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Hayti powers past Eagles
EAST PRAIRIE -- The Hayti Indians, who finished second place in Class 1 last year, seem to have picked up right where they left off.
The East Prairie Eagles played well in the opening minutes of the contest Friday night but eventually fell to the talented visitors 41-0.
With Josh Boyer and Brent Harland carrying the load on the opening drive of the game, the Eagles picked up a first down, but then coughed up the ball to Hayti on a fumble.
Hayti had little success in the opening frame as numerous penalties stymied their every effort until QB Josh White hooked up with William Moore for a 43-yard TD with 2:09 left in the period.
The point after failed and left the score 6-0 to round out the scoring in the quarter.
The Eagles seemed to lose what momentum they had after falling behind and really struggled for the remainder of the half, getting only one more first down before half.
Hayti gradually cut down on the penalties as the first half progressed and added another score with 6:22 on the clock when William Moore ran up the middle for the six points. Jason Covington was the leading rusher for the Indians with 104 yards on 14 carries.
The Indians made the halftime score 20-0 with 1:17 left when White tucked the ball away and out-ran the Eagle defense to the left corner of the end zone.
"I'm really pleased with our kids, we got a lot of players in tonight, and I'm pretty proud of them," said Hayti head coach Jerry Bethune. "We have a good nucleus of veteran players and some freshmen and sophomores too, so it wasn't the coaching, it was the players."
Halfway through the third period, Josh White found Frederino Robinson open for a 55-yard pass play for a touchdown and sophomore Jordan Payne got into the act two minutes later for a 16-yard effort.
Quarterback Ricky Jackson scored on a 5-yard effort to end the scoring for the contest with 1:06 left in the stanza. With the clock running continuously in the fourth quarter, neither team scored.
"I thought we came out in the beginning and played really good, and our kids didn't give up. They have a really good football team and we have a good team. They were the better team tonight but we will get better," commented first year head coach Brett Blackman of East Prairie.
The Eagles' next game will be at Piggott, Ark., next Friday while the Indians travel to Malden to take on the Green Wave.