Eagles claw way to victory over River Road, 14-6 in opener

By Melissa McCaghren

Slatonite GM

The Roosevelt Eagles got off to a soaring start, defeating the River Road Wildcats 14-6 in their home opener.

Head Coach Matt Landers was excited for his team, and complimented the Wildcats for a well-fought game.

“It was a great game by both teams. River Road is a great team. They are physical and well coached. Their players played hard every single snap and they did a great job of executing,” he said.

“We are very happy to get out of there with a road win. Our players stepped up and made plays when they had to and we talk all the time about not flinching in adversity, sticking to the plan. Our defense did a tremendous job of making plays at the end of the game when we needed stops and our offense executed well, late in the game.”

Landers added several crucial plays helped the team score the crucial winning points to top River Road.

“Defense made a huge fourth and goal stop late in the game to keep them out of the end zone with two minutes left in the game,” he said.

This held true toward the end, where even a fumble could have flipped the win.

“Offense was faced with a third and long in our own end zone and they got a first down to end the game,” added Landers.

Now, the team will face New Home Friday evening (Sept. 3) at 7 p.m. at New Home.

Landers said he’s going to take what they learned this past week and hone skills in order to extend their win streak against the Leopards. “Offensively we need to clean up our turnovers and take care of the ball. We fumbled the ball on the opening drive,” he said.

“Defensively this will be a great game to see where we are with our secondary. New Home is a great passing team that has a really good young quarterback who can throw the ball with accuracy and distance.”

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In other games around the area, Wilson lost to Rule 58-8 and  Southland  defeated Cotton Center 37-26.

The Mustangs will play Whiteface Friday (Sept. 3) at 7:30 p.m. in Whiteface.

The Eagles will play Anton today (Sept. 2) at 7:30 at home.