Throughout the first half, the Salado Eagles were the recipients of prime turf and they maximized its value to steamroll Jarrell, 51-9, Friday night at Eagle Stadium in a District 25-2A game.
Salado erupted for 29 first-quarter points and a 36-0 halftime lead with drives of 35, 54, 43, 18 and 3 yards, respectively.
“We capitalized on a lot of things early,” said Salado coach Jeff Cheatham, whose team moved to 4-2 for the year and 2-0 in district play. “We were able to take advantage of some short fields.”
Meanwhile, the Cougars were unable to extract themselves from the mire until it was far too late.
“(Salado) has a good team and they did a good job,” said Jarrell coach Ricky Taylor, whose team slipped to 2-4 and 0-2. “When you start out with the opening kickoff deep in your own territory it hurts.”
The Eagles’ kickoff team trapped the Cougars at their 2 to start the game. A quick three-and-out stop gave the Eagles the ball at the Jarrell 35. Tyler Wright broke loose off left tackle and went the distance on the Eagles’ first offensive play. Garret Ward ran in the two-point conversion on a swinging gate play for an 8-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.
Salado required six plays to travel 54 yards on its next scoring march. Wright went 34 yards around left end to set up another score. Logan Foster rumbled in from the 4 and Jace Peralta added the first of his five extra points to make it 15-0 at the 5:05 mark.
Another short field led to another quick touchdown. Quarterback Jerod Lutz hit Clayton Whitmire in stride behind the Cougar secondary for a 46-yard scoring strike.
Lutz set up the Eagles’ final touchdown of the first quarter by taking a punt back 50 yards to the Jarrell 18. On the next play Lutz fired to Whitmire in the back of the end zone for a 29-0 advantage.
In the second quarter, Salado’s Daniel Michael recovered an errant Cougar pitch at the Jarrell 3. Foster took it in from there to account for the 36-0 margin at the break.
“The defense played a great game,” said Cheatham. “They have several weapons and we were keeping them bottled up.”
The Eagles went up 43-0 in the third when Heath Bracken blocked Matt Mueller’s punt and Caleb Little scooped it up and took it 32 yards for a touchdown.
Jarrell got on the board by driving 70 yards in 11 plays before quarterback Chris Trevino finished it off by snaking in from the 4. The kick failed to leave the score 43-6 going into the final 12 minutes.
The Cougars added a fourth-quarter field goal when Kris Jensen connected from 29 yards.
Salado closed out the scoring by marching 80 yards in just five plays. Lutz got free along the left sideline for a 47-yard touchdown jaunt. Matt Ming hit Tyler Coker following a mishandled snap for the two-point conversion.
Wright paced the Eagles with 107 yards rushing on 10 carries. Lutz threw for 106 yards and rushed for 50. Daniel Tucker led the way for the Cougars with 77 yards on 11 rushes.
“The kids battled,” Taylor said. “We’ve just got to get together Monday and get ready for Rogers.”
After a pair of non-district losses, the Eagles appear to be in a return to form with back-to-back district victories.
“We’re getting healthy and we’re getting to where we need to be,” said Cheatham, whose team travels to Lexington on Friday. “We spread the ball around and did the things we like to do."
twaits@temple-telegram.com
