By Nolan Ruth
X – @RealNolanRuth
gmsportsmedia2023@gmail.com
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KELLER— District 4-6A is a very good football district from top to bottom. All nine teams could be considered playoff worthy, with only four spots available. With that said, this is a district where every play of every game truly matters. That was evident on Thursday night when the Keller Central Chargers (3-3, 1-3) hosted the Eaton Eagles (3-2, 2-1) in a thriller that came down to the final play.
With a slew of special teams plays that went Eaton’s way, the Eagles erased a 23-3 halftime deficit to walk away as big winners 34-31 after Peyton Ertle hit a 47-yard field goal as time expired.
“My legs were shaking,” Ertle said after the game. “I’m not going to lie, I was nervous. But I know that I make that kick everyday, and I did today.”
Ertle had already made a field goal in the first quarter to give Eaton its only points of the first half on a 31-yarder.
However, Ertle was not the only one who made plays on special teams for the Eagles. Dayne Keets got a big play early in the second half, recovering a muffed punt at the one yard line after a collision off the bounce. Then the Eaton defense came up with a blocked field goal that Keets also came up with. And lastly, Keaton Novonty came up with a big onside kick return that almost scored, but did get to the red zone.
“When we met this summer, we thought we struggled with special teams,” head coach Ellis Miller said after the game. “We were get and it was not the players, it was us being outcoached in the special teams game and hidden yardage. Now we spend six practice periods in special teams. And when you look at our wins this season, we’ve won the hidden yardage.”
The Eagles took advantage of all three of those special teams plays with touchdowns.
Prior to all of that, the game had been controlled by the Chargers. Central quarterback Isaiah Taylor carried the offense all game long. He opened the game with a 24-yard keeper for a score to give the Chargers a 6-0 lead. In an omen to what was to come, Eaton blocked the extra point.
Then in the second quarter, Taylor connected twice with Jeremiah Parker for touchdowns from 24 and 5 yards out. Taylor finished his day 15-25 for 170 yards and two touchdowns through the air, while adding 92 yards rushing on 11 carries and a touchdown.
Then, coming out of the locker room trailing 23-3, Eaton hit the throttle. The muffed punt opened the second half, setting up quarterback Kalika Nisa to finally begin his big day with a 13-yard scoring pass to Sunjaya Peoples.
Nisa finished the game completing 15 of 27 for 132 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for an additional 38 yards on four carries.
“He’s special,” Miller said about his quarterback. “He never gets rattled. He never gets too high, never gets too low, you never have to worry about him making a bad decision. So I knew if we could hit some of our playmakers, we could get back in the game. And he did. He delivered the ball and ran when he needed to. He’s a good one.”
The blocked field goal followed on the ensuing drive. The Eagle offense quickly drove down the field and scored on a two-yard run by Micah Rivers to make the score 23-17 at the end of the third quarter.
The opening two minutes of the fourth quarter got very chaotic. Nisa and Peoples connected again over the middle from 35 yards out to finally give Eaton the lead it had been chasing all game, 24-23.
It only took one play from scrimmage for Central to reclaim the lead, when Spencer Martin broke through the line right up the middle and raced 82 yards to paydirt. However, on the ensuing kickoff, Novonty came up with his big return to the Charger 16 yard line. That set up Rivers to score again from four yards out just three plays later to tie the game at 31-31.
The fourth quarter got even more intense after that, with both teams looking for that one last big play. At one point the Eagles fumbled the ball away, but then got an interception in response from Ramsey Villareal.
Finally, Eaton got the ball with just over a minute to go. They quickly faced a crucial third and 14, but Nisa took care of it himself with a 19 yard scramble for the first down. After picking up one more first down, it was all on the leg of Ertle. It was a bobbled snap at first but it was held right just at the last moment, and the ball cleared the crossbar by just enough to give the Eagles a walkoff win with a score of 34-31.
The win improves Eaton to 3-2 midway through the season, and a 2-1 district record to keep them very much alive in the playoff hunt. Meanwhile, Central drops to 3-3 overall and 1-3 in district, which leaves them well behind the eight-ball in the playoff race. Central will need plenty of help to reach the playoffs from this point.
