Vandals Rebound to Top Whittell

Rebounding from a loss to Coleville, Eureka topped the visiting Whittell Warriors 38-6 Sept. 7 in Eureka.

“It was a good win for us, kind of a monkey off our back because we have struggled with them in past years,” coach Fred Minoletti said.

In particular, it broke a three game losing streak to the Warriors and was the most points Whittell had ever give up to the Vandals.

“We knew they were a high powered offense,” he said, “so our game plan was to control the clock, get first downs and keep the ball in our hands and we’d have a pretty good chance. We kept the ball on the ground most of the time.”

Eureka scored at least once in each quarter. Minoletti said, “We also broke some big plays. Brandon Lee had a really good game with four touchdowns and a little over 200 yards rushing. We just ran the ball right at them and they had a hard time stopping us. Also quarterback Wyatt Anderson was able to return at quarterback to run the team as well as being a good defensive back”.

Minoletti credited offensive lineman Jake Bowman, Tristin Bircham and Chase Green for doing the job to open holes for Lee to run through. “We were gaining 4-5 yards on nearly every carry. Lee had a couple of long touchdown runs of over 50 yards.”

On defense, Minoletti said the Vandals did a good job of containing the Warriors. “They couldn’t really run it against us. When they tried to pass downfield, they did not connect very often. We were just able to contain their main stars, (quarterback Trent Dingman and the running back pair of Isaiah and Dalton Womack).”

This week, Sept. 14, Eureka (2-1) hosts Round Mountain (1-2). The Knights had a 62-0 shutout of Indian Springs last week.

The series between Round Mountain and Eureka is currently tied at 3-3 since 2004.

The teams have not played since 2013 and Round Mountain has won the last three meetings.