High School Football:
Winslow Wins Opener Over Eastern

Friday, September 13, 2002

By Boog Williams
SJSports Staff Writer

With the start of High School football on Friday the 13th, players and coaches were hoping that nothing out of the ordinary would happen. At Eastern High School, the Winslow Township Eagles defeated the Eastern Vikings 39-14 with speed and great plays on both sides of the ball.

Eastern scored the first points of the game on a 16 yard run by Ron Tanner. Tanner took the handoff from Anthony Orio, which was a run to the left, but cut it back to the right and outran the Winslow defense (which didn't happen that often) to the end zone. Will Carney made the extra point and the Vikings jumped out to a 7-0 lead.

On the ensuing kick-off, Antraye Miles returned the ball down to the Vikings one-yard line with a 79-yard return. Two plays later, Miles, on the second quarterback sneak, got into the end zone to give the Eagles their first score of the new season. The extra point kick was blocked by Ron Tanner to make the score 7-6. At this point in the first quarter it looked like Tanner was going to be the star of the game, but then the Miles brothers, Shonn Green, and the Winslow defense took over the game.

On the next series for Eastern, it looked like this might turn into a track meet, as Eastern came out throwing the ball down the field and making a nice 17-yard gain. The drive ended with the Eagles #19 knocking down a third and 8 pass to #8 on Eastern, while three other Eagles were waiting to make the play. On fourth down, Darius Harrison blocked the punt, which lead to an 11-yard run by Green. The Eagles lined up like they were going to kick, but tried to run. They were stopped to make the score Eagles 12- Vikings 6.

In the second quarter, the Eagles defense stepped up and caused a fumble that lead to the next score. Winslow's Lawrence Purvis hit quarterback Orio at the nine-yard line, forcing the ball to end up in the end zone where Brian Sherrer fell on it. Trout's good extra point made the score 19-7 with 9:52 still left until half. The Winslow defense stopped the Vikings again on a bad snap on fourth down to give great field position to the offense. Antraye Miles hit twin brother Anthony Miles with a 32-yard pass into the end zone and with the good kick by Trout increased the Eagles lead to 26-7.

Eastern got back on the scoreboard with a 38-yard TD pass to Matt Spittal. Carney's second extra point attempt of the game was good, to make it 26-14 with 3:31 left. The Eagles started to march down the field on two outstanding runs. The first, by Green, was a run to the left that looked like it was stopped, but he broke tackle after tackle to get the ball to around midfield. Antraye Miles, on a broken play, picked up 21 yards, but had to leave the game with a cramp. The offense could not move the ball further, and the half ended 26-14.

In the third quarter, neither team could put up any offense and the quarter ended 26-14.

Fifteen seconds into the fourth, Winslow's Green took a handoff and ran 53 yards for the Eagles next score. Anthony Miles ended the game with an 18-yard run to make the final score 39-14.