Eagles dominate at Ponderosa, 44-14

Vista del Lago's varsity football team had no trouble with Ponderosa on Friday night, rolling to a 44-14 non-league win over a team they've had on the schedule the last six seasons. It's the type of win, however, that can be frustrating to coaches, as the win came after a lackluster week of practice. "We didn't have a very good week of practice, so I guess it's good to know the guys can turn it on, but I just wish it was on all the time," Vista coach Mike Struebing said. "The guys did a good job of competing and working hard tonight. They play good football, are a cohesive group and they enjoy the game. I've got a lot of respect for them." Senior quarterback Aydan Edwards agreed that it wasn't a great week of practice. "We came into this game with a lot of confidence, maybe too much," Edwards said. "We had a bad week of practice and tonight we had no energy and no fire; you could tell on the sidelines, but everything turned out OK." Poor practices aside, the Eagles are pretty darn football team and it showed. They do everything well. Their offense hasn't been stopped all season, and the first-string defense has been near perfect for two out of their three games, aside from allowing 31 points to Inderkum last week. Two touchdowns, however, came off turnovers so even then the defense played better than the final score indicated. Against Ponderosa Friday, after punting on its first possession, the Eagles scored on their other four possessions of the first half, taking a 28-0 lead in to the break. The run game against was dominant, as Ethan Menezes carried the ball 15 times in the first half for 119 yards and had touchdown runs of one and three yards. Edwards completed 10-of-14 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns. Carson King and Erik Johnson caught those touchdowns, and each had three catches in the first half for 56 yards. "I think the best thing about our offense is that we can do whatever we want at any time," Edwards said. "If we want to run the ball, we're capable of running it, and if we want to pass it, we can pass it. We have a small roster numbers wise, but I think we can put any player out on the field and they can make a play." Defensively, Ponderosa had little success moving the ball in the first half. The Bruins had the ball six times in the first half and punted four times and fumbled another, which was recovered by Vista's Blake Harville. Their sixth and final possession ended at the same time as the first half. "We just play all out on defense," linebacker Tyler Peterson said. "Everyone goes 100 percent." Both teams managed two touchdowns in the second half, as the outcome had already been decided. Menezes scored on a 14-yard pass from Jakob Hollingshaus late in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter, Hollingshaus threw a touchdown pass to Nolan Goodwin, while Ponderosa managed two one-yard touchdown runs by Joshua Calloway. The Eagles, 3-0 on the season, play host to Christian Brothers on Friday.