Vandals Scored 28 Unanswered Points in 48-14 Win

Mark down win number five in the book for the Eureka Vandals.

Eureka (5-1, 2-0) battled toe-to-toe with the Carlin Railroaders in the first half, but after halftime proceeded to put 28 unanswered points on the board and rolled to a 48-14 win.

Garrett Todd had a breakout game for Eureka with 190 yards on 12 carries (15.8 average), and two touchdowns.

“It was tight in the first quarter,” said coach Fred Minoletti. “They were focusing a lot on stopping Brandon Lee when we run him as Mr. Inside, and did a good of that. But that left Garrett free to be Mr. Outside, and he helped break it open for us with a couple of runs which lead to touchdowns right before the half, and then ran the ball well in the third quarter.”

Lee finished with 30 yards on 10 carries and one touchdown.

Eureka had been concerned about the Railroaders fine running back Eddie Gomez, who came in averaging 194 yard per game, “but we were able to contain and limit him,” Minoletti said. Stats were not posted for Carlin.

In addition, the Vandals spread the wealth around pretty well, as eight different runners racked up 324 yards rushing and five touchdowns.

Quarterback Clayton Shota was 2 for 4 passing, 91 yards and two touchdowns. Wyatt Anderson was 2 for 5, 19 yards, no touchdowns, but did have one interception.

“We did a good job on defense,” Minoletti said, “getting a lot of guys to the ball. Not a lot of solo tackles, though, mostly assists. Chris Drayton had 14 assists and Todd contributed 10. That was another way we were able to contain them.”

Carlin had a long drive at the end of the first quarter and into the early second quarter, to tie the game and keep it close at that point, but were not able to stop the Vandal onslaught that scored twice more late in the first half.

Minoletti said the adjustments he made at halftime was to, “have the linebackers to take better angles to get to the ball carrier. Step up a little and watch to see the way the ball is going and fill the gap quicker. Once they figured that out, they did a lot better.”

This week the Vandals make the four-hour road trip to McDermitt. The Bulldogs (0-3, 0-2) have been outscored so far this season by an average of 46 points per game.

Eureka won last year’s game in Eureka 64-12.