Eureka puts late scare into Serpents

The Eureka High School football team – the fourth seed out of the north – scored 14 fourth-quarter points to put a scare into the north’s top-seeded Serpents from Mineral County, Saturday, Nov. 8. It was too little, too late, however, as the Vandals fell 39-36.

EHS trailed 39-22 with 11 minutes left after Mineral County quarterback Chase Reeves connected with Ramiro Lalonde on a 28-yard touchdown pass. On their next drive, the Vandals drove 60 yards in four minutes to make it 39-28.

The Serpents let Eureka back in the game by immediately fumbling in their own territory, but the Vandals couldn’t convert a fourth down and gave the ball right back with five minutes remaining. The Vandals would get one more score in the closing seconds, but had they converted on fourth down from the Serpents’ 20-yard line, they would’ve had a chance to advance to the 1A State Semifinals.

Instead, the Vandals’ season ends, but not without showing massive signs of improvement. EHS managed to score just two points at Mineral County last week, while allowing 42. This week they improved on both sides of the ball.

“[W]e are proud of the kids. They played and worked hard. At the end of the day, we missed some opportunities early in the game and weren’t consistent enough on both sides of the ball. That’s kind of the story of our season, we just had a tough time being consistent. However, we are proud of how the kids stuck with it and made a little run after a rough start in September, earning an opportunity to get into the playoffs,” said EHS head coach Fred Minoletti. 

The Vandals will lose just four seniors to graduation, so much of this year’s roster could return and their progress continued. Quarterback Joseph Minoletti is, however, one of the seniors who’ll be lost, as will running back Nathan Tudor and linemen Brendan Dickover and Henry Mentaberry.

“We are looking forward to next season and will be returning several key players. Due to injuries, several of our younger players had to step up and got a lot of experience this season,” Minoletti said. “Hopefully the adversity we faced this year and lessons learned will pay off in the long run.”