Prep Football: Eagles run roughshod over Edwards County

Mother Nature has provided football fans with plenty of severe weather this football season and Friday night was no different across much of southern Illinois.

Eldorado decided to get in on the action at Edwards County. The thunder came in the form of Trey Vessel. The lightning was Payton Price.

Vessel had 18 carries for 116 yards, while Price touched the rock 14 times, going for 317 yards and scoring five touchdowns in the Eagles' 42-20 win over Edwards County Friday as Eldorado improved to 5-1 in the Black Diamond Conference on the season.

In the game, the Eagles rushed for 518 yards on 64 carries and ended the game with 559 yards of total offense.

"I liked how physical we played on offense," Eldorado head coach Brandon Hampton said. "I thought our backs ran hard and our o-line did a great job of opening up holes for us. Edwards County has some big kids up front, but our backs ran hard, faked well and blocked well for one another and I liked how we were challenged a little bit. The game was never really in jeopardy, but however, when we needed to come out and handle business in the second half, we were able to."

The dynamic duo of Vessel and Price went to work early in the first quarter as Vessel moved the line on a trio of carries, it was Price who bolted out of the gate on his first touch of the game, going 41 yards for a score.

After Vessel went to work again on Eldorado's second series with four carries for no less than seven yards a piece, Price sprinted 21 yards for the second score, putting Eldorado up 16-0.

Eldorado quarterback Kale Oglesby found a wide open Max Kaiser 35 yards downfield for the Eagles' third straight TD, putting them up 22-0, but then watched as Edwards County got a little momentum before halftime, punching in two scores to get to within 10 at 22-12.

That momentum came to a screeching halt after halftime.

After Connor Watt put Eldorado in position at the 50-yard line after the kickoff, Price took eight seconds to go 50 yards for his third score of the game.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior scat bat would go on to add a 74-yard score and finish his night with a 42-yard touchdown run up the seam at the 7:24 mark of the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach at 46-12.

The run by Price to start the second half changed the complexion of the ballgame according to Hampton and put some wind back in his Eagles' sails.

"It was the first time we really had any adversity this year," Hampton said. "It was good for us to handle our business there. You have to give some credit to Connor Watt for getting us the spark there on the kickoff return and then Payton rips off a big play and now we're rolling a little bit.

"I thought Trey ran extremely hard tonight. He got banged up, but sucked it up and played hard and finished the ballgame with the way I want to see it done, him moving the pile and being explosive on the other player."

Eldorado gave up 192 yards on the ground and 303 to and Edwards County team that is now 1-5 on the year in the BDC.

The meat of the Eagles' schedule remains on the back end of their schedule as they travel to Fairfield next Friday night, before hosting Johnston City and closing out the season at Chester.

The primary concern for Hampton heading down the stretch is more so about taking care of his own team as opposed to worrying about the opposition.

"The same things keep plaguing us. We keep turning the ball over and you can't do that on the road. We've been lucky that we're so much more talented than the opponent, but that's coming to a screeching halt. The other teams are going to be well coached and have good players too. If we continue to turn the ball over, particularly on the road, history will tell you that you won't have success. So we have to work really hard to improve those things. I'm really proud of the way our kids played, fought, battled and played together. We've got some thing to clean up on both sides of the ball, but these kids work hard, do a tremendous job and I've got confidence we can fix those things."

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register and Eldorado Daily Journal. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.

Eldorado 22 06 16 08 - 42

Edwards County 00 12 00 08 - 20

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

ELD - Price 47 run (Vessel conversion), 7:48

ELD - Price 21 run (Vessel conversion), 1:36

Second Quarter

ELD - Kasiar 33 pass from Oglesby (conversion failed), 5:44

EDC - Schmittler 40 run (conversion failed), 2:10

EDC - Brake 29 pass from Kelsey (conversion failed), :8

Third Quarter

ELD - Price 50 run (Vessel conversion), 11:45

ELD - Price 74 run (Traxler conversion), 6:44

Fourth Quarter

ELD - Price 42 run (Traxler conversion), 7:24

EDC - Robinson 4 pass from Kelsey (Rivers conversion), 4:43

Team Statistics

ELD EDC

First Downs 15 12

Total Yards 559 303

Rushes-Yards 64-518 39-192

Comp-Att-Int 2-3-1 7-13-1

Passing Yards 41 111

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-1

Penalities-Yards 3-35 1-10

Individual Statistics

Rushing: ELD - Price 14-317, Vessel 18-116, Traxler 3-35, Oglesby 2-6, Watt 2-2, Metten 5-45, Roberts 2-(-3). EDC - Rivers 21-111, Kesley 7-14, Schmittler 10-66.

Passing: ELD - Oglesby 2-3-1 41. EDC - Kelsey 7-13-1 111.

Receiving: ELD - Kasiar 2-41. EDC - Robison 3-41, Rivers 2-40, Brake 2-30