#MaizeWon: Eagles shut out Mavs

Brooklyn Blasdel & Abby McCoy, Sports editor & co-editor-in-chief
November 16, 2019

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Sam Bartlett
Keaton Robertson celebrates with coach Rocky Helm after the victory.

The Eagles are headed back to the state semifinals after shutting out their OneMa1ze rival Maize South 28-0 Friday night.

The Eagles started slowly and led 7-0 at halftime before turning it on in the third quarter, scoring three touchdowns.

Preven Christon got the Eagles going, scoring with 51 seconds remaining in the first quarter off a pass from Camden Jurgensen.

“We just had to come out with intensity,” Christon said.

Christon said the Eagles knew they had more work to do in the second half.

“We were feeling like we needed to pick it up a little bit,” he said. “Seven [points] is not very good for us, but we just picked it up and not get everything in our head.”

Caden Cox ran 20 yards into the end zone to secure the Eagles’ first touchdown of the second half 6:26 to play in the third quarter. 

Jurgensen found Josh McLaughlin wide open in the end zone with 2:22 left in the third. Jurgensen then hit K.J. Hampton with 52 seconds left in the quarter to close out the scoring.

“We are really a first-half team, so when we got motivated, it makes us play better,” McLaughlin said. “I think we played a really good second half.” 

The defense dominated throughout the game. Maize South started multiple possessions on the Eagles’ side of the field but never threatened to score. The final time came after a Jurgensen interception with 5:28 to go in the fourth. The defense held tough, sacking South quarterback Colin Shields at the 44-yard line on fourth down. 

“At the end of the day, we knew that we could take care of business,” McLaughlin said. “Obviously being our rival — it was a bigger game — and we showed up.”

The Eagles will face the Northwest Grizzles for sub-state at 7 p.m. Friday. It will be a rematch from last years sub-state, when the Grizzles won on a last-second touchdown.

“We knew all week we had to show up, and it happened: 28-0,” McLaughlin said. “If we play like this against Northwest, who knows what can happen.”