VILONIA — Sophomores James Sax, Trey Lewis and Jake Weidmier had 268 rushing yards and three touchdowns combined to help the Vilonia Eagles to a 30-10 victory over the Harrison Goblins in the 5A-West Conference opener Friday night at Weaver Stadium.
The Eagles (3-1, 1-0) start eight sophomores, including seven on offense.
The Eagles only led 14-10 at the half, and had to score midway through the second quarter to get that lead. But Vilonia outscored Harrison (2-2, 0-1) 16-0 in the second half, and kept the Goblins out of the end zone when they were deep within the red zone.
Sax, who led the Eagles with 175 rushing yards on 28 carries, broke free for a 37-yard touchdown run on the third play of the second half that put Vilonia up 21-10 with 10:48 to play in the third. It was the second touchdown of the night for Sax, who more than made up for his fumble in the second quarter that led to a Harrison field goal.
Vilonia's Griffen Nelson kicked a 42-yard field goal at the 5:01 mark of the third that gave the Eagles a 24-10 lead.
Nelson missed a 28-yard field goal with 7:07 left in the game, which was followed by Harrison's longest drive of the game that stalled at the Vilonia 9-yard line on fourthand-8.
The Goblins still weren't out of it when Robert Holmes recovered a Vilonia fumble and returned it to the Eagles' 14 with 1:03 left. However two plays later, quarterback Ryan Miller threw his third interception of the game when Vilonia's Zach Mitchell picked off a pass about a yard deep in the end zone, returning it 101 yards to the other end zone.
Vilonia scored the game's first touchdown when Lewis found the end zone on a 4-yard run at the 7:23 mark of the first quarter. Harrison tied the score at the end of the first quarter when Miller threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jonathan Johnson.
The Goblins took their first and only lead of the game when John Colliver kicked a 44-yard field goal to make it 10-7 with 9:21 left in the first half.
The Eagles answered with an eight-play drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown run by Sax for a 14-10 lead.
Vilonia f inished with 346 total yards, all on the ground. Quarterback Eric Ebmeyer rushed 10 times for 78 yards.
Harrison had 257 total yards, 151 rushing. Miller had 92 rushing yards.
Sports, Pages 26 on 09/26/2009