FALKVILLE, Ala. – Vinemont hit the road to kick off the season at Falkville Friday night, but unfortunately early turnovers plagued the Eagles and helped the Blue Devils come away with a hard fought, 26-20 win.
Vinemont received the opening kick-off but on their second offensive play, the Eagles coughed up the football and it was recovered by the Blue Devils setting Falkville up in great field position. The Eagles defense came up with a stop on fourth down to give the ball back to the Eagle offense. On the second play of the drive another fumble set up Falkville with a short field, the Eagle defense put a stop to the drive on fourth down.
On their third offensive series Vinemont held onto the ball and found the endzone late in the first quarter to go up 6-0 when Rush Sandlin found Kyler Pugh for a 13-yard touchdown. Falkville went on a long drive, answering with a touchdown to go up 8-6 midway through the second quarter. Four plays later Vinemont answered right back with a 19-yard touchdown run by Diego Rodriguez to pull ahead 12-8 with 4:20 remaining until halftime. Falkville found the endzone with less than a minute to go in the second and took a 14-12 lead at halftime.
Coming out of the locker room Falkville extended its lead to 20-12 with 8:08 remaining in the third quarter. After being forced to punt the Eagle defense stepped up to force a punt to give the ball back to their offense. A huge conversion on fourth down from Sandlin to Pugh kept the Eagles drive alive. The Eagles capitalized ending the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Sandlin and a two-point conversion tied things up at 20 with 4:38 remaining in the game.
An onside kick gave the ball right back to the Eagles with a chance to go up late, but a holding penalty stopped all the momentum, and the Eagles were forced to punt. With 30 seconds remaining in the game a 1-yard touchdown run put the Blue Devils ahead 26-20. Vinemont was unable to find away to add another late touchdown and pull off a thrilling victory.
The Eagles will now aim to bounce back in a county matchup against Good Hope next week.
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