SELMA—The Ellwood Christian Eagles (1-2) defended their home turf at Memorial Stadium Friday night by routing the Heritage Christian Lions (0-5) in a lopsided battle 86-6.
The Eagles’ speed and ability to make their opponent pay for mistakes proved to be the difference in Ellwood picking up their first win.
On their initial drive, they beat the Lions to the corner for three consecutive plays and Glen Olds marched it in to score the first of many Ellwood touchdowns.
After trading turnovers, the Eagles got the ball back on the Lion’s 10-yard line. Robert Davis blazed by defenders on the first play of the drive and scored making it 14-0 with 5:31 left in the first quarter. The Lions couldn’t respond and threw an interception to Denzell Jenkins who ran it back 43 yards and scored again.
A personal foul penalty kept the Lion’s next drive alive and allowed them to taste the end zone for the first and last time during the game. The brief momentum swing dissipated into thin air as Davis ran the ensuing kick off back 80 yards for another Eagles’ touchdown. Again, the Lions could not answer and threw yet another pick, this time to Glen Olds, who ran it back 52 yards for a score.
Robert Davis and Artavious Cunningham combined for three more touchdowns before time expired in the second quarter, increasing the lead to 58-6 at the half.
Heritage received the ball to start the third quarter, but was forced to punt after two negative plays and an incomplete pass. Olds blocked the punt and returned it 41 yards for another special teams score.
It never got any better for the Lions. Ellwood would tack on four touchdowns in the second half to cap off a huge win.
“I’m very, very proud of our special teams, defense, offensive line and just our team as a whole,” Ellwood Christian head coach Mike Stokes said. “We played really good tonight and it looks like it’s finally beginning to come together.”