JERRY CITY — Defense had been a concern for the Eastwood football team coming into Friday’s Battle of the
Woods with Elmwood, but it was a concern put to rest.
The Eagles held the Royals to 209 total yards of offense and created five turnovers in a 48-0 shutout to
claim control of the second place in the Suburban Lakes League.
Eastwood rushed for 315 yards — including 202 yards on 23 carries and three touchdowns from Pernell
Conner — on the way to 391 total yards of offense.
Conner ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns in the first two Eagle possessions, as Eastwood lead 14-0
after two consecutive Elmwood turnovers on downs.
Eastwood punted the ball only once in the first half, scoring on four of its five possessions,
controlling the clock and the game on the ground. It passed the ball six times.
Conner and Cody Seifert helped the Eagles to 166 first-half rushing yards, with Conner scoring on runs of
2 and 9 yards as Eastwood moved to 7-1 and 4-1. Elmwood fell to 3-5 and 2-2.
Eastwood is a game behind second-ranked and two-time defending league champion Genoa (8-0, 4-0), while
Elmwood fell into a tie for third with Lake (5-3, 3-2).
“We had struggled on offense the last two weeks so we decided to go back to some basic stuff and run some
basic plays,” said Eagles’ coach Jerry Rutherford. “You could keep trying to add stuff, but we wanted to
go back to basics and obviously it seemed to work out for us.”
Eastwood led 24-0 at the half after a 29-yard pass from Clayton Ruch to Tony Tijerina and a 21-yard
Taylor Depew field goal with 19 seconds left till intermission.
The Royals weren’t without offense, as Reid Rothenbuhler threw for 150 yards on 12-of-26 passing in the
first 24 minutes.
“Things would get going and then it would fall apart,” said Elmwood coach Vic Meyer. “We’d have a
penalty, incomplete passes, or we’d take a sack and could never finish a drive.”
Rothenbuhler had thrown for 1,327 yards coming into Friday and was a concern for the Eagle defense —
giving up 129 yards per game in the air and 12.9 per reception.
“We played some man-to-man and I thought we did a nice job with it,” said Rutherford. “We’re still
battling with a new lineup every week and I told the team the other day at practice how proud of them I
am for the way they’ve battled through the amount of adversity they’ve had with injuries or illnesses
and keep working hard.”
The Eagles’ opening possession took nine plays, with Conner accounting for all but seven of the 81 yards,
capping the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. He would also account for 44 yards of Eastwood’s 59-yard
scoring drive on its second possession, which he completed with a 9-yard run.
“I felt amazing tonight,” said Conner. “The line helped a lot, they made the blocks and all I had to do
was run hard.”
“He’s a good, hard runner and he’s improved a lot,” said Rutherford of Conner. “He pounds it inside
pretty good and it’s nice to have matched with Cody’s (Seifert) speed.”
Conner would bookend scoring runs of 8 and 1 from Seifert in the third quarter, as the Eagles ran for 149
yards in the final 24 minutes, while they held the Royals to 69 second-half yards.
Eastwood, still in contention for the league title and possible playoff spot, will have a pivotal
non-league game next Friday against Patrick Henry. Elmwood will host Lake.
“It’s going to come down to that game for us and we’re going to have to play our best to have a shot,”
said Rutherford of playing PH, the second-ranked team in the state in Division V. “If we go out and do
our best, though, we’ll see what happens. We came out of this game healthy, now hopefully we’ll have the
same lineup and go at it again.”
JERRY CITY — Defense had been a concern for the Eastwood football team coming into Friday’s Battle of the
Woods with Elmwood, but it was a concern put to rest.
The Eagles held the Royals to 209 total yards of offense and created five turnovers in a 48-0 shutout to
claim control of the second place in the Suburban Lakes League.
Eastwood rushed for 315 yards — including 202 yards on 23 carries and three touchdowns from Pernell
Conner — on the way to 391 total yards of offense.
Conner ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns in the first two Eagle possessions, as Eastwood lead 14-0
after two consecutive Elmwood turnovers on downs.
Eastwood punted the ball only once in the first half, scoring on four of its five possessions,
controlling the clock and the game on the ground. It passed the ball six times.
Conner and Cody Seifert helped the Eagles to 166 first-half rushing yards, with Conner scoring on runs of
2 and 9 yards as Eastwood moved to 7-1 and 4-1. Elmwood fell to 3-5 and 2-2.
Eastwood is a game behind second-ranked and two-time defending league champion Genoa (8-0, 4-0), while
Elmwood fell into a tie for third with Lake (5-3, 3-2). PHOTO
GALLERY CLICK HERE
“We had struggled on offense the last two weeks so we decided to go back to some basic stuff and run some
basic plays,” said Eagles’ coach Jerry Rutherford. “You could keep trying to add stuff, but we wanted to
go back to basics and obviously it seemed to work out for us.”
Eastwood led 24-0 at the half after a 29-yard pass from Clayton Ruch to Tony Tijerina and a 21-yard
Taylor Depew field goal with 19 seconds left till intermission.
The Royals weren’t without offense, as Reid Rothenbuhler threw for 150 yards on 12-of-26 passing in the
first 24 minutes.
“Things would get going and then it would fall apart,” said Elmwood coach Vic Meyer. “We’d have a
penalty, incomplete passes, or we’d take a sack and could never finish a drive.”
Rothenbuhler had thrown for 1,327 yards coming into Friday and was a concern for the Eagle defense —
giving up 129 yards per game in the air and 12.9 per reception.
“We played some man-to-man and I thought we did a nice job with it,” said Rutherford. “We’re still
battling with a new lineup every week and I told the team the other day at practice how proud of them I
am for the way they’ve battled through the amount of adversity they’ve had with injuries or illnesses
and keep working hard.”
The Eagles’ opening possession took nine plays, with Conner accounting for all but seven of the 81 yards,
capping the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. He would also account for 44 yards of Eastwood’s 59-yard
scoring drive on its second possession, which he completed with a 9-yard run.
“I felt amazing tonight,” said Conner. “The line helped a lot, they made the blocks and all I had to do
was run hard.”
“He’s a good, hard runner and he’s improved a lot,” said Rutherford of Conner. “He pounds it inside
pretty good and it’s nice to have matched with Cody’s (Seifert) speed.”
Conner would bookend scoring runs of 8 and 1 from Seifert in the third quarter, as the Eagles ran for 149
yards in the final 24 minutes, while they held the Royals to 69 second-half yards.
Eastwood, still in contention for the league title and possible playoff spot, will have a pivotal
non-league game next Friday against Patrick Henry. Elmwood will host Lake.
“It’s going to come down to that game for us and we’re going to have to play our best to have a shot,”
said Rutherford of playing PH, the second-ranked team in the state in Division V. “If we go out and do
our best, though, we’ll see what happens. We came out of this game healthy, now hopefully we’ll have the
same lineup and go at it again.”
