Eagles fly high in win over St. Regis, racking up 370 passing

yards in the process

PABLO - In their first year back on the gridiron, the Two Eagle River Eagles had their struggles, but will also have a huge win over the St. Regis Tigers to remember.

Clayton Malatare threw for 346 yards and five touchdowns and Artie Mendoza hauled in seven catches for 136 yards and a pair of scores as the Eagles ended their season with a 56-7 senior day rout of the Tigers on Saturday, Oct. 22.

"It was huge," head coach Clayton Malatare said. "They were all smiles. From up to kickoff until 30 or 45 minutes after the game, they were laughing and having a good time."

Two Eagle River scored an early touchdown to take a quick 7-0 lead, but wouldn't pull away from St. Regis until the second quarter.

The younger Malatare found the end zone from 25 yards out to build a 14-0 lead. Five minutes later, Malatare found Marcus Brown on a 13-yard strike for a 21-0 lead. The Eagles then recovered an onside kick and on the next play, Malatare hit Justice Nicoli on a 35-yard touchdown pass to take a 28-0 lead. Nicoli had six grabs for 146 yards on the afternoon.

Just before halftime, the Eagles and Tigers would exchange TDs. Malatare and Drew Payne hooked up from the 3-yard line before St. Regis answered with their only points of the afternoon for a 36-7 halftime score.

"Overall, it was a great performance on both sides of the ball, I was really pleased," coach Malatare said. "Our seniors played well and our underclassmen really stepped up for our seniors."

In the third quarter, Malatare threw touchdown passes of 19 and 22 yards to Mendoza to make it 49-7. The defense continued their stellar play, running around, intercepting passes and punishing any Tiger who was unfortunate enough to be carrying the pigskin.

"I told them I [switch defenses] so they could fly around and hit hard," coach Malatare said. "There was always more than one guy tackling."

Brown found paydirt from the 4-yard line in the fourth quarter to complete the Eagles' dominating performance.

"Those eight didn't give up [on the season] even though we took our licks," coach Malatare said. "I was proud of them. They really enjoyed it. They'll be remembered as the team that restarted football at Two Eagle."

And this will be a win they remember for a long time.