Battle Of The Birds

The Eagles faced the Washington Blue Jays in the Homecoming game on Oct. 1 where the Eagles lost 29-14. Going into the game, Washington and Liberty both lost to Fort Zumwalt South and held records of two wins and three losses. 

The Blue Jays scored the first touchdown of the game with 2:46 left in the first quarter. Landon Boston from Washington ran the ball two yards into the end zone for six points and Devon Deckelman secured the extra point by completing a field goal. 

The Eagles started off the second quarter strong by scoring a touchdown with 10:13 left in the half on a run by senior Jordan Smith. After the 26-yard touchdown by Smith, junior kicker Charlie Hebden scored the extra point to tie Liberty with Washington 7-7. Defensively, senior Brandon Kertz was locking down the receivers and stopping their offense from gaining momentum. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Blue Jays then scored their second touchdown of the game on a 17-yard run by Cam Millheiser and a two-point conversion run into the endzone by Devon Deckelman. The half ended with Washington in the lead 15-7.

During halftime, the Homecoming court was announced. The royalty for the freshman class were Kylee Bobbitt and Cody McMullen, the sophomores were Grace Edney and CJ Jefferson and the juniors were Alexis Shuster and Ethan Weiler. The senior court consisted of Bella Bahr and Carson Clay, Abby Lovell and KJ Lyles, and the Homecoming king and queen, Patrick O’Day and Amira Khayyat. After the court nominees were presented, the Lady Eagles cheerleaders and the Belles killed their halftime performances.

Moving into the third quarter, Washington held possession of the ball for most of the quarter. With possession comes control over the momentum and play of the game, making it hard for the defense to read the offense. On an 8-yard run, Washington successfully beat the Eagles defense and scored another touchdown. Going into the last quarter of the game, the score was 22-7, Blue Jays coming out on top.

The Eagles’ defense suffered a big loss in the fourth quarter when KJ Lyles was down for the count with 6:09 left in the game. Lyles is a motivational teammate on the defensive line for the Eagles. He is also an intimidating threat to opponents, which is why his injury was detrimental to Eagle’s success. 

A positive for the Eagles in this game was that senior Tye Yeh, one of the stronger defensive players, returned from injury for a few plays and got back on the field. Last season, Yeh led the team in defensive tackles as a junior with 67 total tackles. 

“It felt great to be back on the field, I really missed playing with the boys,” Yeh said. 

Shortly after Lyles’ injury, Washington scored their final touchdown of the game with 5:02 left in the quarter on a 25 yard run by Millheiser and a successful field goal by Deckelman. The Eagles then scored their second touchdown of the game with 3:09 left on the clock with a 52-yard run by sophomore quarterback Noah Kuehner. The Eagles didn’t give up, but after two completed passes from Kuehner to senior David Richard that were called no good by the refs, the Washington defense picked off a pass by Kuehner and stopped the Eagles momentum to end the game 29-14.

Washington           7     8    7    7 – 29

Liberty                    0     7    0    7 – 14

First Quarter
W: Landon Boston 2 run (Devon Deckelman kick), 2:46

Second Quarter
L: Jordan Smith 26 run (Charlie Hebden kick), 10:13
W: Cam Millheiser 17 run (Devon Deckelman run), 2:48

Third Quarter
W: Evan Gaither 8 run (Devon Deckelman kick), 9:15

Fourth Quarter
W: Cam Millheiser 25 run (Devon Deckelman kick), 3:22
L: Noah Kuehner 52 run (Charlie Hebden kick), 3:04