By James Howell Jr/For Daily Reporter
CHARLOTTESVILLE — The Class 2A Eastern Hancock Royals were unable to celebrate a victory on their homecoming night this year, falling to 2A No. 4 Heritage Christian Eagles, 35-0.
The usually potent Royals’ offense struggled to get their feet under themselves early on in the game, while the unbeaten Eagles (4-0) soared with the help of multiple big gains.
After offsetting stalled drives to open the game, the Eagles finally opened it up when an option run was taken 40 yards into the red zone by Heritage Christian quarterback Kyle Antoine.
Two plays later, Antoine was in the end zone to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead during the battle of unbeatens.
The Royals (3-1) ended the first quarter by punting the ball away for a second time.
Another big play landed the Eagles in the end zone and extended their lead at the beginning of the quarter. A 32-yard bomb from Antoine to Zac Schloemer put the Eagles ahead 14-0.
In what felt like déjà vu, the next two drives for the Royals and Eagles mirrored the last two.
The Royals punted the ball away for a third time on their three drives, and it was followed by an Eagles big play. Their huge gain again led to a touchdown.
At this point in the second quarter, the Eagles had more points (21) than the Royals had yards of offense (19).
Houston Swan led the Royals offense on their most successful drive of the half during their fourth drive of the half. However, the series again ended without points as Swan’s pass was intercepted in the end zone on a fourth-down play.
A perfectly executed two-minute drive landed the Eagles into the end zone for a fourth time in the half with 17 seconds left.
In the third quarter, Colton Brown scored his third touchdown of the game and gave the Eagles a 35-point lead with 3:46 remaining. Because of the lead, the remainder of the game was finished with a running clock.
“That’s a really good football team we faced tonight,” Royals head coach Phil Morris said. “They came prepared and taught us all a lesson. We knew that this was a measuring stick game coming in. That’s what it was. We learned how much better we have to get to achieve what we think we can.”
The Royals tallied just 102 yards offensively in the game. Senior Cole Reinbolt had 26 rushing yards and 42 receiving yards. He also was crowned homecoming king during the halftime ceremony.
Brown ran for 174 yards on 30 carries to lead the way for the Heritage Christian Eagles.
“There is no sense in yelling and ripping into our guys,” Morris said. “That does no good. We still love them and the sun shines again tomorrow. There are more games to be played and it’s on to Knightstown now.”
The Royals will look to shake off their first defeat of the year next Friday night in a rivalry meeting with the Knightstown Panthers (0-4).
Heritage Christian 35, Eastern Hancock 0
HERITAGE CHRISTIAN (4-0);7;21;7;0;—;35
EASTERN HANCOCK (3-1);0;0;0;0;—;0
HC—Kyle Antoine 5 run (Mateo Jesch kick), 3:57
HC—Antoine 32 pass to Zac Schloemer (Jesch kick), 9:50
HC—Colton Brown 1 run (Jesch kick), 3:12
HC—Brown 4 run (Jesch kick), 17.3
HC—Brown 1 run (Jesch kick), 3:46
