BIG LAKE, TX— The Grape Creek Eagles soared to a Bi-District championship, winning The Battle of the Birds, against the Crane Golden Cranes, 50-15!
The Eagles called heads and won the coin toss, electing to receive the opening kick. The Cranes tried to surprise the Eagles with an onside kick, but Grape Creek recovered. Then, on the first play from scrimmage, Darrell West took the ball 46 yards for a touchdown and with 11:43 left in the opening quarter, the Grape Creek Eagles led, 7-0.
The Cranes responded on their first drive when Hudson Willis found Noah Gurerro on fourth down for a 45-yard score to tie the game, 7-7, with 7:23 remaining in the first quarter.
On the next Eagle possession, they took about 8 minutes off the clock, and like the Cranes, quarterback Braley Woods hit Sire Garcia over the middle on fourth down. Garcia caught the pass and rumbled in for a score. When it came to the point after, Crane blocked the attempt to give the Eagles a 13-7 lead early in the second quarter.
The teams exchanged punts and ran time off the clock until 6 minutes remained until halftime. The Cranes had the ball and Willis handed off to running back Gracin Huertas who took off the left side of the line. Eagles’ defensive lineman Lawson Thiers hacked at the football, forcing Huertas to fumble. Grape Creek’s Jonathan Martin was in the right spot at the right time to scoop the ball off the ground and score from 24 yards out.
The Eagles extended their lead, 21-7, with 5:48 before the break.
Grape Creek wasn’t done as they forced a quick punt from the Cranes with 4:49 left in the half. The Eagles ate up the clock and moved down the field until they were on the 7-yard line where Anthony Saavedra took a direct snap in for a touchdown with only a minute left. With that score, the Eagles widened the gap, 28-7, which would be the score at halftime.
The Cranes received the second half kickoff and were driving the field well into Eagle territory. On the 23-yard line and on second down, Willis dropped back to pass. He threw the ball into the endzone where Grape Creek’s Gabe Santillian snagged himself and interception with about 8 minutes left in the third quarter.
When the Eagle offense took the field, a huge run from Darrell West moved Grape Creek down the field and West finished off the drive with a 9-yard score. The Cranes blocked the extra point attempt, but the Eagles still extended their lead, 34-7.
The Eagles again forced the Cranes to punt and Anthony Saavedra took the handoff 63-yards for a touchdown. This time, Grape Creek went for 2 and extended their lead again, 42-7, with just over a minute left in the third quarter.
Things just kept going right for the Eagles as on the kickoff, the forced a fumble and recovered in Crane territory. With 54 seconds remaining in the quarter, Sire Garcia got himself another score, this time from 4-yard away and Grape Creek would be leading, 50-7, going into the fourth.
The Cranes dialed up a long passing play, and the Eagle corner tried to be aggressive but mistimed his act and the Cranes ended up scoring, cutting the lead, 50-15. The Cranes would be driving near the end of the game and Ian Cochran sealed the game with a late interception. After a few kneel downs, the Grape Creek Eagles emerged victorious over the Crane Golden Cranes, 50-15, and securing their first ever playoff trophy in Grape Creek school history.
“It’s indescribable,” Eagle head coach Tanner Thiel said, “I thought about this moment and what I would say. It’s hard to even put it into words. I’m most excited for Grape Creek. I’m excited for the community. I’m excited for the school. I’m excited for the players, the administration. This is 27 years in the making. It feels great. My phone has not stopped ringing this week with former coaches, former players, everybody telling us to bring it home. It’s a great feeling knowing that we did our community proud. It’s hard to put into words.”
Coach Thiel went on to talk about the past nine years and brought up that the 8th grade team, the JV team, and the Varsity team had winning records. That is something that hasn’t happened in the past few years for Grape Creek.
Thiel said that the players are getting used to not only being in games late but winning those games that they might not if the program wasn’t in place.
“Now, our expectation is not going into a ball game and keeping it close,” Thiel said, “It’s going into a ball game expecting to win now.”
This is the program that Coach Thiel has built for Grape Creek.
With the Bi-District Round won, the Eagles move onto the Area Round against the Idalou Wildcats who beat the Dimmitt Bobcats, 49-7.
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