AUBURN — Friday night’s effort from Edward Little’s depleted football squad may have been its best all season.

Thanks to the two-headed monster in Cony’s backfield known as Luke Dunklee and Chris Robinson, that effort still wasn’t enough to lift the Eddies to their first win of the season.

Dunklee ran for 172 yards, caught a pass for 40 yards and threw for 67 more and Robinson chipped in with 105 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns to lead the visiting Rams to a 33-16 win in front of a sparse crowd at Walton Field.

“We did a good job scouting. We were able to put in some new plays this week and those worked well,” Dunklee said. “(The ability to rotate backs) helps us keep defenses guessing, and it’s working well for us right now.”

The win solidifies Cony’s position in the Pine Tree Conference standings. At 2-2, the Rams look a whole lot better to try and make the playoffs than they would have at 1-3.

“It was kind of a must-win situation tonight for us,” Cony coach Rob Vachon said. “We talked to the kids about that all week leading up to this game. We had to control the line of scrimmage. We felt that’s how we’d be successful against this team, and that’s what we did.”

“With four games left, maybe we’ll win out,” Dunklee said, “but hopefully we’ll put enough up there to make the playoffs and make a good run.”

Edward Little, meanwhile, is still trying to find a way to put it all together. The Eddies made a game of it early in the second half, taking the opening kick of the half from their own 40 to a touchdown over 5:31. A two-point conversion brought EL to within four at 20-16, and the Eddies stuffed the Rams’ ensuing possession.

“You have to answer, you have to finish right there,” EL coach Darren Hartley said. “It’s momentum. We’ve had opportunities every single game. At 20 to 16, everybody on this side of the field thinks, ‘Here we go.'”

But Cony forced EL into a three-and-out, regained possession and scored again to push the margin to two scores at 26-16.

“We knew we had to come back out and put some points on the board to keep the lead,” Dunklee said. 

EL made another attempt at getting back in the game with a 12-play drive that reached as far as the Cony 17, but defender John Hall stepped in front of Edward Little QB Teven Colon’s pass up the left sideline with 4:02 remaining to kill the Eddies’ momentum.

“We definitely expected pass on that play,” Hall said. “We jumped into our coverage defense and I just backed up, read the quarterback’s eyes and the ball came right to me.”

Robinson added another TD for good measure with 1:32 to play on a 9-yard run.

Cony began the game with an impressive pair of drives. Dunklee and Robinson alternated carries, with Robinson punching in the first score of the game at 5:44 of the opening quarter. After an EL three-and-out, Dunklee capped another drive with a 2-yard scamper to push the margin to 13-0.

A Nick Lucas to Corey Lapierre strike early in the second made it 20-0 Cony, before Brandon Vye turned a Jimmy Foss interception into the Eddies’ first points of the game 54 seconds before the half.

“We can’t spot teams three touchdowns,” Hartley said. “Maybe one touchdown, we can come back and make a game of it. Our guys are busting their butts, but down three touchdowns to none, you’re not going to win any football games, none like that.”