Eagles claw Pirates

Published 12:45 am Saturday, August 27, 2016

The Pleasant Home Eagles (1-0) got the season started on a solid note with a 21-16 victory over Fruitdale on last-minute play Friday night on the road.

“We squeaked this one out,” Eagles’ head coach Chris Mason said. “We were able to score with just over a minute left in the game.”

Pleasant Home took an early lead when D.J. Worley scored from 3 yards out, and the extra-point gave the Eagles a 7-0 advantage.

“After we scored first, our defense held them, but we turned right around and threw and interception,” Mason said.

Following the interception, Fruitdale scored and a successful two-point conversion put the Pirates up 8-7.

Fruitdale added another first-half touchdown and two-point conversion to go up 16-7.

Pleasant Home responded with a 10-yard touchdown from Rico Bovino, and two point conversion made it 16-15 heading into halftime.

“Our defense played lights out,” Mason said. “If it wasn’t for the offense giving up some bad field possession, they could have pitched a shutout. That was probably the best defensive game in my three years here.”

In the third quarter, the Eagles lost both quarterbacks to injury, but one, Robert Scott, was able to return in the fourth.

“We held them with two minutes left to go with a great defensive stop and got the ball back,” Mason said. “Robert (Scott) was able to come back in the fourth after being injured in the third, and he threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Nic Woods with about a minute left in the game.”

The Eagles rushed for 250 yards and ended with 326 yards of total offense.

Pleasant Home will face region foe McKenzie next week at home.