards), Jacob Traxler (65 yards) and Dawson Metten (15 yards). The Eagles' senior quarterback Kale Oglesby hooked up with Emamuel Edwards on a 15-yard pass in the corner of the end zone and on defense Braden Attebury scooped up a fumble and took it to the house.
In the second quarter, Wayne Roberts scored from three yards out and in the third quarter, backup QB Aiden Whitlock called his own number on a 13-yard score and a 54-0 lead with 3:09 to play.
The Bearcats got on the board when sophomore quarterback Bryce Pratt scored from one-yard out and 6:30 left in the game.
Pratt had a good chunk of C-Z-R's offense Friday night, throwing for 89 yards, going 9-for-20 with one interception.
On the receiving end, Greg Fletcher had five catches for 67 yards and Gabriel Motsinger caught four balls for 20 yards.
On the ground, Eldorado held C-Z-R to negative four yards rushing. Eldorado's ground game consisted of 65 yards on one carry for Traxler, while Connor Watt had 46 yards on four carries. Blakely Watt had six carries for 34 yards, while Metten had two carries for 26 yards. Whitlock had the one carry for 13 yards, Wayne Roberts had three carries for seven yards and Jenkins had four yards on one carry.
Eldorado is now 5-1 in Black Diamond Conference play, while the Bearcats remain winless at 0-6. EHS will play host to Edwards County on Saturday in a 1 p.m. Homecoming game at Boz Adams Field, while C-Z-R is at Johnston City.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Register, Eldorado Journal & The Gallatin County Democrat. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.