SPRINGDALE — Drew Estes didn’t get a lot of chances to shine offensively for Vilonia.
Defensively it was a different story.
Estes, who also plays running back for the Eagles, intercepted two Shiloh Christian passes, the last with under a minute left to preserve a 35-32 victory Friday night at Champions Stadium.
The 5-9, 160-pound junior’s second interception of a Casey Paraday pass sealed the Eagles’ 5A-West road victory to improve to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference.
While Estes’ interceptions were key, the Eagles’ double wing offense was just as effective, draining huge amounts of time in piling up 388 yards on the ground. Houston Cotton had 179 yards and one touchdown, and Michael Atkinson had 122 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown.
So effective was Vilonia’s offense, that Shiloh was held to six offensive plays in the third quarter.
Shiloh Christian (1-4, 0-2) took a 14-7 lead in the first quarter when Paraday found Ryan Michaelis on a 44-yard scoring pass, then after Shiloh’s Matt Hansen recovered a Vilonia fumble, Paraday hit Chandler Smith one play later for the lead.
Paraday was 21 of 37 for 334 yards and 4 touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions.
“They didn’t do a whole lot different defensively in the second half,” Shiloh Coach Josh Floyd said. “We just [hurt] ourselves with turnovers.”
Sports, Pages 27 on 09/29/2012