Golden Eagles: Much-Needed Win Over Mustangs
The Golden Eagles pulled off an incredible victory over the Mandarin Mustangs to bounce back from a two-game losing streak. A much-needed win that got contributions from all three aspects of the team to pull out this come-from-behind nail-biter. 35-28.
The Eagles could not get the running game going last week versus the Bartram Bears, but Friday night was different. FSU commit Sam Singleton dominated the run game with 245 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. Singleton scored from the 1-yard line twice and showed off his speed when he took one to the house 84-yards out. SOPH quarterback Cibastian Broughton would add his flare to the game when he demonstrated his speed when he broke free and glided, nearly untouched, for a 70-yard touchdown.
The Eagles special teams showed up early in the first half with a blocked 40-yard field goal attempt. Kaylib Singleton pulled off his best impersonation of Superman and flew through the air to keep, what would later be, game-saving points off the board.
The Eagles defense benefited late in the third quarter when defensive back, Devante Lewis, intercepted the ball at the Eagles 15-yard line and returned the ball to the 30. The Eagles would then score quickly when Broughton cruised 70-yards to put the Eagles up 21-14.
The Mustangs would find weak spots within the Eagles defense set and continued to work passes in the seams, similar to what worked well for the Bears last week. Mandarin would move the ball effectively through the air and on the ground in the second half. At times it was clear the Eagles defense was getting worn down a bit by their sloppy tackling and missed assignments, but when the game was on the line, they dug deep as a unit and made one last play.
The Mustangs were poised to end the game leading 28-27 and less than two minutes remaining. Mandarin had the ball inside the Eagles 20-yard line and threw a short pass on 4th down, and following what seemed to be a game-saving tackle by defensive back Singleton, the zebras got involved and threw a flag for a facemask penalty. It would not give the Mustangs a first down, but it would give them another shot to seal the deal, this time from the Eagles 6-yard line. The defense stepped up and snuffed out the play at the 1-yard line and gave the ball back to Broughton and company, with a seemingly impossible task of going 99 yards with zero timeouts.
Following last week’s loss to the Bears, it was written that the one aspect of this team that shows flashes and needs to contribute regularly is the wide receiver group. Well, tonight, they did exactly that. On 4th and three Broughton would scramble to his right and throw, what the cool kids call, a dime to FR wide receiver Trace Burney down to the Mustangs 38-yard line. Burney was matched-up man-on-man defense, made an amazing play on the ball, and had the presence of mind in that type of situation to get out of bounds. The next play would be the dagger the Eagles were looking for when Broughton threw a pass to SR receiver Darion Domineck. Broughton threw the ball high enough to go over the would-be defenders’ hands and allow Domineck to highpoint the ball for the touchdown. The Eagle would seal the victory with a two-point conversion to Domineck for good measure.
This has been the type of game the Eagles have needed from their wide receiver group for some time. The talent is there, and when they make plays, they can make game-changing, in this case, game-winning plays.
Moving forward the Eagles will need contributions from all sides of the ball to continue this momentum knowing they face Creekside and Buchholz in the next two weeks.