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Eagles fall to Colts in MWL showdown By Danny Penza Updated: Oct 06, 2022 11:09 PM A A 6 View all photos Fifth-ranked Thurston keeps Brown, Eagle Point offense quiet to take sole possession of first place EAGLE POINT — Deadlocked with one of last season’s Class 5A state finalists midway through the third quarter, Eagle Point had more than a fighter’s chance to make its biggest statement of the season. Unfortunately for the Eagles, they couldn’t get the consistency needed to finish. Fifth-ranked Thurston broke a 7-all tie with 17 points in less than 12 second-half minutes, holding off Eagle Point’s upset bid and handing the Eagles a 24-14 loss in a meeting of the Midwestern League’s top two teams Thursday night. “I’m proud of our guys and how we competed,” said Eagle Point head coach Erik Johnson, “but when you play an established program like Thurston that knows how to win and believes they can win, it’s tough. They were well-coached and very physical.” So much of the Eagles’ success this season — one that has already seen them match their win total from a year ago — has been centered around the success on the ground with senior running back David Brown, who entered Thursday’s game having already rushed for over 1,000 yards in only five games this season. Understandably, the 6-foot-1 Brown, the state’s fourth-leading rusher in 5A, was the focal point of the Thurston game plan on defense. And on this night, Brown met his match. Brown, who averaged over 200 yards a game entering Thursday’s showdown with the Colts, was limited to just 27 yards on 10 carries. Almost all of those yards came in the first half, as Brown rushed eight times for 26 yards before the break, with his lone carry for double-digit yardage (14) coming early in the first quarter. “Just a bunch of little mistakes,” said Brown of what hurt the Eagles offensively. “Just very simple stuff that’s going to be easy to fix. We just had lots of missed blocks and they were bringing a lot of guys. We just couldn’t move the ball.” All told, Thurston (4-2, 4-0 MWL) limited Eagle Point (4-2, 3-1) to just 202 yards of total offense. “Credit to Thurston,” said Johnson. “We like to run the ball but we can also put it in the air, and we couldn’t do either one very well tonight. That’s all them and it’s a credit to their defensive coordinator. “They did a very good job taking away David, and when teams do that there are going to be some opportunities. We just didn’t capitalize on those.” Thurston has won four straight after losing its first two games of the season to No. 3 Silverton and No. 1 Summit. The Colts never trailed on the night after taking a 7-0 lead with 5 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter on a 25-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Noah Blair to junior receiver Walker Bonar. With the Colts’ defense limiting the Eagles on offense, it stayed that way until the third quarter when Eagle Point hit its biggest play of the night. On the second play of their first drive of the second half, the Eagles tied things up on junior quarterback Bryton Livingston’s 81-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Wyatt Graves, who was able to get behind the secondary and went untouched into the end zone. “Absolutely,” said Livingston when asked if he knew Graves was going to get to his high and looping pass. “We have chemistry like it’s nothing.” Unfortunately for the Eagles, that proved to be the last time they found paydirt until the final 93 seconds of the game when Brown was on the receiving end of an 18-yard TD pass from Livingston. “We just started off slow and couldn’t get the run game going as we thought we could,” said Livingston. “We had the pass game going off late and we had big plays, but we need more big plays to get the running game going. Since we couldn’t get the run game going, we just couldn’t get our pass game going.” Thurston took a 10-7 lead with 4:44 to go in the third quarter, taking advantage of a big kick return by Lobel Doreen before Connor Nevin connected on a 35-yard field goal. The Colts then made it a two-possession game less than a minute into the fourth quarter when senior running back Vaun Halstead ran it in from 2 yards out on fourth down to put Thurston ahead 17-7. Blair gave the Colts some breathing room with 5:44 to go with his second touchdown pass of the night, a 22-yard pitch-and-catch to Luke Newell. Blair finished 12-of-19 for 115 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Colts finished with 182 yards rushing, with five different running backs seeing time in the backfield. Livingston was 10-of-17 for 159 yards and two TD passes along with an interception. Graves caught four passes for 77 yards, while Hugo Perezchica caught three passes for 60 yards, all of which came in the three plays leading up to Brown’s touchdown catch. “We were trying to mix in some of our other stuff to try and confuse them,” said Brown of what the Eagles tried to do to get the offense going. “I was almost used as a decoy sometimes to try and draw those guys out and open up other stuff, but they were still blitzing through the line. “We did good and we competed. We didn’t give up and it was definitely a winnable game.” Thurston 7 0 3 14—24 Eagle Point 0 0 7 7—14 T — Bonar 25 pass from Blair (Nevin kick) EP — Graves 81 pass from Livingston (Cordle kick) T — FG Nevin 35 T — Halstead 2 run (Nevin kick) T — Newell 22 pass from Blair (Nevin kick) EP — Brown 18 pass from Livingston (Struble kick) Reach reporter Danny Penza at 541-776-4469 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @penzatopaper. Eagle Point's Hugo Perezchica sacks Thurston's Noah Blair during the second quarter Thursday night. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Eagle Point's Wyatt Graves makes a catch for a touchdown during the third quarter Thursday night. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Eagle Point's David Brown makes a catch for a touchdown during the fourth quarter Thursday night. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Eagle Point's Bryton Livingston throws for a pass during the second quarter of Thursday night’s game. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Eagle Point's Kaden Huff stips the ball away from Thurston's Vaun Halstead during the second quarter of Thursday night’s game. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Eagle Point's Joshua Bayne and Emilio Ayala stop Thurston's Noah Blair during the second quarter of Thursday night’s game. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune]