Deckerville Earn Second Straight 50+ Point Win
By: Wm. Michael Dixon
Tribune Recorder Leader
The Deckerville Eagles hosted the Capac Chiefs for each team’s first Conference game of the season last Wednesday in Deckerville. The Eagles put the pressure on early, with Hunter Garza throwing a 47 yard touchdown pass to Ian Flanagan in the opening minutes of the game. Hunter Garza threw another bomb to David Shanks for a 52-yard touchdown just moments later.
The Eagles got the ball downfield just short of the touchdown, before Hunter Garza ran it in from the one yard line for the third Deckerville touchdown of the evening. Capac finally got on the board in the second quarter but the impact was quickly erased by a 72-yard kick returned by Garza for the score. Deckerville went to the air again, finding Merriman for the 42-yard touchdown reception thrown by Garza.
Garza then added the final score of the half on a 10-yard run. Deckerville had one slight misstep on the evening, throwing the ball away with 17 seconds to go in the first half when they tried to go for it on fourth and long. Capac was not able to capitalize and so the Eagles still led Capac 40-6 at halftime.
The Eagles just had to eat up the clock for the rest of the game and did so with little resistance from the Chiefs defense. The Eagles added two more scores in the second half, a 14-yard pass to David Shanks from Hunter Garza and a Dylan Ball 16-yard run to cap off the night and earn Deckerville the win, 58-6.
The Eagles combined for more than 400 yards of total offense while giving up just 100 yards to the Chiefs. Dylan Ball was the rushing leader for Deckerville, rushing for 141 yards on 10 carries with two touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
Hunter Garza passed for 209 yards and four touchdowns, giving up one interception. Garza also had two rushing touchdowns and 41 yards on the ground, in addition to his 73-yard kick return for a touchdown, boosting his total for the game to a staggering seven touchdowns.
Ian Flanagan chewed up 88 receiving yards and a receiving TD. David Shanks had 58 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Parker Merriman caught a single pass for 42 yards and the touchdown. The Eagles improved to 2-0 on the season and are now 1-0 in the NCTL, sharing the top spot with Kingston, Brown City and Mayville.
Deckerville will have at least one less team to share the top spot with after this week, as Kingston and Brown City are slated to face off on Friday. Deckerville hosts Dryden on Friday at home, as the Eagles look to extend their streak to three and Dryden hopes to bounce back from their 66-0 loss to Kingston last week.
