O’Neill still has not allowed a point in 2016 – and Boone Central/Newman Grove now has the first loss on its season record.
Those were the results of the visiting Eagles’ dominant 38-0 victory in Albion Friday in a meeting of previously unbeaten Class C1 Top 10 teams.
A touchdown to end the first half and begin the second stretched a 12-0 O’Neill lead to 25-0, and the game simply snowballed on the Cardinals from there.
“We got humbled. We came out flat and didn’t play with any emotion out of the gate,” acknowledged BC/NG Coach Mark Hudson. “They were stronger and more athletic.
“O’Neill had this game circled for a long time on their schedule. The first 20 minutes or so was a ‘game of inches.’ They would convert third-and-longs by a foot, and we would get tackled for short gains when we were six inches from breaking a big gain.
“The dam broke toward the end of the first half, and we couldn’t overcome the miscues. We just started shooting ourselves in the foot with turnovers, started dropping our heads, and they poured it on. It just snowballed and we couldn’t get out of the way. We did see several very good individual efforts.
“It doesn’t get any easier Thursday, traveling to Norfolk Catholic. They are disappointed in their start, and with the number of our players out of action has really pressed some young guys to grow up before they are ready,” Hudson noted. “We’ll just keep coaching and, hopefully, see some improvement.”
Although O’Neill grabbed an early lead, driving 57 yards in seven plays and taking a 6-0 edge on Bailey Thompson’s two-yard run, Boone Central/Newman Grove battled fairly evenly with the Eagles through a good portion of the first half.
The third period would prove disastrous for Boone Central/Newman Grove. O’Neill took the second-half kickoff and increased its 18-0 lead with Thompson’s 30-yard touchdown gallop. The Eagles then recovered a BC/NG fumble on the ensuing kickoff and quickly went ahead 32-0 on Thompson’s third touchdown run (11 yards).
O’Neill forced another Cardinal punt and tallied the game’s final points, as Jacob Todd completed a 74-yard, six-play drive with a 27-yard scoring dash.
Further details in Print & Online editions of Albion News
