Eagles Win Shootout With Devs

Story by Joseph Mclean
 
Kent City 50 Holton 38
This game was destined to be a shootout, and it was certainly that.  This was a game where the defenses needed to show up, and after a blowup of points early the defenses settled in.  It was a rockin' crowd in Holton as a big time matchup between two powerhouses took place.  Holton needed a win to prove they are legit, and the Eagles needed a win after their two weeks off to give them confidence when they put their playoff life on the line.  
This game opened with the classic maneuver from the Red Devils, the onside kick.  It pays off again as they steal a possession, but on the first play the Eagles steal the possession as Webb Longcore picks off the red hot passer Fowler.  The Eagles take over for their first drive, but the Devils defense flashes with a forced three and out. 
The Devils get up to mid field, and Fowler comes back attacking as he fires a deep ball to Bret Hosmer after he burns the defender for the touchdown.  Fowler takes the two pointer in himself and Holton takes the lead 8-0.  The Eagles get the ball back, and run on the back of the premier rusher Mason Westbrook.  Westbrook does what he always does, and breaks tackles for the 17 yard power run for the touchdown.  The conversion fails and the score is 8-6. 
Holton gets the kick to about mid field, and Fowler finds an open Erickson on the crossing route that gets down to the 9 yard line.  Larson saves the touchdown on that play, but on the following play Fowler throws his 2nd touchdown pass hitting Robins this time who catches it, and takes a big hit in the endzone.  It’s the Fowler Robins connection again on the two point as Robins creates a second of separation, and hauls it in to make it a 16-6 Devils lead with 7:32 left in the first quarter. 
The Eagles get the ball back, and it’s back to big man Westbrook for another 20 yard gain down the right side.  They go right back to the right side with a Larson 14 yard scamper for a first down.  Westbrook gets his number called again, and he rumbles, bumbles, and stumbles into a huddle of both teams across the goal line for the touchdown.  The two point try is no good after the pass from Larson misses.  The score with 6:47 left the Red Devils lead the Eagles 16-12. 
A combo of passes to Robins then Erickson gets the Devils going on the next drive.  After a short pass to Erickson they go back to him, and he makes a big play making people miss to go inside the five.  There was also some laundry discovered on the play, a holding penalty backed them all the way back.  Fowler tries to back away from the line to avoid the pressure, but the KC defense gets to him and the pass is incomplete.  On 3rd & 20 Luke Heeringa drops Fowler in the backfield to make it 4th & 25.  Cartwright booms a punt that would pin the Eagles inside their own 25 at the 22.  The Eagles start out with what looked like a direct snap to Longcore that gets 4 yards.  Larson looks to pass to Carlson, but the ball is batted down by Rice Robins.  Westbrook gets the carry on 3rd & 6, and gets about 4 to make it a 4th & a long 1.  The Eagles go to ole reliable Westbrook to get them the yard for the 1st down.  On 2nd & 5 Larson fakes the handoff, busts it to the right, and hits the gas for the touchdown to put the Eagles up for the first time of the night.  Westbrook easy does it for the 2 pt to give the Eagles the 20-16 lead.  On the last drive of the 1st quarter Fowler hits Erickson, Nichols, and then on the last play hits Robins to get just outside the red zone.  
