Soap Lake soars to victory

SOAP LAKE - After finishing last season with a 2-8 record Soap Lake looked to turn the tide this season by opening with a strong performance against Republic. In last year's meeting the Eagles fell behind early, before making a big second half comeback that fell short. They didn't want that same experience of playing from behind this time around and knew they would have to start strong out of the gate. With a big game from senior team captain David Odarchuk and breakout performances from some underclassman, Soap Lake got the fast start they were hoping for.

One of the underclassman that stepped up was quarterback Joe Cutshall who completed 10 of 22 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown through the air, while also adding three more scores on the ground. "Joe played a great game for us not just passing, but running the ball too. He had three touchdowns rushing, two were on quarterback sneaks when we were in close to the end-zone. He's a big kid and the line opened up some big holes when we needed them." head coach Joe Worsham said. Following Cutshall's lead the Eagles opened up a 28-6 lead by halftime, but were careful to not get overzealous and squander their hard work in the season opener. "We had things really going our way in the second quarter. Last year we were down to Republic 42-14 at halftime and we came back to tie the game at 42. We didn't want that to happen to us this year, so we stressed that to the guys at halftime and came out and played tough in the second half." Worsham said.

Tough might be an understatement when considering the play of junior offensive lineman Josh Decker who was lined up in front of and blocking a player who outweighed him by more than 40 pounds. Freshman defensive end Ruvin Turchik was excited to get some playing time as a younger player and he made the most of it with 10 tackles and 3 sacks. While youth and inexperience was a concern for the Eagles going into the opening week of play, it proved to be a strength of theirs as the game went on.

While it was the offensive explosion in the first half that got the Eagles out to big lead, it was their defense that carried them through the second half allowing just 12 points in the third quarter and holding Republic to a scoreless fourth quarter. The defensive charge was lead by senior team captain David Odarchuk who recorded 23 tackles and also added 99 yards rushing on the offensive side of the ball. "Our defense came up big in the second half, especially our pass defense. Neo Wells and Julio Gomez each had interceptions and they only completed 10 of 33 passes. Our defensive line had a good pass rush and that pressure on the quarterback helped our pass defense out even more." Worsham said. Kaleb McMillian applied a lot of that pressure accounting for 12 tackles from the defensive end position. The Eagles were thin on both the defensive and offensive line over the past few years, but by developing prospects the team has emerged with surprising depth. Up next for the Eagles is their home opener against LaCrosse/Washtucna next Friday.