CHARLOTTESVILLE — With the students’ minds looking forward to the Homecoming Dance after the game, Eastern Hancock made sure to get them to the party as quickly as possible. The Royals defeated the Broad Ripple Rockets 51-8 on Friday night to improve to 2-2 on the year.
The Royals were able to ensure their lengthy homecoming celebration by taking a 51-0 lead into halftime, which lead to a running clock in the second half. To have a lead of that magnitude at halftime, a team must score early and often, and that is what the Royals did.
A squib kick was recovered by the Royals in between touchdowns 19 seconds apart by junior A.J. Muegge and senior Devin Denny, which gave the Royals a 15-0 lead with 9:13 still remaining in the first quarter.
Denny and Muegge would do the heavy lifting on offense to provide the halftime cushion. Denny finished with seven carries, 138 yards, and two touchdowns, while Muegge finished with six carries for 60 yards, three catches for 33 yards, and four rushing touchdowns. Junior quarterback Jarett Lewis would add a touchdown run himself on a night where he was not needed to approach his school-record passing performance of the week before.
Broad Ripple would get on the scoreboard on the final play of the game on a 61-yard pass from freshman quarterback Cairon Blackwell to senior receiver Dru Rose.
Senior linebacker Reece Burkhart was named Homecoming King at halftime along with Homecoming Queen Megan Reeves.
After two tough losses to begin the year, the Royals have now evened their record in time for their yearly showdown with arch-rival Knightstown, which will take place next Friday night at Knightstown at 7 p.m.
