BRUNSWICK – Missing four starting defenders was bad enough, but the Edward Little Red Eddies had the inauspicious task of facing a vaunted Brunswick Dragons running attack Friday.
Four different Brunswick running backs gained more than 50 yards, including fullback Adam Aube, who bulldozed his way to 119 yards, as the Dragons ran over EL 32-19 in a Pine Tree Conference showdown.
“We had to overcome a lot this week,” said Edward Little coach Jim Hersom. “If you combine sickness, injuries and suspensions, we had to overcome a lot. I’m real proud of the kids, the way they battled tonight.”
Brunswick, which knew of Edward Little’s missing players, took advantage of the situation from the beginning.
“We knew if we ran fullback at them, we would be OK,” said Brunswick coach Dan Cooper. “We felt we had the advantage up front, and we weren’t going to help them out by throwing the ball.”
After Aube, who also scored two touchdowns, Mike Martinez rushed for 74 yards and a score, Demetri Rosette had 68 yards with a touchdown, and Camden Miller scampered for 57. Even backup quarterback David Hands, who saw snaps in the second half and carried the ball three times, finished with 37 yards.
“The offensive line just made some great plays for us up front,” said Aube. “Early on, we knew we were going to be bigger and quicker.”
The Dragons scored on their first series, a 10-play, 75-yard drive that took nearly five minutes. Not to be outdone, the Eddies struck back – quickly. Working with a short field, Rick Chamness capped a four-play, 55-yard drive with a 32-yard run just 1:16 later. EL missed the extra point, though, leaving Brunswick ahead by one.
“Had they made that extra point, they tie us, maybe that takes the wind out of our sails,” said Cooper. “It would be Oh, here we go again.’ We’ve scored first in almost every game, so I think that was big for our confidence.”
Buoyed by that bust of confidence, Brunswick reeled off a 6-play, 66-yard scoring drive, capped off by Rosette’s 34-yard touchdown run to snare the lead for good.
In the second quarter, Edward Little (2-5) committed two turnovers on consecutive offensive plays. The second, a fumble at their own 27, sealed the Eddies’ fate. Martinez needed two plays to score, putting Brunswick ahead 19-6.
EL again lost the ball on Troy Barnies’ second interception of the quarter four minutes later, leading to another Brunswick touchdown. Despite a solid drive to end the half, EL still trailed 25-6.
The Dragons (2-4) added one more touchdown in the third quarter on Alex Hersey’s only carry of the game.
Edward Little capped the scoring in the driving rain in the final quarter on two long runs by Chamness, who finished with 118 yards and three touchdowns on six carries.
Comments are no longer available on this story