Eagles pick up historic victory

SOAP LAKE - Leading 7-0 entering the second quarter, the Eagles defense sparked a three-touchdown surge that put Soap Lake up 26-0 as the Eagles went on to defeat Manson 26-7 Friday.

Not only was victory important to Soap Lake for the 2006 season, it helped ease some of the memories from past seasons in which Manson handily defeated the Eagles. Additionally, Soap Lake coach John Turner believes it was the Eagles' first victory over Manson in 20 years.

"It was a great win for these kids," said Turner. "They were fired up."

After quarterback Viktor Babak ran in the Eagles' first touchdown as time expired in the first quarter, the Soap Lake defense went to work on the visiting Trojans.

On first down from the 21-yard line, Derek Dailey blew through the Manson offensive line to tackle the Trojan running back for a 3-yard loss. It was just one of several plays Dailey made on the night, as he spent much of the evening wreaking havoc in the Trojan backfield.

"Derek Dailey played a super game," said Turner of his senior linebacker.

On the next play, Manson attempted a toss sweep to the left, but the pitch to the running back was fumbled. Soap Lake recovered the ball on the 9-yard line, setting up their second score of the game.

Eagle running back Frank Velasquez took the first-down carry up the middle, fighting off several tackles and stretching the ball over the plane of the goal line for the touchdown. Soap Lake's second touchdown in just 1:09 of game time put them up 13-0.

"Frankie ran very well," said Turner of Velasquez, who carried the ball 14 times for 108 yards.

The Eagles recovered the ensuing kickoff, but their drive ended inside the Manson 10-yard line when the ball was stripped and returned to the 34. The Soap Lake defense responded with a three-and-out series highlighted by another Dailey tackle-for-loss and a gang tackle of the quarterback by the Eagles' defense on third down.

Soap Lake took possession on their own 35, and took just one play to get back into scoring position.

On first down, Babak launched a bomb down the middle to Kyle Allen, who broke free of the Manson defender for a 51-yard gain on the play. From there, Robbie Patterson carried the ball to the right side, breaking several tackles as he powered through the Manson defense and into the end zone with just under seven minutes to play in the half.

Leading 19-0, the Soap Lake defense again made a pair of big plays to give the offense a short field.

Manson ran a sweep to the right on first down that resulted in a 5-yard loss. On second down, a toss sweep to the left resulted in a fumble that was recovered by Brad Hitzroth on the Manson 23.

"We did a great job taking the ball away from them," said Turner. "It was a big factor in the way Manson responded."

The Soap Lake offense took over from there, grinding out a touchdown on a short drive that included a pair of fourth-down conversions by Babak. The Eagles' quarterback picked up a first down on a fourth-and-two to keep the drive going, then on fourth-and-goal Babak followed the blocking of Dailey into the end zone from the 1-yard line for a 26-0 lead.

In the second half, Manson would score on an early possession to close the gap to 26-7, but both offenses had trouble producing from that point forward. Problems with offensive execution, coupled with an excessive amount of penalty flags, kept Soap Lake off the scoreboard in the second half.

"We wanted to come right away and score in the second half," said Turner. "We ran some plays we run all season long and just couldn't figure it out."