Football Season Climax
   Despite late-season struggles, Eagles still look to finish strong

by Clint Dick 

After dropping their first 3 games, the Kingman Eagles looked to bounce back against the Circle Thunderbirds on September 26. Not only was it the farthest game away from home for Kingman, but it was also the Thunderbird’s homecoming night. Things took a turn for the worst on the opening kickoff as Circle scored on a botched onside kick. The Eagles came right back in the second quarter as senior Ryan Keeling made an incredible touchdown run from 32 yards out to narrow the T-bird lead to 7-6. Kingman, though, could not hold on as Circle tacked on 24 unanswered points and sent the Eagles home with a disappointing 31-14 loss.

Once again the Eagles proved that they can move the ball efficiently as they accumulated 328 yards of total offense, 171 of them resulting from a vicious ground game. Kingman’s defense also held up well as they shut down a potent T-bird offense and held them to just 1-11 on 3rd down conversions. It was 7 Kingman turnovers, 4 interceptions and 3 lost fumbles that sealed the Eagle’s fate.

Things didn’t get much better the following week for the Eagles as they faced off against the Clearwater Indians in this year’s Homecoming match up. Kingman’s defense, which has stepped up so far this year, showed their first signs of vulnerability as Clearwater racked up 520 yards of total offense, all of them coming on the ground. The Indians handed Kingman it’s worst home loss of the season, prevailing 55-13.

With the mid-October district games on the horizon, the Eagles will have to step up their game to get into sub-state, especially after taking a 76-6 pounding against the defending 4-A state champion Andale Indians and a recent 46-20 defeat on home turf from Ulysses.