Friday’s conference matchup between the Gar-Field Indians and the Freedom Eagles began with a heartfelt moment of silence for former Gar-Field Varsity Football Coach, Mike Madison, who recently past away this week.
Gar-Field elected to receive the kickoff, with Corey James running it for short yardage. The Indians were unable to convert their possession.
Freedom picked up a quick three-and-out from Gar-Field and started their run on the 31-yard line. Two quick penalties by the Indians gave the Eagles great field position. A quick slant by Anthony Cowherd put Freedom in position to pick up their third, first down.
At 6:40 in the 1st quarter, running back Tyquan Brown made a leaping jump into the end zone for the first touchdown of the game. With the extra point, Freedom went up seven points over Gar-Field.
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In their second possession, Indians were able to pick up their first, first down with a catch by wide receiver, Jaeden Wyatt. However, a fumble on the 41-yard line gave the ball right back to Freedom.
With the ball on the Indian’s 20-yard line, the Eagles chose to go for it on 4th down with six seconds left in the quarter. Brown ran a handoff more than 40-yards down the sideline and followed the run with another score to add to the Eagles’ lead.
Gar-Field kicked off the second quarter by forcing a fumble, but was unable to convert the fumble into points on the board.
With a little more than than five minutes to go in the half, quarterback, Mike Wilson carried the ball himself to pick up a first down. Following his possession, Wilson threw the a complete pass to Miles Noye for another Eagles’ touchdown.
A bad snap by Gar-Field, with 14 seconds left, had Brown scrambling to throw the pass. Despite a couple of shakes, he was unable to get it down the field for a score.
Freedom led at the half, 21-0.
Indians started an exciting third quarter with Corey James intercepting a pass form Freedom’s quarterback. Gar-Field continued their drive with a pass to Jaeden Wyatt who scored the Indian’s first touchdown of the game.
The Eagles returned the favor with a score of their own. Brown who already earned two touchdowns in the first half, ran another touchdown into the end zone with 9:21 left in the third quarter. Although the Indians tried to capitalize on their possession, the Eagles got the ball back quickly and set themselves up for another potential offense scoring drive.
Wilson chose to keep the ball following their long field yardage gain and ran in the Eagles’ fifth touchdown of the game. Lacking the ability to develop a long drive and keep the ball, Wilson scored again with 2:57 left in the third quarter.
Using another slant play to Cowherd, Freedom racked up another quick touchdown to start the fourth. The Indians stayed strong and Kavary Hill threw a deep pass down the side line to put Gar-Field in the red zone.
A solid pass to Malachi Smithen cut their deficit and put another touchdown on the board for Gar-Field.
Freedom turned the ball over to the Indians on sacks and with less than five minutes in the final quarter, Wyatt ran for another long touchdown up the middle of the field.
Unable to quiet the Eagles, Freedom was able to earn another touchdown with minutes left in the game. Gar-Field challenged Freedom’s score with one of their own and quarterback, Hill, ran the ball in with the final minute of the game.
Running out of steam, the Indians fell to the Eagles, 56-26.
