Posted Monday October 13, 2008

ECHO - The Echo Cougars defeated the Nixyaawii Eagles 58 to 26 in a Thursday night game between the two 1A teams. Echo came out with strong play right from the beginning and never let up. Once Echo had a comfortable lead coach Norm Stewart started playing the second string to give them some experience. It was a blustery fall evening with the temperature in the mid 40s and the wind chill even lower.

Echo has a been a big play team all year and it was no different on Thursday. Sometimes it only took a few plays for the Cougars to score a touchdown. An example was at 3:20 in the first quarter. The Nixyaawii Eagles turned the ball over on fourth down to the Cougars on the Echo 41 yard line. Echo quarterback Andy McFarlane took the ball on a keeper 59 yard run to a touchdown that gave the Cougars a 26 - 0 lead.

Another big play for Echo came at the 7:07 mark of the second quarter on their own 25 yard line. Devin Christensen caught a pass from Jacob Eby and took it 75 yards for a touchdown. With the two point conversion that gave Echo the 36-0 lead.

At the 4:19 mark of the second Echo was 1st and 10 around the Eagles 40 yard line. Jacob Eby connected to Ryan Ramos for about a 40 yard touchdown. The two point conversion was missed which gave the Cougars a 42-0 lead.

The Eagles had the ball on their own 15 yard line and turned it over to Echo at the 2:44 mark of the second quarter. Echo quarterback Ethan Marcum, on the first play following the turnover, handed off to Jordon Mitchell who took it up the right side for a touchdown. Marcum ran a quarterback keeper into the endzone for the two point conversion which gave Echo the 50-0 lead.

Nixyaawii took the ensuing kickoff and put on a little razzle dazzle with a reverse handoff from Isaiah Case to Pongo Seltsburn which ended up on their own 29 yard line. The Eagles moved the ball down the field with a series of runs down to the Cougar 15 yard line. The Eagle quarterback, Isaiah Case optioned to Pongo Seltsburn for a 15 yard touchdown run to make the score 50-6 with seven seconds to go in the first half.

The Nixyaawii discovered their passing game in the second half. On their second possession the Case tossed a pass to Joseph Crawford then handed off to Michael Sherman for a touchdown with Sherman running in the two point conversion to make the score 50-14.

A couple of series later the Eagles were 1st and 10 on about the Echo 45 yard line. Case passed the ball to Crawford for a nearly 55 yard touchdown play. The conversion was missed but the gap was closing with Echo leading 50-20.

At the 10:30 mark of the fourth quarter the Eagles intercepted a Cougar pass and took the ball to the 40 yard line of Echo. A run took the ball to the 29 yard line. The Eagles connected on a pass to Crawford good for the touchdown. Echo lead with a score of 50-26.

The teams exchanged possession over the course of the final six minutes of the game with noone scoring.

Photos by Terry Aichele