Charleston manhandles E.P.

Sunday, October 20, 2002
Charleston quarterback A.J. Marshall breaks looks for a gain.

CHARLESTON - The Charleston Bluejays got their second win of the season Friday night with a convincing 48-15 win over the visiting East Prairie Eagles.

"We came off the ball a little better than we have been, and tried to dominate the line of scrimmage," said Charleston head coach Brent Anderson.

Dominate they did as they scored on their first five possessions to end the first half with a commanding 34-0 lead.

Orrice Stanback held onto his lead as Southeast Missouri's top rusher with a stellar performance, scoring four touchdowns in the game.

"It's good to get a win to get the ball rolling as well as you can and we haven't being playing that great, so it was nice to come out and get a lead quick and kinda get that snowball rolling down the hill. It's a lot easier going down the hill than it is up. These kids have battled all year and deserve to win a game like this, being homecoming for them and I know it was big," added Coach Anderson.

Paul Brown, Cody Chambers and Bobby Clark each scored a touchdown for the Bluejays, all on running plays.

Despite the lop-sided score, the Eagles were able to find some positives in defeat. Kaleb Thurman caught 7 passes for 81 yards, and Dez Johnson rushed 14 times for 82 yards.

"They are a better team but our goal was to come out and play a better second half. We haven't been a second half team. They came out and played better and that was one thing we wanted to get accomplished, so I think we did that here tonight," said Eagle head coach Ken Latham.

The Eagles put their first points on the board with 1:38 remaining in the third quarter on a 30-yard pass reception by Johnson. Brent Harland added the final Eagle tallies on a running play with 10:27 left in the contest.

The "second season" starts for both clubs next week as they face their first of three district foes. East Prairie will host Caruthersville's Tigers while the Bluejays will entertain Crystal City. Both contests will begin at 7:30.

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