Published: August 30, 2008 12:18 am            

Top 10 tussle

Once again, Western edges Eastbrook

RUSSIAVILLE — For the third time in the last 12 months, Western and Eastbrook hooked up in a hard-fought contest that went down to the final minute.

And for the third time, the Howard County Panthers came out on top.

No. 9 Western went into halftime down 7-0, but came alive in the second half to beat No. 7 Eastbrook 10-7 in a clash of Class 3A Top 10 teams here Friday night.

“Teamwork and being behind each other. That’s all there was to it. We’re brothers and we were fighting through everything,” said Western junior Jake Askren, who ran for a game-high 126 yards on just 11 carries.

Askren gained 89 yards in the second half to help fuel the comeback.

“Determination. I want to win,” he said when asked what fueled his strong performance.

Western improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2003 while Eastbrook dropped to 1-1. Western has won the last three meetings between the teams by a combined seven points.

Field position was the difference in the second half Friday. Western’s average starting position was its 35 while Eastbrook’s was its 17 largely because All-Area kicker Jake Lazar sent all three of his kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks and pinned a punt inside the Eastbrook 5.

“Field position was really difficult,” Eastbrook coach Jeff Adamson said. “It was kind of tough to get anything going, to get any yards at all. It just seemed we were almost playing a down behind the whole second half.”

Western forced Eastbrook to three-and-outs on the visitors’ first three possessions of the second half to spark its comeback. Western followed with productive drives each time.

Lazar capped the Howard County Panthers’ first drive with a 25-yard field goal at 4:14 of the third quarter.

Later in the quarter, Askren put Western in the red zone when he ripped off a 40-yard run down the sideline. But, Eastbrook picked off Bart Shepherd’s pass attempt in the end zone on the following play to protect its 7-3 lead.

No problem — after Western forced Eastbrook into another three-and-out that Trevor Buckalew and John Johnson capped with a sack, Western went right back to work. On second and 10, Bart Shepherd connected with twin brother Dean Shepherd for a 39-yard pass play to the Eastbrook 21. Mike Jakubowicz followed with a 21-yard TD run off the left side and Lazar added the PAT for a 10-7 lead with 10:14 remaining.

Eastbrook refused to go down without a fight. The visitors followed with a 10-play drive that reached the red zone. But on fourth and two from the Western 12, Dean Shepherd raced in to stop running back Colton Benedict in the backfield at 4:39.

Adamson said he had confidence in kicker Phil Wood, but he wanted to play for the win instead of the tie.

“We had some momentum going, we were driving, and we needed a yard. And on the side that the play was called, I really think we had a good hole. Shepherd just made a great run-through to tackle us for a loss. It was a really good play on his part,” Adamson said.

Western took the clock down under a minute before having to punt the ball. Lazar pinned Eastbrook on its 4-yard line and following two incomplete passes, Western cornerback Kyle Brown picked off QB Dereck Case to seal the 10-7 win.

“I wasn’t upset with the kids at halftime, I just challenged them to show me the strength they had inside both mentally and in the heart,” Western coach Alix Engle said. “They stepped up in the second half and that’s what did it for us.”

Western showed similar strength last week when it outscored Frankfort 17-0 in the second half en route to a 30-6 win.

Western won the battle up front for the second straight week too. Western ran for 207 yards on 38 carries and held Eastbrook to 100 yards on 40 carries.

Askren led the Panthers with his 126-yard effort. He is averaging an impressive 12 yards per carry through two games.

“He is a spark plug,” Engle said. “We have the bruisers in Jakubowicz and Thad Hall and we have some big play guys in Dean Shepherd and Indy Matthew, but you’ve seen here in the last two weeks that Jake Askren is a heck of a downhill back. He has great vision and athletic ability. He obviously got it done for us [Friday].”

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.