by It was homecoming night for the Mansfield Legacy Broncos as they hosted the highly-ranked DeSoto Eagles.
The Eagles received the ball at kickoff and wasted no time, with Deondrae Riden Jr. Scoring his first rushing touchdown of the game. DeSoto also showed why they are a highly ranked team by throwing a successful 2-point conversion to make the score 8 nothing with 10:04 left in the first quarter.
The Broncos had no answer for the quick touchdown by the Eagles and had to punt. However, disaster struck the Broncos when Antonio Pride Jr. of the Eagles returned the punt 85 yards for another touchdown, leaving the score at 15-0 with 8:24 left in the first quarter.
However, the Eagles stuffed the Broncos again on defense and got the ball back. A few quick plays later let Riden Jr. score another rushing touchdown. The Broncos managed to tip the ball on the extra point, but it wasn’t enough as it tumbled through the posts, putting the score to 22-0 with time still left in the quarter.
The Broncos had another chance to answer on offense. Still, they were suffocated by the DeSoto defense and had to punt.
The DeSoto Eagles wasted no time as a pass was thrown to Freshman Ethan Feaster, who went 50 yards to score yet another touchdown, leaving the score at 29-0 with 2:18 still left in the first quarter.
The Broncos, who were now down by 29 in the first quarter, were looking to make a move but couldn’t. Eagles player Keylan Abrams scored a sack and, on the play afterward, had Jason Douglas sacking the Quarterback again and ended the quarter.
The second quarter began, and immediately, DeSoto kept their momentum with Tristan Bailey notching a 37-yard reception and setting up Marvin Duffey for his first rushing touchdown of the game, setting the score to 36-0.
Daylon Singleton wanted to join in on the action for the Eagles and snagged him a receiving touchdown of 8 yards to put the score at 43-0 with 7:51 remaining in the half.
The Broncos, desperate to get points on the board, went for a 4th down conversion but were stopped short with 5:50 left in the half. The Eagles took advantage of the field position, marched downfield, and had Kingstin McAdams punch in a 4-yard rushing touchdown, leaving the score at 50-0.
After the Broncos’ offense was shut down again, forcing them to punt the ball away, Singleton got himself an additional 25 yards on a reception and set up Marvin Duffey to get him another touchdown with 1:04 left in the half.
The Broncos wanted to try and go into the half with points, but Keylan Abrams found the Quarterback for his second sack of the night, leaving the Broncos scoreless into the half at a score of 57-0 in favor of the Eagles.
In light of the tragedy on the field, the Broncos celebrated their homecoming court during the half. This may have inspired the players to get something done when they came back onto the field.
The Eagles kicked the ball off to the Broncos, and they struggled like they had been to get it moving downfield until Senior Running Back Kaidan Johnson carried the ball 24 yards. He then followed that up with a screen pass set for him, letting him take the ball 34 yards downfield.
However, the Eagles crippling defense held them there and forced the Broncos to settle for their only 3 points of the game, putting the score at 57-3 with 2:46 remaining in the third quarter.
The third quarter saw no other action after the field goal by Legacy.
Kristoff Fantroy of the Eagles started the fourth quarter with his one and only reception of the game, which resulted in a 39-yard touchdown. The score was now 64-3.
The Broncos got the ball back and wanted to add any points they could but were stopped in their tracks when Linebacker Jeremiah Williams snatched the ball out of the air for an interception and effectively stroked the final nail into the coffin.
The Eagles ran down the clock, and the game ended with a 64-3 score.
Although it was hard to pick the player of the game for DeSoto as they had multiple players with touchdowns and lots of yards shared between them, the nod goes to Quarterback Darius Bailey, who threw 9-13 on 69% completion, 166 yards, and 2 touchdowns.
As for the Mansfield Legacy player of the game, it would be Kaidan Johnson, who had 48 rushing yards and 34 receiving yards and set the Broncos up for their only 3 points of the game.
