AUBURN — Edward Little hasn’t questioned its defense all season. The Eddies have held tough on that side of the ball all season, despite having just a single win to their credit.

The offense has been another story, but it’s starting to come around.

Just ask the Oxford Hills Vikings.

Teven Colon ran for 117 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries, quarterback Josh Delong ran for 37 yards and a score and he threw for 55 and another TD to lead Edward Little to a 34-6 win over the visiting Vikings at Walton Field on Saturday in conditions far better than those in which they would have played Friday night.

“We were able to work the ball well,” EL coach Dave Sterling said. “We set Teven up, but we distributed the ball well, and it’s just going to get better for us as we go along.”

“It was a good opportunity for us to come together as a team and show what we can do,” Delong added. “We weren’t revolved so much around individuals. We came together as a unit today, played like we could.”

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On the other side, the Vikings (1-4) were coming off their first win of the season. From the opening kickoff, though, Saturday afternoon’s game was a struggle.

“I thought we were ready,” Oxford Hills coach Nate Danforth said. “But the kids were kind of flat. It took us a while to figure out what EL was doing to us defensively … If you don’t get off the bus and you’re not ready to go against a team that’s got a real good offense and a real good running back, it’s not going to turn out to well. You have to be ready to go, and I think EL was a bit more ready to go than we were.”

The EL defense, meanwhile, was its typical, shut-down self. Oxford Hills ran 16 offensive plays in the first half, two of which were punts, and the Vikings only went backwards. EL (2-3) held Oxford Hills to negative-seven net yards, including penalties, in the first two quarters.

“Our defensive linemen playing up front, Avery Jackson, Cory Spruill and Steve Bangs, they attacked the line of scrimmage really well, they see the ball and move to it extremely well,” Sterling said. “And our linebackers, playing at the second level well, made their tackles.”

“We didn’t get the ball that much,” Danforth said. “EL drove the field and held onto the ball.”

EL’s first possession was cut short by a Delong fumble, but after holding Oxford Hills down on four consecutive plays, the Eddies’ offense went back to work. Delong punched the ball in from the 1-yard line to cap an 11-play 6-minute, 18-second drive, and with the extra point they led 7-0.

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Another three-and-out from Oxford Hills ran out the first quarter, and Edward Little took nearly five minutes of the second quarter on its next drive, capped by a Colon two-yard score.

Penalties derailed the Vikings’ next drive, and EL struck relatively quickly this time, this time on a Delong-to-Dylan Deconzo pass to the right corner of the end zone.

The teams traded scored in the third, with Oxford Hills turning an interception into points on a seven-play, 34-yard drive culminating in a Dan Taylor six-yard run.

“The second half, we had a better idea what they were doing, and we were able to move the ball a little bit better,” Danforth said.

Colon added his second late in the third, and running David Sterling punched in the game’s final touchdown with the Eddies’ second unit in the final minute of play.

“We have a great group of guys who really want to get after the football, and they have a commitment, on both sides of the football, to win games,” Coach Sterling said. “We’ve been in every game because of that.”


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