BY ROY LANG III, Journal Sports
Evangel quarterback Peyton Fulghum doesn’t have a problem with rain. His Eagles often practice “wet-ball drills” and embrace the thought of adverse weather.
Mother Nature certainly provided that Friday, as what would be an historic showdown against Class 4A powerhouse Neville at Rodney Duron Field was delayed 30 minutes for lightning. When the game did begin, the Eagles’ signal caller encountered a variable much more detrimental than the buckets of water falling from the sky.
Fulghum would have been better armed with a 4-wheeler rather than a pair of legs and a rocket right arm as the Eagles’ passing game was grounded in the slop.
“It was a slugfest – a defensive slugfest played in a mud bowl,” Evangel head coach Denny Duron said.
High-powered Neville’s offense wasn’t exactly a machine either, in a game where the teams simply tried to hold onto the football. However, the Tigers did enough.
No. 3 Neville used a fourth-and-long pass interference penalty on a Hail Mary to set up the game’s only touchdown – a 17-yard rumble through the mud from Brelen Robinson early in the third quarter. The Tigers emerged 8-0 victors in the lowest scoring game in Evangel football history.
“We saw the rain and said, ‘Let’s just get after it,’” Fulghum told The Journal. “But we never really had the mud come into play until tonight.”
Friday featured more fumbles (more than 10, but just one lost) than first downs. When Fulghum had enough time to throw, he was forced to shot put the slimy, heavy pigskin.
“We planned to come out here and throw it on them – their corners play really far off (the line),” said Fulghum, who completed 4 of 11 passes for 35 yards and an interception. “We didn’t do near what we planned to do against them and what I know we could do against them.”
Neville didn’t complete any of its five passing attempts.
Duron wasn’t too bothered by the game-changing penalty which occurred on fourth-and-11 as the Tigers lofted a pass down the right hashmarks.
“I think it was interference,” Duron said. “I don’t think it’s a bad call. It was an aggressive penalty. We don’t get upset about aggressive penalties; we don’t like stupid penalties.”
Two plays after the penalty, Robinson relieved Jaylon Nichols – Neville’s workhorse Friday – and found the end zone.
Nichols led all players with 106 yards on 22 carries.
Friday’s conditions were frustrating in terms of executing basic football plays, but Duron saw a bunch of kids reveling in opportunity to play a perennial state contender.
“They just enjoyed playing,” Duron said. “I couldn’t be more proud of this beginning.”
The Eagles (0-1) will travel to Mansfield in Week 2.
Contact Roy at roylangiii@yahoo.com
Neville 8, Evangel 0
Score by quarters
Neville | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | – 8
Evangel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – 0
Scoring play
N – Brelan Robinson 18 run (Robinson run)
Individual leaders
Rushing – Neville, Jaylon Nichols 22-106, Brooks Anazalone 12-36. ECA, Peyton Fulghum 11-14.
Passing – Neville, Anazalone 0-5. ECA, Peyton Fulghum 4-11-1, 35 yards.
Receiving – ECA, Tyreek Robinson, 1-13, Garrett Burns 1-12, Judah Whorton 1-5, Parker Fulghum 1-5.
Photo by ROY LANG III, Journal Sports