Lightning puts Eagles out of football misery

ST. JOHN — After a tough first game for the St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse (SJEL) Eagles last week, losing the game in the last half of the fourth quarter, the Eagles looked to bounce back Thursday, Sept. 7, against the Wilbur-Creston-Keller (Creston) Wildcats.

The comeback game for the Eagles will have to wait another week, however, as the Eagles were held to just six points, losing 46-6 against the Wildcats.

The game was called at halftime because of lightning. The rain started just before halftime, with the first visible lightning bolt happening a few minutes into halftime.

The game would go into a 30-minute lightning delay, with lightning strikes happening every few minutes until eventually the referees called the game.

In the first half, the Wildcats simply could not be stopped. The Wildcats only had one empty possession in the game, and forced four interceptions from SJEL quarterback Matthew DeFord. The Wildcats led 14-6 after one quarter, before scoring 32 in the second quarter.

In the first, SJEL scored their only touchdown and points of the game as DeFord scored a 19-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to eight, but could not keep the ball out of Wildcat hands.

In the second quarter, DeFord would catch a pass for 20 yards in the quarter to set up SJEL for a possible score. The drive would be stopped on the next play for the Eagles after another interception. The Wildcats would then score on their next drive to extend their lead to 38-6 in the game.

The Wildcats would then recover their onside kick attempt to set them up once again halfway through the second quarter. After scoring on this drive, the Wildcats would lead by 40, putting the running clock into play with three minutes left in the half.

SJEL need to have a massive bounce back game Friday, Sept. 15, against Touchet. The Redhawks will host the Eagles in Touchet, with kick off set for 3 p.m.

Touchet is currently 1-1 on the season. They lost their opening game 50-2 to Waitsburg, then won their second game of the season, a convincing 93-32 victory over Sunnyside Christian.