Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 82F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph..

Mainly clear early, then a few clouds later on. Low 62F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.

It was another gorgeous Missouri Friday night, as the temperatures were cool, the fans were abundant, and the action was plenty at Eagles Stadium on the campus of Bishop LeBlond as the Golden Eagles (1-1) took on the North Andrew Cardinals (2-0).

It was a back and forth battle through a quarter and a half, until the Cardinals found their groove and ran away with the game, winning 64-36.

Despite what looks like a lopsided score, LeBlond head coach Chuck Davis saw a lot of fight from his squad, and saw some positive takeaways.

“While the score probably doesn’t reflect it, I am really proud of what our guys were able to do tonight. We gave up a ton of pounds on the line,” Davis said. “We were really, really undersized, and I thought we did a pretty good job rotating three or four guys at each defensive line position all night to stay a little bit more fresh.”

Being undersized on the defensive line is a hard obstacle to overcome, especially when the opposing team has a running back as tough and physical as the Cardinals’ senior Hayden Ecker.

Ecker would end the night with five rushing touchdowns and was a menace to try and bring down. While undersize from the defensive line played a role, Ecker is able to make the plays he needs to.

“I think Hayden’s got good vision. He sees the field pretty well. He hits holes quickly. It’s hard when you deal with fullback dives and the quarterback up the middle, and it’s just them running behind these big boys up front,” Davis said. “And then the occasional handoff to a tailback is shifty, is accurate. He did a really good job of bouncing outside when all the chaos was in the middle.”

While Ecker was performing at a high level, the Golden Eagles had their own spark plug in senior quarterback Landon Gardner. Gardner was able to toss three of his own touchdowns, never giving up even when the score looked out of hand.

If that’s not impressive enough, Gardner not only plays on the offensive side of the ball, but also on defense and special teams. He was hardly on the sideline tonight, and gave everything he had for his teammates.

“Yeah, I could not be more proud of him … He steers the ship, you know, as he goes, we go and he kept everybody’s heads up the whole game,” Davis said. “He’s a true senior leader that leads by example, so I’m incredibly lucky to have a guy like him on our team.”

The sting of a first loss of the season will hurt, but LeBlond doesn’t have much time to sulk about what transpired on their home field.

They take on two high powered teams in the next three weeks as they travel to Worth County next Friday and see Archie on Sept. 23 for a highly anticipated matchup.

“The rebound is going to have to happen regardless of our mood. You know, I told the guys that you’re allowed to hurt tonight, you’re allowed to be upset, but tomorrow morning when we get here for practice, the slate is wiped clean because there’s another big time opponent coming on Friday.” Davis said. ”So there’s an onslaught of good football coming our way these next few weeks, so we don’t really have time to pout and feel sorry for ourselves.”

Calvin Silvers can be reached at calvin.silvers@newspressnow.com.

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