CHARLOTTESVILLE — A new era of football for the Eastern Hancock Royals — new coach, a slew of new starters — started off a bit slow.
It took until the fifth drive of the game for the Royals to open the scoring against the visiting Alexandria Tigers. The majority of the first half was back and forth.
But the final 90 seconds of that half broke things open for the hosts.
Two touchdowns in quick succession turned a 16-14 Eastern Hancock lead into a big lead, and the Royals rolled from there, opening their season with a 44-22 win Friday night.
“I thought this group had some untapped talent,” Eastern Hancock coach Pat Echeverria said. “There were some guys that just didn’t have an opportunity behind a great senior class last year. I thought they could do some great things, and a lot of young guys stepped up. Really, our offensive line dominated this game, and that’s the story of this game.”
Once the Royals offense got on the board, they never really slowed down, scoring on six straight scoring drives to stay comfortably ahead.
The offense was spearheaded by freshman quarterback Elijah Edon, who had a strong debut and an instant connection with junior receiver Cameron Volz. The freshman QB finished the opener with 202 yards on 16-for-26 passing, with two long touchdowns. Volz caught nine balls for 138 yards and a TD.
Seniors Kain Sotelo and Peyton Speer provided a two-headed rushing attack for the Royals, combining for 217 yards and scoring four touchdowns in the game.
“We bring a powerhouse with our running backs,” Speer said. “He’s more of the power, I’m more of the speed. We bring leadership, pretty much everything to the table. I couldn’t be more thankful.”
Sotelo finished with 16 carries for 148 yards, including TD runs of 45, 6 and 1 yards. Speer ended the night with 69 yards on 24 carries, with a 5-yard touchdown to his credit.
On the other side of the ball, the Royals defense was fired up from the start. When the Tigers weren’t getting big plays — two long touchdown runs from quarterback Gabe McGuire — they weren’t getting much. The Tigers managed just 14 yards in the first quarter outside of one big run.
Eastern Hancock stymied the Tigers for most of the night, including a quick three-and-out with half a minute left in the second quarter that led to the key touchdown.
That came from the arm of Edon, who improvised and hit Volz for a 51-yard score to widen the gap right before the half.
“We were going to two-minute drill and I called the comeback on the outside, expecting him to get out of bounds for the first down,” Echeverria said. “He saw something, he ripped it in there, Cam made a great play, and we were off to the races.”
For Echeverria, it was a perfect return to a school that he led to the state finals in 2013.
“It was just an unbelievable atmosphere, and that’s why I’m back at this place,” he said.
Eastern Hancock (1–0) travels to North Decatur next Friday.
