In week two of Friday Night Lights at Sharp Stadium, the storyline was simple. Both the Eastside Eagles and the Newton Rams were looking to be in the win column of a tie breaker game in a competitive in-county rival series that was an even 6-6-1.
What the previous 13 meetings told us was that these two teams usually create a competitive game filled with excitement and drama. What we were not expecting in this past game was a complete opposite of that competitiveness.
Eastside would suffer a 41-0 defeat at the hands of the physical Rams in what is now the most lopsided game in series history. Despite this, here are five things I learned on the Eagles side of this game — and believe it or not, it’s not all bad.
1. Newton was just more physical, and that is okay. Newton head coach Terrence Banks has stated it several times, he wants his Rams to be the most physical team in the state, and even on the planet. It showed last week versus Drew, and again this week against a much smaller Eastside team. One of the keys to victory for Eastside that we mentioned in our pregame show was to be more physical than the Rams. They were not able to complete that challenge. However, that does not mean they aren’t a physical team, because they are. Newton, however, just displayed more physicality, which was expected with the size of the guys they have on their Class AAAAAAA squad.
2. Jaylon Lackey is a tremendous open field tackler, while Tanner Feeny is a monster at defensive end. In two plays on Newton’s first offensive drive, Jaylon Lackey flew over and made two great open field tackles — a feat he would perform several other times throughout the game. He showed that he’s not afraid to make a one-on-one tackle against anyone. On the defensive line, Tanner Feeny has become a force to be reckoned with. After a dominant performance last week against Luella, Feeny would make even more noise against Newton. Often, he was found in the backfield disrupting the passing game and creating pressure on Middlebrooks to prevent big plays in the passing game.
3. The QB role is uncertain for now. Sophomore QB Noah Cook got the go-ahead to start again against the Rams Friday night, but with a physical Newton defense constantly after him, literally from the first play, Cook would go down with an apparent shoulder injury that kept him on the sideline in a sling for much of the game. That led to Brayden Harper having to step back into the quarterback role. While the extent of Cook’s injury is uncertain, the Eagles will temporarily lose a QB and a receiver since Harper is now throwing the passes again instead of catching them.
4. The Eagles have one week to bounce back before facing the other in-county rival. Eastside now has just six days to rest, recuperate, and get back up after taking the fall tonight. Why is it important to do so in just a few days? Well, last week Alcovy looked the best it’s looked in the last few seasons, dominating Duluth 37-22. Eastside holds a three-game winning streak on the Tigers, and I would expect coach Troy Hoff to strongly challenge his team to get back on track as it will try to make it four in a row against the Tigers.
5. Keep your head up, Eagles. No, seriously. Regardless of the score and how the game was played, there is still a lot of upside to this young team. Newton is playing lights out right now and could potentially give defending region and Class AAAAAAA state champs, Grayson, a run for its money later in the season. Eastside has loads of talent, and Newton will probably be the best team the Eagles see all year, including its matchup with Woodward Academy late in the season. This loss should not discourage anyone on the roster, but should motivate them to make a statement moving forward.
