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Thunderbirds win gridiron opener for first time, 40-24
FRENCH LICK - Eastern Greene had never won its football season opener in the history of the program.
But Friday night they did just that with a 40-24 road win over the Springs Valley Blackhawks.
"It's a good team win for us," Eastern Greene coach Joey Paridaen said. "We haven't been 1-0 in the history of our program so it's nice to be able to do something like that."
Aided by three first-quarter rushing touchdowns from quarterback Jeff Graham, the Thunderbirds jumped out to a 27-6 lead and held on for a 40-24 win.
"It's a good win for our program," coach Joey Paridaen said. "That obviously wasn't pretty and we didn't make it easy on ourselves at times but the end result was a 'W'."
On its first series, Eastern Greene marched 82 yards in just 2:43 culminating in a 3-yard run by Graham.
The Blackhawks came right back to tie it on a 54-yard run by Selby O'Brien.
After converting a third-and-ten, Graham hit Caleb Hamilton in stride for a 50-yard gain to the SV 35. Four plays later, Graham ran up the middle from the 16 to put the T-Birds ahead 13-6.
Springs Valley had trouble with the center-quarterback exchange. On the Blackhawks' next two possessions, errant snaps were recovered by the Thunderbirds, both times at the Springs Valley 20.
The first time Graham went right back to Hamilton, striking on the first play for a 20-yard scoring toss.
On the next possession, Graham added another 16-yard scoring run.
The Blackhawks weren't quite finished. O'Brien returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards, giving Springs Valley first-and-goal at the 10. O'Brien ran it in for a score on the first play.
After a scoreless second quarter, Graham added his fourth score of the night on a 7-yard keeper putting the Thunderbirds ahead 34-12.
Graham rushed for 164 yards on 19 carries. Brent Price toted the rock 21 times for 112 yards and scored on a 3-yard run with two minutes left in the game.
"We had some ups and downs but we came through adversity," Price said. "We all worked together as a team. The line did an especially great job."
Springs Valley made things interesting, scoring twice in the third to pull within 34-24 before Price's late score.
O'Brien got outside for a 64-yard TD run at the four-minute mark in the third. After a T-Bird fumble gave SV the ball at the Eastern Greene 17 where Reynolds Hunt capped off a short drive with a 4-yard burst for a score.
O'Brien rambled for 247 yards - 158 by halftime.
"Defensively I was a little upset because we had him (O'Brien) bottled up at times," Paridaen said. "We should have had him for a loss and we let him get loose and keep them in the game."
He went on to say, "you can't have those kinds of mistakes and let teams hang around."
Price summed up the season-opening win by saying, " I think we did well but I think we can do better next game.
"I wouldn't want to play with any other team."
THUNDERBIRDS 40, BLACKHAWKS 24
Eastern Greene 27 0 7 6 - 40
Springs Valley 12 0 12 0 - 24
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
EG - Jeff Graham 3 run (kick failed), 9:17.
SV - Selby O'Brien 54 run (run failed), 8:04.
EG - Graham 16 run (Andy Drummond kick), 5:03.
EG - Caleb Hamilton 20 pass from Graham (Drummond kick), 4:07.
EG - Graham 16 run (Drummond kick), 2:23.
SV - O'Brien 10 run (kick failed), :33.
Third Quarter
EG - Graham 7 run (Drummond kick), 4:46.
SV - O'Brien 64 run (run fail), 3:56.
SV - Reynolds Hunt 4 run (run failed), 2:05.
Fourth Quarter
EG - Brent Price 3 run (run failed), 1:55.
EG SV
First downs 18 13
Rushes-yards 42-285 34- 241
Passing yards 92 107
Total yards 377 348
C-A-I 6-12-0 10-16-1
Penalties-yards 4-21 7-70
Punts-avg. 1-48 1-25
Fumbles-lost 1-1 4-2
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Eastern Greene, Graham 19-164, Brent Price 20-112, Caleb Hamilton 3-9. Springs Valley, O'Brien 22-247, Hunt 4-15, Isaac Brown 5 (minus 33), Wyatt Purkheiser 3-12
PASSING -- Eastern Greene, Graham 6-12-0 92. Springs Valley, Brown 10-16-1 107
RECEIVING -- Eastern Greene, Caleb Hamilton 3-70, Hill 1-13, Brayden Deckard 1-7, Noah Colon-Pineda 1-2. Springs Valley Hector Walker 4-43, Purkhiser 3-32, Remington Allen 1-24, Zach Carnes 1-5, Ezra Butler 1-3.