STORY CITY — The Class 3A No. 10 Nevada football team caused a timely turnover and used a powerful rushing attack to hold off 2A No. 9 Roland-Story by a 20-14 score Friday at Kerry Van Winkle Field.
Nevada recovered a fumble right by the Roland-Story sideline inside the Norse 15 with less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Running back Anthony Eaton followed a veteran offensive line led by all-state tackle Garrett Stringer to score his third touchdown on a 3-yard run with 3:39 left for the winning touchdown.
“It was phenomenal,” said Eaton. “I’ve got to give congrats to my big boys up here. They really put out for me. Props to those guys. They always set me up.”
The Norsemen had just made a big stop on defense after a 40-yard pass to Gavin Egeland gave Nevada the ball at Roland-Story’s 22 before the costly fumble occurred. Roland-Story was hurt by the loss of starting running back Fiston Carlson, who went down with what appeared to be a leg injury in the first quarter.
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Quarterback Sam Knoll and receiver/defensive back Cody Long did everything he could to keep Roland-Story close, but in the end the Cubs wore the Norsemen down to improve to 2-0. Roland-Story fell to 1-1.
Here are three things we learned from Nevada’s victory.
Anthony Eaton has heroic performance
Eaton ran for nearly 200 yards and three touchdowns on around 40 carries to power Nevada to victory on Friday.
Eaton also made the clutch fumble recovery after a big hit from linebacker Austin Waldera forced the ball free on a Roland-Story carry to set up his go-ahead touchdown run.
“Oh my God!” said Eaton. “Austin Waldera came in, helmet right on the football, it came out and it was right on the edge of the sideline, I came in, dove on it and it was our ball at the 10.”
Nevada dominates the second half
The first half was an even tussle as Nevada totaled 193 yards and Roland-Story finished with 176.
But the last two quarters saw Nevada completely control the clock behind their offensive line. After a 16-play scoring drive in the first half, the Cubs went on an 18-play, 71-yard drive to go up 14-6 in the second quarter.
After Roland-Story tied the score at 14-14 on a 34-yard middle screen from Knoll to Long, Nevada put together another big drive highlighted by Egeland’s 40-yard catch before turning the ball over on downs to set up Eaton’s eventual fumble recovery, followed by his winning touchdown.
“They’re all dogs,” Eaton said about his offensive line. “We’ve all been working our butts off in the weight room and we just come here to work and play football.”
Roland-Story gives a gutsy effort
Last year Roland-Story suffered a 42-7 loss at Nevada.
The Norsemen were much more competitive this time around even with the loss of Carlson in the first quarter.
Knoll did a great job scrambling for timely long runs and finding his receivers for big plays, Long was all over the field on both sides of the ball, Roland Yates led a strong effort up front and Charlie Watts had a busy night at linebacker. After Long’s touchdown in the third quarter, Aiden Frey had a 2-point conversion run to tie the score.
A 25-yard run by Knoll on a fake punt, followed by a 19-yard run by the Norse quarterback, set up Long’s short score for the first Roland-Story touchdown in the first quarter.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
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Publish date : 2024-09-06 16:24:00
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