After opening the season with a 14-12 loss at Maryvale, the Cleveland Hill Golden Eagles came home to host the Wilson Lakemen on a cloudy Saturday afternoon. The game was decided not by an offensive explosion or a few strong defensive stances from Cleve Hill, but rather Wilson beat themselves with turnovers. The final score was 48-0 in favor of the host Eagles.
Cleve Hill only had one drive of offense in the first quarter that was not a product of a Wilson interception or fumble. On that one drive, it was a brief 3 and out for the Eagles. The first score of the game was with 3:28 left in the first frame of play, as Matt Eldridge recovered a fumble and ran the ball 77 yards to the end zone. Under a minute later, just two plays after the first touchdown, Wilson’s WR fumbles the ball after the catch, and guess who’s there to recover the fumble and run it 44 yards for a TD; Matt Eldridge.
Just before the first quarter ended, Wilson QB Justin Daul threw an interception that was picked by Cleve Hill’s Tyler Phillips. One play into the second quarter, Dejon Wardlaw capitalized on Phillips’ interception, running 15 yards to the build. This TD put the Eagles up 20-0 just 8 seconds into quarter two. After a swift 3 and out for Wilson, Cleve Hill had possession after a punt that was touched at their own 25 yard line. This is where Eagles’ Aaron Wahler turned it up for Cleve Hill.
He scored his first of three TD’s on the day, here, on a 61 yard run; also the team’s first score that was not a result of a turnover. 28-0 was the score then, but on the kickoff after the TD, a fumble was recovered by Cleveland Hill on the Wilson 25. Following a penalty on Wilson, Wahler ran it home 10 yards for his second, putting the Eagles up 36-0.
The turnovers were not over with yet, though, as the next Wilson drive, Cleve Hill’s Sam Arrington strips Dual and recovers the fumble at the Lakemen 45 yard line. Capping off that drive of runs from the Eagles was Wahler, again, running 18 yards this time, breaking two tackles en route to putting Cleve Hill up 42-0 with just over 2 minutes until halftime.
Coming out of the half, Cleveland Hill wasn’t pushing as hard, and Wilson seemed to have lost it’s will to play. A round of long drives leading to nothing but a punt started the half. With 2:00 left in quarter 3, Ryan Majerowski punched in a 62 yard run, extending the lead to 48 points. This would be the last scoring drive of the game. The fourth quarter was Wilson’s last chance to get on the board, but there were no opportunities for much offense for them anywhere.
Wilson Head Coach William Atlas declined comment after the game, as they seemed to beat up on themselves. Cleveland Hill Coach Glen Graham says that his team “stuck with it. We had guys who kept going after the ball on the ground, and because we’re hustling, we get rewarded for that hard work.” Coach Glen says that they learned that it’s a four quarter game and everyone has to be pushing on both sides of the ball. “We only ran a few plays on offense in the first quarter, but defense found a way to score. We emphasize having multiple guys running towards the ball at all times, though we never teach stripping it, we teach hitting hard.”
From the start of the first quarter, Cleve Hill followed through on the ball and didn’t allow anything to come out of Justin Daul and his Lakemen’s offense. Next week, the Lakemen head home to host Gowanda/Pine Valley Central in a non-league contest, while Cleve Hill will head to Southwestern on Friday night.
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