San Tan Youth Football League Eagles

The Eagles gathered this past Saturday at Queen Creek Middle School for what turned out to be an epic battle of wills with the Cardinals. Coming off a convincing Week 1 victory over the Rattlers, the Eagles were primed and ready to notch another “W” in the win column. As it turned out, the Cardinals had similar intentions.

The Silver Defense began the opening stanza and set the tone early as Bay Finch and Triston Dalmolin arrived in the Cardinal backfield with bad intentions making several solid plays behind the line of scrimmage. Ultimately, the Silver D overwhelmed the Cardinals with a swarming defense and solid gang tackling shutting out the Cardinals in the opening quarter.

The Silver Offense was led by QB Trevor “T-Money” Caron who showed some fancy footwork eluding would-be tacklers and outracing Cardinal defenders into the endzone for the periods only score.  Triston Dalmolin put the cherry on top with a nice romp up the middle for the extra point.  The period ended with the Birds in the driver’s seat 7-0. It was an outstanding effort by the kids in black that set the tone for the remainder of the game!

Led by team captains Bradley Beaver, Wyatt Harris, Braden Bauer, and Chase Ferry, the Eagles won the coin toss and deferred electing to open the game on Defense and receive the ball to open the third quarter. Taking its queue from the Silver unit, the Eagles Black D took the field and immediately laid the smack down on the Cardinals. Javin Wright and Parker Holland made sweet TFL plays as the Cardinals attempted to get their running game in gear.  The Eagles would have none of it as they forced a turnover on downs.

The Eagles offense took the field and made some nice plays on tough runs by QB Brad Beaver and RB Holland, but the Cardinals made plays when they needed to and stymied Eagle drives with great defense on the edges.

It was a good thing the none of the officers in attendance were “on duty” because the Eagles Black “D” was straight up assaulting the Cardinals in the first half punctuated by a crushing sack by Anthony Saba and a huge hit by Cash Heath.  The first half ended in a 0-0 tie.

The Eagles opened the third quarter with the ball and Parker Holland got things started immediately with a great run around the right corner for a first down. Parker took another pitch from Beaver and sprung into the open field led by Wyatt Harris who absolutely ear-holed a Cardinal defender from his TE position.  The Eagles were in business deep in Cardinal territory and it looked like momentum was shifting in favor of the Eagles.  Unfortunately, a couple of miscues and untimely penalties thwarted the Eagles drive as the Cardinal regained possession with their backs pressed firmly against their own edzone.

The Cardinal’s next offensive series began with another futile attempt to run the ball as Bryce Danielson came up from his CB position and hammered a Cardinal RB behind the line of scrimmage for a 5 yard loss. Having attempted to run the ball unsuccessfully against the Birds brutal defense, the Cardinals apparently figured they’d take to the air to see if they could reverse their misfortunes throughout the first three quarters of the ball game.  Ummm… well… on their first attempt they forgot to account for Mr. Maison Ardans who absolutely their right tackle and leveled the Cardinal QB as he dropped back to pass.

The Birds stiff “D” got the ball back for the Eagles on the Cardinals side of the field as the third quarter came to a close.  the Eagles offense picked up some positive yards on runs from Beaver and Saba.  Then on 3rd Down, Coach Beaver dialed up a reverse to the fleet footed Holland who outran the Cardinal defense for the first score in regulation.  The Eagles missed the PAT, but led 6-0.  for all intents and purposes, you had to like the Eagles chances as the defense was dominating the ball game.

The Cardinals were thinking otherwise as they returned the ensuing kickoff and raced into Eagle territory with time running down in the 4th quarter.  To their credit, the Cardinals were able to find a soft spot in the Eagles defense through the air and drove the ball deep into Eagle territory. Parker Holland was all over the field making several TD saving tackles on the drive and Stephen Arvay, Wyatt Harris and Bryce Danielson made some nice plays in the secondary, but the Cardinals were able to connect when they needed to keep the drive alive and eventually scored on a well executed slant route to tie the game 6-6.  The Eagles Defense made a critical play on the extra point leaving the game deadlocked with just seconds remaining in regulation.

The Eagles opened the overtime period with the ball and wasted little time seizing control as Brad Beaver swept to the outside on a bootleg, found a seam and raced into the endzone for the go ahead touchdown.  Beaver followed that up with a QB keeper up the middle for the extra point and a 13-6 lead.

Then the Cardinals got their opportunity to tie the game up and force a second overtime.  The Eagels would have none of it. On the first play of the stanza it looked as if the Cardinal runner had a lane as he dashed to the outside.  Then out of nowhere, Parker Holland quickly closed the gap and laid the smack down on that little red & white jabroni… if you smell what the Rock is cookin’!  On third down, the Cardinal QB dropped back to pass and Javin “Buddah” Wright arrived just as the QB was releasing the ball and forced a errant pass that fell complete.

So, it came down to this… 4th down… do or die from the 7 yard line.  Dig deep boys… get ‘er done!!  Everyone in the house that day knew they were going to throw the ball.  Coach Rush had the linebackers dropping and the cornerbacks on high alert. [slow motion sequence] Hut 1, Hut 2, Hike… grunts…  [back to full speed]… wait maybe we’re still in slow motion… No, that’s Drew Ball busting up the gut with Buddah right on his tail.  Buddah gives Drew a shove as he’s lunging for the QB {queue car crash sound effect]… QB jolted but releases the ball {back to slow motion with ball sailing thru the air like wounded duck… pan in on fans with hands on heads in nervous anticipation… ball is tipped… pan to referee… whistle blows, referee signals incomplete].  Everyone goes nuts… the Eagles dump Gatorade on Coach Beaver as they celebrate on the sideline.  What a game!! To be honest… this was one of those games where you wish you could award both teams with a “W”.  What a great game by both teams.  Much respect to the Cardinals and their following and best of luck the remainder of the season.

2-0 baby… bring on the Special Forces!