It was a football battle of turnovers when Sayre entertained and defeated Merritt at Eagle field by the score of 26 to 6 last Friday evening. The Eagles turned the ball over 4 times on fumbles lost while Merritt won the turnover parade with 5 give aways with 3 being pass interceptions and 2 fumbles lost.
Sayre began the turnover conflict early when after the games opening kickoff and on their first play from scrimmage fumbled the ball and Austin Smith recovered to give Merritt their first offensive possession at the Eagle 31 yard line. But the Eagles showcased a strong defense throughout the game that started here when after the Oilers drove to the Sayre three yard line turned away Merritt on a fourth down play at the Eagle 3 yard line. Sayre took charge of the ball from there and used up the remaining time in the first quarter by grinding out a time consuming 97 yard touchdown drive to score the games first TD with 10:25 left to play in the first half. An attempt to run across the PAT failed and Sayre led at that point 6 to 0.
Following the ensuing kickoff the Oilers took charge on offense at their own 44 yard line. The next 3 plays could only muster up 5 yards and on the fourth down play a fumble occurred with Stone Mackey recovering for Sayre at the Merritt 47. But fumblitis got in the way of the Eagle offensive when on first down Sayre fumbled the ball right back to the Oilers at the Merritt 49. Jose Hernandez made the recovery for the Oilers. Merritt drive to the Sayre 40 but was forced to punt the ball back to the Eagles at the Sayre ten yard line. Sayre continued to shoot themselves in the foot when after running 2 plays fumbled on a six yard loss on third down with Caliber Vadari making the recovery at the Sayre 15 yard line.
Sayre put up an admirable defense from there when they gave up only 8 yards in four straight yards. Sayre took over at their own 7 and mounted a sustained drive to the Merrritt 4 yard line before time ran out in the first half of play.
The battle of turnovers continued following the second half kickoff when Merritt began their offense from their own 41. But after the first play netted 5 yards, a second down pass was intercepted by Jaden Mosser and returned 6 yards to the Oiler 46. Outrageously the Eagles could not let Merritt win the turnover battle when the second play on offense was fumbled and Travaus Collins recovered for the Oilers at the Merritt 46 yard line. Merritt picked up a pair of first downs as they moved to the Eagle 15 where a fumble occurred losing 9 yards back to the Eagle 24 where Brock Helton made the recovery for Sayre.
Merritt held the Eagles after 3 plays netted only 6 yards forcing them to punt. Aiden Ball booted 32 yards to the Merritt 38. But Merritt could not get their offense started when after one play a pass was intercepted by Aiden Ball at the Oiler 35. This time Sayre got their motor running and traveled the 35 yards to the end zone in 5 plays while overcoming a pair of penalties in the process. Dustin McSorley ripped off an 18 yard run to paydirt and after Mosser ran across the 2 point conversion the score read Sayre 14 and Merritt 0 with 2:25 left in the third quarter.
Merritt got their act together following the ensuing kickoff when they drove from their own 40 to the Eagle end zone in 8 plays. Caliber Vadari got the TD on a one yard plunge. The PAT failed and the score now read 14 to 6 with 0:25 left to play in the third quarter. After the ensuing kickoff the Eagles matched the Oiler score when they drove 58 yards to the Merritt end zone with McSorley getting credit for the TD on a one yard run. The PAT failed and the score was now 20 to 6 with 7:53 left in the game.
Curtis Henley returned the ensuing kickoff back to the Oiler 42. On the second play from scrimmage Tate Bawden intercepted a Merritt pass and returned it 28 yards to the Oiler 20. Three plays later McSorley scored his third TD of the evening on a 25 yard scamper. The PAT failed and the Eagles won the battle of turnovers 26 to 6. McSorley led the Eagles in rushing with 156 yards on 23 carries. Jaden Mosser rushed 3 times for 63 yards. Zeke Curtis led in tackles for the second week in a row with eleven stops. Sayre now owns a 4 win 2 loss record with 2 wins and 1 loss in district play. The Eagles will travel to Watonga on Thursday for their next contest. Sayre and Watonga did not play each other last season.
EAGLES STATS MERRITT 16 First Downs 12 50/296 Rushing Yards 32/63 1/2/13 Passing Yards 6/15/84 309 Total Yards 147 4 Turnovers 5 13/110 Penalties 9/82 1/32 Punts 1/30 RUSHING D. McSorley 23/156 J. Mosser 3/63 Z. Allen 15/44 C. Plummer 4/24 H. Hanrahan 4/13 A. Chavez 1/-4 RECEIVING B. Mosburg 1/13 TACKLES Z. Curtis 11 A. Ball 8 B. Helton 8 M. Wynn 7 Z. Allen 5 S. Mackey 5 T. Bawden 5 Others 12
