Heritage savoring first win
Posted on Sunday, September 7, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/Sports/65493/
ROGERS — Rogers Heritage coach Perry Escalante has said for months that he expected his firstyear football program to win some games and his War Eagles made history Friday by topping the Springfield (Mo. ) Parkview Vikings 52-29.
“ We came up here to win this football game and our young men proved it, ” Escalante said.
Carrying a 55-game losing streak, Parkview (0-2 ) was perhaps the perfect opening night competition for Heritage.
Escalante and his players know they will face tougher competition in the coming months but that didn’t stop them from savoring the school’s first victory.
“ A win is a win. It does not matter who its against, ” said linebacker Stefan Reed.
Teammate Grant Driver shared Reed’s feelings.
“ It was good to get this first one out of the way. We are just going to keep building, ” Driver said. Most preseason predictions have Heritage finishing last in the 7 A-West. The War Eagles, though, are hoping they can catch a few teams sleeping. “ They got us picked last in 7 AWest, ” Reed said. “ I think we are a lot better than people think. ”
• • • The Vikings ran the ball 90 percent of the time Friday and had more than 400 yards on the ground but had to start all their possessions from inside their own territory. Most of the plays were straight up the middle with an occasional swing toss thrown into the mix. After Parkview’s opening touchdown drive the War Eagles countered by having its defenders line up in the middle of the field. The strategy resulted in stops and the Vikings poor punting allowed the War Eagles to have excellent field position. One Parkview punt even bounced backyards for a net of -4 yards. In its first two games this season, the Vikings have allowed 113 points.
• • • Sophomore Reed Brown took Heritage’s first snaps at quarterback and showed promise. He was 15 of 25 for 268 yards. He threw two touchdown passes to junior Grant Driver in the second quarter.
“ He is a great receiver, ” Brown said. “ He has great hands and he runs great without the ball. ”
Brown and Driver had a good rapport going early. Driver caught 7 passes for 130 yards. “ Reed and I were on the same page and we recognized the defense and picked it up, ” Driver said.
The pair knew each other only a little bit before they started practicing together in February. They now are football buddies.
“ It is a connection, ” Brown said. “ He knows where I’m going to throw it. ”
Also catching passes for the War Eagles were Zac Stewart, Jordan Snoderly, Travis Entwisle, Casey Wilber and Caleb Stevens. Escalante said he was pleased to see Brown spread the ball around the field. On the ground the War Eagles racked up 162 yards led by Stewart who had four carries for 96 yards and two touchdowns, according to official stats provided by Heritage on Saturday morning. Heritage sliced through Parkview’s defense almost at will and the only stops Parkview got were on fumbles or interceptions. Heritage did not punt. “ Take away the turnovers and we played pretty well offensively, ” Escalante said.
• • • Reed had the first tackle in school history when he pinned the Vikings deep in their own territory on the opening kickoff. “ It was very nice, ” Reed said. “ I hope to make many, many more. ”
• • •
This week, the War Eagles will have their first home game at David Gates Stadium against Northwest Classen (0-1 ) of Oklahoma City.
Friday’s win gives the War Eagles momentum.
“ This was big confidence booster heading into our first home game, ” Escalante said. “ We’ve got a team heading in from Oklahoma City and we are going to see some speed much like we saw tonight. They will have more (speed ) obviously. ”
On Friday in its season opener, Northwest Classen fell 14-8 to John Marshall.