By DRUW GIAMALVA, Sports Editor
DOUGLAS — In their season opening game on Friday night at Arthur Jarvis Stadium, the Douglas Eagles put up a statement 47-14 win over the Westminster Christian Academy Wildcats. The Eagles were led by an outstanding first half performance by junior quarterback Baker Lyles who led Douglas with seven first half touchdowns.
“It is fun to watch your kid go out here and play,” said Douglas head coach Brandon Lyles. “He’ll come back and say that he has to clean some stuff. He is one of the several guys that we have that can make a play at any time.”
The ballgame would start with the Eagles on offense. Douglas would score early and often as it only took one play on their first drive to score with Lyles rushing in a 77-yard touchdown. A blocked PAT would keep the lead at 6-0 for the Eagles.
It wasn’t just the Eagle offense that showed up as the defense forced a turnover on the Wildcats second play of their first drive. Douglas’ Landon Stewart would recover a fumble for the Eagles to give them the ball at the 42-yard line.
Lyles would pick up his second touchdown of the night with another rushing touchdown from 39-yards out. Another blocked PAT would keep the Eagle lead at 12-0.
After allowing the Wildcats to score, the Douglas offense got back to work as Lyles produced his first passing touchdown of the night with a 44-yard toss to Judson Murray. A failed 2-pt conversion made it a 18-7 Douglas lead.
After scoreless drives by both teams, the Eagles would add on another touchdown at the beginning of the second quarter with Lyles rushing for another touchdown from 5-yards out.
The Douglas defense would produce another turnover with Jayden Hayden picking up a fumble to give Douglas the ball at the 35-yard line.
With a short field, the Eagles produced another quick score as Lyles would rush for his fourth total rushing touchdown from 5-yards out.
After a quick three-and-out by the Wildcats, Lyles would rush for another touchdown from 19-yards out.
To cap off the first half, Lyles would produce his seventh total first half touchdown with a deep pass to Judson Murray to give Douglas a 47-7 lead at halftime.
With the lead in hand, the Eagles decided to rest the starters for the second half of the ballgame. Despite a late touchdown by Westminster, the Eagles would go on to win 47-14.
“We just gotta go forward with cleaning some stuff up,” Lyles said. “Boaz is coming our way next week and if mistakes creep up on us, we are not gonna play very well against them.”
The Eagles will look to improve to 2-0 next week as they begin Class 5A, Region 8 play against the Boaz Pirates on Sept. 4 at Arthur Jarvis Stadium. Kick off is set for 7 p.m.
Douglas junior quarterback Baker Lyles runs for a big gain against the Westminster defense. Lyles finished with seven total first half touchdowns in the 47-14 win over the Wildcats on Friday night. Photo by DRUW GIAMALVA l The Leader
