The Eagles took on the Tompkins Falcons in the area round of the 2018 football postseason at Pridgeon Stadium on Saturday. The Eagles, coming off of a win in the first round vs Westside, were looking to beat the Falcons who completed a big turnaround season. The Eagles couldn’t catch up to the lead Tompkins put up in the second half and ended up losing 31-21 to close out the season.

On their first drive, the Falcons were moving swiftly pass defenders, starting aggressively. Tompkins quarterback Jalen Milroe (10) handed the ball to the running back, R.J. Smith (11). He found a hole in the line and ran 15 yards to score first for Tompkins. The kick was good and the score was 7-0 early in the first quarter.

Only two minutes had passed when the Falcons got the ball back and moved into enemy territory. They couldn’t convert on third down and settled for the field goal. The Falcons kicker, Jacinto Esteban (12), split the uprights and extended the Falcons lead to 10-0 with a little over five minutes remaining in the first quarter.

On the next drive, the Eagles were looking for redemption. Eagles quarterback TJ Goodwin (12) dropped back and scanned the field. Down the field was wide receiver, Semaj Trahan (12), wide open to receive the pass. Trahan ran the ball 59 yards to put the Eagles on the scoreboard for the first time of the afternoon 10-7.

At the start of the second quarter, the Eagles were in good field position and ready to score again. Only a minute had run off the clock when Goodwin connected with receiver, Josh Morris (12), for a 12-yard touchdown to give the Eagles their first lead of the game at 14-10.

Following a fumble that was recovered by the Eagles defense, the offense came out in hopes to extend the lead. They reached in the bag of tricks and drew up a reverse flea-flicker. Goodwin launched a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jyrese Hanchett (12), that stretched it to an 11 point lead for the Eagles.

On the very next drive, the Falcons moved the ball effectively and scored a touchdown as a result. R.J. Smith ran 8 yards to give him his second touchdown of the game and to return to a one possession game. Both teams would hold each other to no points for the remainder of the half and at halftime the score was 21-17, Eagles with the lead.

The third quarter was quiet until the last seconds. Falcons had the ball at the 28-yard line and handed the ball to Smith again. He found running room and took off towards the end zone. Smith evaded Eagle defenders all 28 yards and scored the touchdown giving the lead back to the Falcons for the first time in 21 minutes. The score was 24-21 with only 12:07 remaining in the entire game.

The Eagles offense couldn’t come up any points late in the game to take back the lead and win. The Falcons put the icing on the cake with one final touchdown from Smith on a 4-yard run which made it 31-21 with only 1:32 remaining in the game. The game came to an end with a final score of 31-21.

The Eagles 2018 football season is over, but surely won’t be forgotten as they finished with the second best record in school history at 8-2 and lead the district in rushing yards.