The Eureka Tornado junior high football team beat the Neodesha Bluestreaks 48-31 last Thursday, Oct. 10 in Neodesha to improve their record to 4-2 on the season. The game, which seemed to last forever due to the scoring, began at 4:30 p.m. instead of the customary 6 p.m. start time to which both teams were accustomed. This may have contributed to the somewhat sloppy nature of the game, especially in the first half.
The Tornadoes kicked off to begin the game and held the Bluestreak offense in check, forcing them to turn the ball over on downs. Eureka took over on the Bluestreak 34 yardline but promptly threw an interception, one of four turnovers committed by the Tornadoes in the first half.
Neodesha took over and scored a touchdown and a successful Point After Touchdown (PAT) to take a 7-0 lead.
Eureka responded with a touchdown drive of their own, which featured a 55yard run by Christian Sanchez and a 5-yard touchdown scamper by Tate Scott. The conversion was run in by Aiden Osborne and the Tornadoes took an 8-7 lead.
The lead dissipated rather quickly however as Neodesha ran back the subsequent kickoff to score. They converted the point after and took a 8-15 lead, which became a 8-23 lead shortly thereafter as the Tornadoes committed another one of their turnovers, this time a fumble, and the Bluestreaks scored on a long pass play and another successful conversion.
Eureka responded with a 42-yard touchdown run by Osborne, and, following a Neodesha fumble on the following drive, another 34-yard touchdown. Both conversions failed but the Tornadoes had closed the gap to 20-23. The following drives featured a punt by Neodesha, another Tornado interception, an interception of Neodesha by Cord Atkins and a Tornado fumble. Mercifully, this ended the first half.
The Tornadoes took the opening drive of the second half and scored on a 13 yard touchdown run by Osborne, and a conversion run by Scott, finally regaining the lead 28-23. Neodesha turned the ball over on downs, Eureka threw yet another interception, Neodesha turned the ball over on downs again, and Eureka scored on a touchdown pass from Scott to Eli Mason.
Maddox Hughes ran in the conversion and Eureka now had a commanding 3623 lead.
Neodesha was unable to move the ball again, and Eureka took over and scored on a run by Scott. The conversion failed but the Tornadoes now led 4223. On Neodesha’s next drive, Hughes intercepted a pass and scored. The conversion failed but Eureka now led 48-23. At this point, the younger Tornadoes finished the game, yielding a touchdown with 6 seconds left in the game. The successful conversion by the ‘Streaks made the final score 48-31.
The Tornadoes end their season this Thursday, Oct. 17 at Cherryvale. The game against the Chargers begins at 6 p,m.
Scores from the junior high volleyball contests against Neodesha were unavailable at the time of publication.
