Big Offensive Night Not Enough For Eagles

EUSTACE — Give up 552 yards total offense to the Canton Eagles and they likely go home with a victory.

Not Friday night, though. The Eustace Bulldogs countered with 377 yards rushing and two key touchdown passes to stun the Eagles, 35-26, at The Boneyard.

Canton (4-3 overall, 1-1 District 14-3A) saw multiple scoring opportunities go by the wayside. The Eagles turned the ball over on downs three times in Eustace territory, had a touchdown negated on a holding penalty and had another pass in the end zone intercepted.

"We’ve just got to come out and play better. We didn’t have a very good start and we’ve got a lot of things to correct by the coaches and the kids," Canton head coach Lance Angel said.

He added the loss capped off what he termed a bad week of practice.

"You can’t have bad weeks to work out. It’s going to show on Friday night," Angel said.

It also prolonged Canton’s road woes this season. Since winning 18-0 at Commerce in the season-opener, the Eagles have dropped three straight away from Norris Birdwell Stadium.

The man of the night for Eustace (3-4, 1-1) was wide receiver/defensive back Zach Keeling. Along with hauling in the second quarter interception that kept the Eagles from potentially tying the game at that point, Keeling caught both Eustace TD passes.

Both throws were from running back Trevan Johnson and came at all-important times. The first, a 31-yarder, put the Bulldogs up 21-7 just before halftime.

After Canton mounted a late comeback to get within two points in the game’s final four minutes, Eustace pulled out the same play on fourth-and-three at the Eagle 24. This time, it provided the game-icing score.

"He’s grown up a lot. Before I got here, he hadn’t even played football for three or four years…he’s playing at a high level at corner right now. He wanted to make plays, he wanted the ball, he wanted the pressure," Eustace head coach Doug Wendel said.

The Bulldogs’ running game dominated play for the first three quarters, putting Canton in a hole from which it could not quite climb out.

Fullback Shawn Baldwin took on the workhorse role to the tune of 142 yards on 29 carries with one touchdown. His effort complimented the big-play speed of Johnson, who finished with 168 yards on 13 carries and two TDs.

"It was about the players making plays tonight. Our whole program starts and ends with our offensive line…I thought they came off the ball and dominated tonight," Wendel said.

The Eustace defense did its job on Canton’s opening possession by stopping the Eagles on fourth down at the Bulldog 34.

Quarterback Chris Compton went to work from there, handing the ball to Baldwin for most of a 66-yard scoring drive that ended with Baldwin’s 1-yard TD with 5:03 left in the first quarter.

Canton answered quickly as quarterback Chance Wallace completed three passes to Trent Termin. That helped the Eagles get down to the Eustace 18 and running back Zack Cummings scored later on a 5-yard carry.

Peter Renegar tied it at 7 on the extra-point kick.

Johnson put Eustace back in front on the first play of the second quarter on a 36-yard romp. Kasey Hudgens connected on the extra point and would wind up making all five attempts on the night.

The Bulldogs took their biggest lead of the game at 28-7 on the opening drive of the third quarter. Johnson again steamed past the Canton secondary on a running play and went 44 yards for the touchdown.

However, the Eagles started putting it together with the passing game again. Wallace found Roy Denbow on a 10-yard TD strike to make it 28-13 after the PAT attempt failed.

In the fourth quarter, Wallace got the Eagles into the end zone on a seven-play, 73-yard drive that started with a 15-yard gift from Eustace on a personal foul.

Grant Franklin scored on a 22-yard pass play with 6:37 remaining to close the gap to 28-19. The Eagles went for the two-point conversion but Wallace, racing for the corner of the end zone, was forced out of bounds just shy of the pylon.

But Canton’s defense stepped up and forced a three-and-out from the Bulldogs. Wallace picked up 28 yards down to the Eustace 25, and then hit Denbow again in the end zone.

Jonathon Huddle kicked the extra point to make it 28-26, but that would be as close as the Eagles could get. Canton went for an onside kick but the ball skipped out of bounds.

Eustace worked the clock down into the final minute of play and its fourth down gamble through the air came up golden.

Canton returns home this Friday to host Mineola at 7:30 p.m.