Rogers rushed for 349 yards, gained 20 first downs, didn’t have a turnover, never had to punt and allowed only 4 second-half yards in its 63-14 manhandling of Bruceville-Eddy at Merk Field on Friday night.

But what looked like a picture-perfect evening on the scoreboard was anything but that in the eyes of Eagles first-year coach Jeff Walker.

“On a scale of 1 out of 10, we’re at a 4 right now,” Walker said. “We have a long way to go. We’re not very good. The kids haven’t figured our offense out yet. We’re still real hesitant and not flying around like we need to. A lot of it is coaching. We’re still all learning together.

“What I’m most disappointed in is we’re not playing with any fire. I haven’t been able to find the right buttons to get them to go, but of course, we’re happy with the win.”

That should send a resounding message to the rest of District 25-2A as to how potent Walker’s Slot-T offense can be if it begins to fully click on all cylinders.

Senior fullback E.J. Larkin ran for 120 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. Senior tailback Jordan Sebek added 119 yards on 13 carries and scored four touchdowns, including a 70-yard punt return early in the third quarter as Rogers (2-1) blanked Bruceville-Eddy (1-2) 35-0 in the second half.

Before the game got out of hand, Bruceville-Eddy’s defense needed to make its first stand to grab momentum heading into halftime.

It didn’t get done.

With Rogers leading 21-14 and facing a fourth-and-3 situation at its 49-yard line, Walker decided against punting and giving Bruceville-Eddy the ball back to run out the half.

Larkin rumbled for 11 yards down to the 40 and a first down. Then on second-and-10, quarterback Chance Marek found a wide-open Aaron Martin behind the defense for a 39-yard gain down to the 1 with 21 seconds left. After a Rogers’ timeout, Larkin scored on the next play to give his Eagles a 28-14 lead.

Had Bruceville-Eddy been able to hold Rogers from scoring, it would have opened the second half with possession and a chance to tie the game. Instead, Bruceville-Eddy found itself in a two-score hole and it never recovered.

“That hurt us big time,” Bruceville-Eddy coach Brent Watkins said. “We would have been within striking distance. I thought we had fought right back into it. Then they hit a Hail Mary like that and it’s kind of a backbreaker.”

After halftime, it was all Rogers.

Bruceville-Eddy went three-and-out on its first two possessions, mustering only 10 yards. Quarterback Sheldon Walker was 8-of-10 in the first half but went just 3-of-14 the rest of the way.

“It was just a continuos momentum swing,” Watkins said. “Take nothing away from them. They just whipped us physically all over the field.”

In between defensive stops, Sebek fielded a punt on the right hash, started running to his left down the sideline, used some nifty moves and finally cut back to the right again to outrun defenders for a touchdown that made it 35-14.

On Rogers’ next possession, Marek connected with tight end Cameron Doskocil, who made a great catch in traffic, for a 30-yard score and a 42-14 lead with 4:14 left.

Sebek, Larkin and Marek all scored in the fourth to seal the romp.

“I told the kids that at the end (of the game) we kind of smelled blood and we played real hard,” Jeff Walker said. “We need to play that way when it’s 0-0.”

Down 14-0, Bruceville-Eddy struck in the second quarter when Sul Ross burst free for a 69-yard touchdown. Sheldon Walker capped a 16-play, 80-yard drive with a 1-yard quarterback sneak to make it 21-14 before Rogers’ 68-yard drive before halftime regained the momentum.

“We’re very far away from where we need to be but hopefully we’ll get there,” Jeff Walker said.

Rogers plays Troy at 7:30 p.m. next Friday. Bruceville-Eddy has a week off before beginning 16-2A action at home against Troy on Sept. 26.

cmeister@temple-telegram.com