---

After two weeks of overall improvement in their performance, the Eagles were on the road again this week to Baudette to face the Lake of The Woods Bears. Neither the long bus ride nor the fact it was the Bears Homecoming would be enough to stop the Eagles from victory on this night.

While the Bears relied on big plays for their scores, the Eagles offense used a balanced, methodical, move the chains offense that controlled the clock and pace of the game. Mixing the run and pass well, they were able to keep the Bears off balance on defense.

After a fumble on the Eagles opening drive, the Bears third play resulted in 45+ yard TD run and put the Bears up early 6-0. The Eagles quickly put together one of their balanced drives together that culminated with a short Benji Swankier TD run. The 2-pt conversion was run in by QB Cooper Kovall and the Eagles led 8-6 with 3:45 left in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, the Bears would threaten to score. With a first and goal set up by a pass interference, the Bears looked to reclaim the lead. Not on this night as the Eagles defense stiffened and scored their own points, as on 4th and goal a good hit on the runner knocked the ball loose and was swooped up by Marcus Woods and returned 90 yards for the Eagles second TD. A Dustin Sepin run for the 2-point conversion had the Eagles out front 16-6 with 8:00 remaining in the half.

The next Bear possession had the Eagle defense force a short punt as the Eagles took over on the Bear 30. A Kovall to Swankier 6 yard TD pass, followed by a Kovall to Woods 2-point conversion had them up 24-6 with just under five minutes to go before half. Another defensive stop would get the Eagles the ball back before halftime. Passes to Justin Wicks covered 20 and 15 yards and had the Eagles deep in Bear territory. The final play of the first half had Kovall dive in from one yard out. The 2-point conversion pass to Woods was good and the Eagles domination of the second quarter ended with a 32-6 halftime lead.

The Bears would show no quit and stepped up their defense in the third quarter as they would be the only team to score on a 20 yard TD pass that cut into the Eagle lead at 32-12, was setup by a nice punt return deep into Eagle territory.

The Bears would score on a short swing pass that resulted in a 55 yard TD early in the 4th quarter and the lead was down to 32-18. The Bears then recovered the on-side kick causing the good number of Eagle supporters that made the long trip to become just a bit nervous. The boys would once again cause a Bear interception that was returned near midfield. Once again, they pushed the ball down the field and ended the drive with a 17 yard TD pass to Wicks for the 38-18 lead.

The Bears would score another TD with about 2:30 remaining on another long run to end the scoring at 38-24. The Eagles would the move the chains twice for first downs and run out the remaining time in the game.

Defensively for the game the Eagles won the turnover battle as they forced 5 turnovers while committing only two themselves.

Coach Shepard was pleased with the improvement shown by his team this week.

"We mixed the run and pass well as we had about 200 yards on the ground and 180 through the air. The offensive line (Jeremy Johnson, Tim Wolter, Jesse Williams, Austin Cash, Dawson Tonga) provided some nice holes for our backs. Very proud of all these guys."

The team appreciated all the fans that made the trip up and made this a very fun night for all involved.

Next up for the Eagles is a home game on Friday, Sept. 19 vs. Onamia at 7 p.m.



[[In-content Ad]]

---