ELDORADO, TX-- The Eldorado Eagles secured a share of the District 8-2A Division II championship with a 48-0 rout of Menard and thanks to Miles win over Christoval. It's Eldorado's first district title since 2012.
While head coach Michael Johnson was happy with the win and the partial championship, he couldn't help but acknowledge the work still ahead of the Eagles.
"It feels good, but honestly, I wanna get back to the grind," Johsnon said. "We've gotta focus on Christoval next week. They're a good football team. We've gotta do what it takes to take care of business for an outright district championship.
The Eagles offense started off cold with a punt on their opening drive, but ended the game with 465 yards of total offense. The Eagles rushed for 256 yards as a team.
WATCH: Eldorado Head Coach Michael Johnson on the win:
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Freshman QB Korbin Covarrubiaz, who took over for his injured brother Kevan in week 3, led Eldorado to their first district championship in six years. The freshman threw for 209 yards, rushed for 50 and scored three total touchdowns.
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Running back Eric Reyes got 18 carries for 98 yards and three touchdowns to lead Eldorado's rushing attack. Along with Reyes, Marco Barajas also had double-digit carries with 10. He finished the night with 79 yards.
Possibly more impressive than their run game was Eldorado's Cesar Garcia. The receiver had four catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. That averages to 37.3 yards per reception.
"We just wanna get our athletes in space," Johnson said. "We wanna get the ball to as many kids as we can, make it a bigger than life high school experience for them. And these kids have worked their tail off and they're stepping up. We preach to them all the time [that] you earn what you get, bottom line. We don't want anything given to us on a platter. We wanna go earn it. [The offensive numbers] says a lot about these kids because they're doing a great job in preparation for that."
The Eagle defense stymied Menard, limiting them to 107 yards of total offense. The Eagles also forced five turnovers in the rout.
Noah Rosas was the leading Yellowjacket with 75 yards rushing on 12 carries.
Listen: End of Game Analysis with Sam Fowler
After punting on their first drive and turning the ball over on their second, Eldorado finally found the end zone on Eric Reyes' 6-yard run. Reyes would also scamper into the end zone for the two-point conversion to put the Eagles up 8-0 with 5 minutes, 24 seconds left in the first quarter.
On the second play from scrimmage on the ensuing drive, Menard QB Jordan McSherry was leveled as he was trying to throw the ball. The pass found the arms of Jaakan Jurecek for the Eagles' second takeaway of the evening.
Two plays later, Covarrubiaz would dance 19 yards into the end zone. The successful extra-point put Eldorado up 15-0 with 3:36 left in the first quarter.
Eric Reyes would find the end zone once again two drives later. This time he scored on a 1-yard run to put Eldorado up 21-0 after a bad snap on the extra-point with 6:28 left in the first half.
Following another Menard fumble, Covarrubiaz capped off a six-play drive with an 18-yard touchdown run. The freshman couldn't connect on the two-point conversion, leaving the score at 27-0.
Eldorado showcased their explosiveness on their next possession. Garcia made a fingertip catch on a Covarrubiaz pass and shook the defender for the 66-yard touchdown. Eldorado would take a 33-0 lead into the break.
Reyes would complete his hat trick with a 13-yard run in the third quarter. David Barajas would add a two-point conversion to put Eldorado up 41-0. Edgar Muniz finished off the scoring with a 1-yard run in the fourth. The extra-point by Garcia gave the Eagles their winning margin.
Eldorado (6-3, 4-0) will look to clinch the outright title against Christoval (6-3, 3-1) on the road next week.
Menard (3-6, 0-4) is eliminated from playoff contention and will close out their season against Irion County (2-7, 0-4) at home.
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