Dominic Imwalle ‘16
After the scare of two season altering losses in a row the Eagle Football Team was ready to get back to winning with purpose every saturday night whether it was right at First Federal Stadium or a couple of hours away, they were hungry. This string of victories started off by facing a tough 4-1 Cardinal Mooney at Youngstown State University. After losing senior wide receiver Alex Stump two weeks prior to Mooney the Eagles looked to dominate the running game. It is exactly what the Eagles showed with Brett Kean senior quarterback only throwing seven times, they stuck to junior running back  Cole Gest who reached the end zone three times in the second quarter. The first half was where Gest did most of his work racking up 179 yards and by the end of the game Gest had gone for 230 yards on 23 carries. When the fourth quarter came abruptly for the Cardinals, the Eagle’s defense had contained the Cardinals througout the game very well with a key interception from Antonio Butler in the endzone leading the Cardinals to only obtain 101 yards of offense and six first downs. The belief of continuing a successful season was built in Youngstown and was now taking them back home for the first time in three weeks to battle against Canada Prep. Academy.
Pinehurst School from Ontario, Canada was built around their football team. The Eagles were looking to dominate at home with a key win while building up a playoff spot. The Eagles played with fluency as they were finally back home and ready to fly. Everything was connecting from right off the bat. Starting off the lead early was Brett Kean connecting with Shaun Crawford for a 56 yard score. As the running game continued to be successful junior running back Cole Gest   ended up with two touchdowns both occurring in the second quarter and sophomore Curtis Szelesta along with senior Andrew Dowell both earning a score off of runs. Eagles earned a beautiful win finishing off with 409 yards of total offense against Canada prep Academy’s 129 yards. Canada prep Academy left empty handed losing 42-0.
Eagles now welcomed Eastern Christian Academy with some reminiscing from last years meeting occurring. Eagles with no shock came out with great ambitions as they would go to the running game in the first half. Who better to lead the running game than Cole Gest, once again made it to the end zone three times with 105 yards on 18 carries. The Eagles defense just like it as all season was dominant, lead by senior Shaun Crawford who grabbed two of the three interception. Also contributing to this 35-6 was two senior wide receivers David Dowell and Drake Morris who each had a touchdown thrown by Brett Kean who also added 125 yard to his two touchdowns. The Eagles defined eagle football just like always as this game made it a three game winning streak.
Now Eagles 6-2 facing Archbishop Moeller who is one of the toughest programs in the state of Ohio winning back to back championships the last two years, the game was going to be a head on collision of two of the physical football teams in the state. Both programs are built on being physical which made it out to be a great game. Eagles coming out very energetic handed the ball of to the right in the hands of Shaun Crawford who turned it into a 80 yard touchdown run on the first play of the game. Without doubt the Eagles would turn to the running game with rushing 30 times for 172 yards. Running the ball was led by senior running back Andrew Dowell who ran for 41 yards with 5 carries and one touchdown. The Eagles offense scored all their points in the first half leaving earning 17 of those points with a kick from John Patrick Walton from 26 yards out. Something that has been hidden under the radar has to be the Eagle’s defense. They have been all over the field this year and truly dominant, this is might as well be the best defense in the state of Ohio. The defense forced quarterback Matt Grable to four interceptions. One of the four interceptions was picked off and returned 32 yards for a touchdown. Keep looking out for juniors Antonio Butler who grabbed an interception and Eric Shaver who stepped in for senior linebacker Troy Dipre after an injury had him out of the game. The Eagles continue to play with a purpose earned a great team win down in Cincinnati. Eagles look to play with great purpose against rival St. Ignatius at Byers Stadium Saturday at 7 on the first of November.