Lions devour Eagles

Steve Virgen

Halftime was reminiscent of last week, but the results were not.

Estancia High Coach Craig Fertig told his football players he was

betting on them during halftime, when the Eagles trailed, 27-7.

However, Estancia could not rally as it did last week and endured a

35-14 Golden West League loss to host Westminster Friday.

The main reason, the Eagles could not climb back in the game?

Carlos Brooks.

He rushed for 222 yards on 20 carries that included three

touchdowns on runs of 44, 53 and 49. The latter proved to be the most

electrifying, and devastating. Brooks ran over a defender midway to

his 49-yard TD jaunt and outran two defenders in the final 20 yards

to put his team up, 35-7.

“That was amazing,” Brooks said. “I was hoping that would take

them out of the game.”

Though the touchdown appeared to take the life out of the Eagles

(3-1, 1-1 in league), they answered with a highlight-reel-type

touchdown of their own. Estancia senior Mike Cahill went through

several defenders on his way to a 57-yard touchdown run. After

gaining 15 yards, he dragged three defenders for 3 yards, before

shaking them off and turning on the jets toward the end zone.

With 10 yards left before paydirt, another Westminster defender

grabbed at Cahill, but Cahill shook him off.

“You can tell they are a totally different team,” Lions Coach Ted

McMillen said. “They are more disciplined and I know they had fewer

penalties than us.”

The Lions (3-1, 1-0) had 11 penalties for 115 yards in the first

half, but still managed to gain their 27-7 lead.

“We just gave up too many big plays,” Fertig said.

In addition to Brooks’ long touchdown runs, the Eagles also

allowed a 64-yard completion and a 59-yard touchdown pass that opened

the scoring for the Lions.

An Estancia defensive back nearly broke up the touchdown pass, but

Livingston Tautua jumped to grab the ball and then ran 22 yards for

the TD. The play came on a third-and-four situation on Westminster’s

first possession.

The Eagles then went three-and-out, and, five plays later, Brooks

scored from 44 yards out. Estancia came back with a drive that showed

potential. Geo Macias ran back the kickoff for 24 yards to set up the

Eagles on their own 44. Estancia drove to Westminster’s 16, aided by

a 23 yard pass to Cullen Crom from Brad Young, but the Eagles fumbled

the ball away to the Lions.

Westminster converted the turnover into a touchdown.

Macias injured his knee on the ensuing kickoff and did not play

the rest of the game. He was thrown down out of bounds after the

whistle was blown, Fertig said, but there was no penalty. Macias

returned the kickoff 19 yards and Estancia once again started from

its own 44, and drove to the Lions’ 16. But the Eagles turned it over

on downs, and, two plays later, Brooks displayed speed and a few

stop-and-start moves on his way to a 53-yard TD run.

The Eagles gained some momentum before the half when Crom took

back a punt for a 35-yard touchdown. Westminster had a bad snap on

the punt play, and the kick went for 7 yards before Crom grabbed it,

followed a couple blocks and scored with 36 seconds left before the

half.

“I was telling them I betting on them again,” said Fertig of his

halftime speech. “My kids, they’ll never give up. I’m proud of how

they hung in there. I told them, ‘I’m betting on you.’ I will always

bet on them because they have heart, courage and guts.”