The second frame opens with an Edgerton carry, a incomplete pass to Erickson over his head, and then Erickson catching the crossing route breaking for the endzone that’s stopped when Westbrook comes out of nowhere shot out of a cannon smacking Erickson.  The Devils take back the lead after Fowler rolls to the right, and hits Nichols wide open for the touchdown.  Fowler fakes the throw left, gets the whole defense to shift, flips his hips to the right, and goes over the top of the KC defender to Robins waiting for the pass for the 2 pt.  Holton goes back on top 24-20 with 10:40 left in the 2nd quarter.  The Eagles pick up their next drive at mid field, and immediately give it to Westbrook who breaks another run into Red Devil territory, and is brought down by Erickson.  The Red Devil defense stands up the Eagles on 3 straight plays, but Larson goes up the middle, cuts it to the left making people miss, and finds paydirt into the endzone.  After Larson’s 2nd rushing TD of the night, they run the exact same play and go up 28-24 with 7:47 left.  From the 40 yard line, Fowler rolls left with defenders chasing him and finds Erickson who wiggles down the left sideline to flip the field on a nice pitch and catch.  The Devils look to move in on the score with a throw to Robins along the home sideline.  They try to go back to Robins a couple plays later, he’s covered heavily with the ball getting fought for being tipped around, and it looked to be intercepted off the bounce by Westbrook.  Kent City starts celebrating, but they call it incomplete.  The Devils get a break, but they shoot themselves in the foot on the next play.  Fowler avoids the sack on 4th down and throws the deep ball to Erickson who’s all alone, but it bounces off his hands for what should have been an easy touchdown.  You can point this moment out as one that maybe changed the whole game.  The Devils would have taken the lead halfway through the 2nd quarter, but turned it over on downs.  Mason Westbrook sees the open daylight to the endzone, but Fowler makes a touchdown saving tackle as he clips him at the ankles.  The Eagles slowly work it down the field running the ball with everyone.  On 4th down the Devils could have gotten the biggest break when Westbrook fumbled the ball at the goal line, and the ball rolled at the feet of players into the endzone to be recovered by the Eagles with 25 seconds left in the half.  Westbrook goes left and puts the Eagles up 36-24 to go into the half.  
Coming out of the break, Fowler goes dual threat mode with a big gainer pass to Robins, and then a big time finesse run to get the Devils into scoring position deep in Kent City territory.  Fowler rolled left, tried to play hero ball, and got picked off in the endzone by Webb Longcore.  Larson has been running it in all game, but shows off his arm strength with a bomb TD pass to Sutton down the KC sideline.  With the 2 pt, they go up 20 quickly with a 44-24 lead.  They look to distance themselves early in the 2nd half.  After a good return by Hosmer, the Devils look to get into the red zone, but the pass goes off Erickson’s hands.  A mix of run and pass eventually leads to a Fowler to Nichols TD pass that keeps the Devs alive.  Fowler to Robins 2 pt makes the score 44-32 with the Eagles leading late in the 3rd quarter.  Eagles move down the field quickly, and Larson makes a hero play.  Almost looking like a jump pass to an open wide receiver in the endzone for a 20 yard TD pass.  Larson gets banged up on the play so Zane Kick has to come in, and the 2 pt is no good.  The Eagles lead 50-32 to end the 3rd quarter.  The Eagles look to get their shot in the arm to get them in the hunt for a playoff berth.  
The final frame opens with the Devs striking quickly as Fowler rolls left, tells Hosmer to go deep, throws it to him, and Hosmer makes some moves to get his 2nd TD of the night.  The Devs pull within 2 scores as KC leads 50-38.  The Eagles look to put the game away, but eventually the Devils D stifled Larson and he fumbles the handoff with a Robins recovery to give the Devs life late.  Fowler rolls left to make a play, but gets dropped by big bad Joe Anderson.  It gets worse from there as Fowler gets sandwiched, and throws a pick to Kyler Larson just inside the 50 yard line.  The Eagles look to put this game away….. officially.  Larson calls his own number to the left, high steps, goes down, and out of the game.  Larson comes back into the game, and looked to have fumbled it to the Devs with Robins recovering again, but after discussion there’s no fumble.  A dead ball personal foul on that play backs them up with 4th & 20, the Eagles punt it and pin it at the 10 yard line.  Fowler shows off his arm, and throws dimes all over the field to push the possession.  Fowler makes back to back big plays with a beautiful ball to Erickson down the middle of the field carrying defenders, and then a bobbled snap picked up by Fowler who became shifty to pick up yardage.  The KC defense stifled, the offense came out to run the clock down, and got a signature win.  
KC comes into town and gets the job done with a 50-38 win over a winning Holton team.  Bill Crane gets the ice bath from the water coolers, and they get their confidence booster for when they go on the road at White Cloud next week.  The Devs lose a heartbreaker at home.  They need to not let this take up space in their mind because they have a big rivalry game with Hesperia next week at Red Devil Stadium.  KC goes to 3-2 (2-1) and Holton falls to 3-3 (2-2).