#COVER1 Mix: What's Next For Playoff Bound Christoval and Eldorado?

ELDORADO, TX — Defenses shined Friday night in Eldorado as the Eagles took down the Christoval Cougars and captured the District Championship. 

The game started with the Cougars kicking off to the Eagles. The Eagles started with the ball on their own 45-yard line. 

Eldorado could not get anything going on the first drive and went three-and-out. 

After the punt, the Cougars started on their 24-yard line. Quarterback for the Eagles, Brandon Wilcox, threw an interception to Cooper Meador for Eldorado. 

After taking over off the turnover, Eldorado’s Quarterback, Kevan Covarrubiaz, ran twice and then took a shot to a receiver deep down the field who was able to pick up a passing interference call. Unfortunately, the Eagles didn’t take advantage of being in Cougar territory by throwing their first interception to Christoval’s Clayton Edmiston. This interception was caught in the end zone so a touchback was called. 

Wilcox and the Cougars running back, Josh Fava, ran the ball down hill on this drive. The two were able to get their team into Eldorado territory but Wilcox ended up throwing an his second interception to Meador on the 31-yard line. 

The first quarter ended with a little rival scrum that ended with WIlcox getting an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. 

At the end of the first quarter the game was tied 0-0. 

The first play of the second quarter saw Christoval false starting. This drive was killed by both the unsportsmanlike and the false start. The Cougars were forced to punt. 

The next drive for the Eagles was a three and out. The good thing was that they forced by the Cougars to go for it on fourth down with two yards to go. 

The Eagles defense got the stop and looked as if they were going to score. Covarrubias ran the ball for more than 15 yards on the drive but then threw an interception to Christoval’s Beau Jolly. 

The Cougars started on their own 2-yard line. The were able to get a big first down after Wilcox found Jolly for a huge catch. After the catch, though, Wilcox received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a cheap shot on a defenseless D-lineman. 

The Cougars then received another unsportsmanlike this drive that put them at 3rd & 23. They were not able to get in and punted to the Eagles. 

After a short punt that landed on Chrisoval’s 30-yard line, Covarrubiaz finally got on the board with a 21 yard run. This brought the Eldorado lead to 7-0 with :50 in the half. 

The score at the end of the first half was 7-0 in favor of the Eagles. 

To start the third quarter, the Cougars received the kickoff. They took it out to their 34-yard line. 

This drive ended after after two first downs. The ending play on the drive was when Fava got wrapped up in the backfield for a five-yard loss. 

After forcing the punt, the Eagles put the pressure on Christoval. They started the ball on their own four-yard line and took it all the way in for a touchdown. This drive was filled with big runs including two 20-yard runs by Covarrubiaz. Eventually Edgar Muniz was able to punch in for a one-yard TD to increase the lead to 14-0 with 4:38 in the 3rd quarter. 

The next drive for the Cougars was "do or die" since being down by two scores. Wilcox had a 20-yard run that followed with an Eagles passing interference penalty that moved the ball further towards the red zone. Finally the drive was capped off by Wilcox running in circles for close to 30 seconds before finding Jolly for their first points of the night. They lowered the lead 14-7 at the end of the 3rd quarter. 

The fourth quarter was more like the first half: It was all defense, defense, and defense.

Eldorado started with the ball but was forced to punt. Followed by a Cougar punt after a three and out caused by a huge sack. Eldorado once again punted the ball back. 

Then with five minutes left in the game, down by one touchdown, the Cougars put together a drive. Wilcox had 20 yards on the first two plays followed by a big run by Fava. But then, while in Eldorado territory, Wilcox threw his final interception for the Cougars with 3:24 left in the game. 

The final drive by Eldorado was based only on time. They ran it three times and followed with a punt. 

With the final two minutes, Christoval ran the ball three times for thirteen yards, but also had two illegal procedure calls, and three incompleted passes. 

The Eldorado Eagles took the District Championship from the now one-loss Christoval Cougars. 

Wilcox Finished 12 for 20 with 141 yards, one touchdown, and four interceptions. He also had 128 yards on the ground. 

Covarrubias Finished 3 for 9 for 27 yards and two interceptions. He also had 114 yards rushing and one touchdown on the ground.