CHARLOTTESVILLE — It was a marathon, it was a back-and-forth slugfest and it was full of sloppy play from both teams.
It was exactly what can be expected in a Week 1 high school football game.
Most importantly, though, it was an Eastern Hancock win.
In a game that lasted over three hours and had 112 combined points, the Class 2A No. 5 Royals came away with the opening-night win, 63-49 over 3A Frankton.
“We were physical out there, and other than the penalties, we executed really well. The game plan was there. We wanted to spread them out and throw it early and then pound the rock once they were worn down and that was effective,” head coach Pat Echeverria said. “We made some good plays on special teams and some bad ones. It was the story of good and bad tonight.”
Echeverria and the Royals knew what they had coming back on offense, and, on paper, were expected to have one of the top offenses in Class 2A.
They didn’t disappoint in their first showing, scoring multiple touchdowns in all four quarters and their most points in a game since 2013.
Leading the way, and adding another weapon to the Royals offensive arsenal, was a newcomer to the offense – sophomore wide receiver Hayden Jackson.
Jackson scored twice in the first quarter to put Eastern Hancock ahead 14-8, scored midway through the third quarter to push the Royals lead to 13, and with under five minutes remaining in a one-score game, hauled in a 50-yard pass for his fourth score of the night to all but close things out.
On the night, and in his debut as a starting wideout, Jackson unofficially had 200 yards and four touchdowns.
“Hayden’s the fastest kid in school, and people are going to know that now. We had kids returning that I know were getting a lot of attention and he was probably the one guy on our offense that was under the radar,” Echeverria said. “That’s going to be the theme for us this year. Defenses are going to have to pick somebody that they aren’t going to focus on, and he was that guy tonight. He stepped up and made some unbelievable plays.”
The Eagles opened the game with a long touchdown pass of their own. Quarterback Ethan Stansberry connected with Brady Carmack on a deep fade for a 35-yard touchdown, but the Royals quarterback-to-wide receiver connection was just as good.
Junior play caller Elijah Edon found Jackson from 20 and 16 yards out for the two opening-quarter scores and early in the third quarter, another long pass to Jackson set up running back Ethan Sipes for a 10-yard score.
Edon threw for 264 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 55 yards and two scores.
After 22 unanswered points from the Royals, Frankton found the endzone again midway through the second on a Nate Luzadder 35-yard run, but the Royals followed their gameplan and turned to standout back Mark Kube and the run game to retake a two-score lead.
In three plays, Kube broke off a 48-yard run, a 12-yard run and punched in a short touchdown to make things 28-15.
He scored later in the night from seven yards out to put Eastern Hancock ahead 42-27 and looked to be on pace for well over 300 yards before an injury early in the fourth quarter held him out the remainder of the night.
Kube came up limping after being tackled and spent the final 10 minutes on the trainer’s table with his ankle taped up.
“I think he just rolled his ankle and could have battled to be back in there if we needed him,” Echeverria said. “He’ll get his treatment and should be alright.”
Unofficially, prior to his departure, Kube ran 27 times for 265 yards and two scores. The backup running back, Sipes, carried the ball six times for 54 yards and one touchdown.
“You look at our play, and Mark’s obviously amazing and breaks a ton of tackles, but we had 10 other guys that were blocking like crazy for that guy. They were all going hard all night,” Echeverria said. “When we had to go to our other backs, we didn’t lose much. It was great to see everyone contribute.”
A Stansberry 20-yard touchdown pass to Trey Bennett with 6:48 remaining brought the Eagles within a score, 49-41, but the Jackson 50-yard touchdown and an Edon 5-yard run sealed the win.
The touchdown was Stansberry’s fifth of the night and third to Bennett. Carmack caught the other two scores.
“We have to work on defending the fades. If we take away that we’ll be fine,” Echeverria said. “It’s going to happen because we have some inexperienced guys in the secondary, but they’re going to learn a lot from tonight. They’re going to get better because they’re great kids and great athletes, and now we know what we need to work on.”
Along with the 49 points allowed, the Royals had 20-plus penalties ranging from false starts, to holding, to pass interference to four unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Just like the defensive miscues, Echeverria is confident those things will be cleaned up quickly.
“One hundred percent we will get that stuff cleaned up next week in practice. But our kids are playing physical and sometimes when you’re the more physical team and you’re knocking people down, those things get called,” Echeverria said. “We played through it all though, and that’s the part I’m proud of. We had some bad situations because of penalties, and we still converted.”
Defensively, the Royals were led by senior linebacker Gabe Johnson with two sacks, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble.
The Royals are at North Decatur next Friday at 7 p.m.
–
Eastern Hancock 63, Frankton 49
Frankton (0-1);8;13;12;16; — 49
Eastern Hancock (1-0);14;14;21;14; — 63
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
F — Brady Carmack 35 pass from Ethan Stansberry (Carmack run), 10:14
EH – Hayden Jackson 20 pass from Elijah Edon (conversion failed), 9:33
EH – Jackson 16 pass from Edon (Evan Wheeler run), 4:17
2nd Quarter
EH – Ethan Sipes 10 run (Wheeler run), 9:51
F – Nate Luzadder 35 run (Cooper Luzadder kick), 9:18
EH – Mark Kube 2 run (conversion failed), 1:31
F – Trey Bennett 25 pass from Stansberry (kick failed), :18
3rd Quarter
EH – Jackson 25 pass from Edon (conversion failed), 8:41
F – Caine Oakley 5 run (kick failed), 5:28
EH – Kube 7 run (Kube run), 3:52
EH – Edon 32 run (John Rodriguez-LeMasters kick), 2:48
F – Bennett 15 pass from Stansberry (conversion failed), 2:03
4th Quarter
F – Safety, 12:00
F – Bennett 20 pass from Stansberry (conversion failed), 6:48
EH – Jackson 50 pass from Edon (Wheeler kick), 4:58
EH – Edon 5 run (Rodriguez-LeMasters kick), 2:14
F – Carmack 15 pass from Stansberry (Nate Luzadder run), :10
