It was a season opening shut out win for the Templeton Eagles, as they beat Tranquility at home, 46-0 on Friday.

The Eagles got off to a shaky start, fumbling on their first possession, but they quickly recovered their footing, and went on to shut out Tranquility High’s offense.

“We got off to a rough start; we’re driving in for a touchdown and we fumbled,” said Templeton coach Don Crow. “But we regrouped and got back in.”

The Eagles wouldn’t make that same mistake again, and on their next possession the team scored their first touchdown with just a little over three minutes left to play in the first quarter. On first and 10 on the 40-yard line, Eagles running back Ben Terry sailed in for the score, which was followed by the extra point to make it 7-0.

The next Eagles touchdown came on a 40-yard carry from junior running back Garrett Baldwin. With the extra point, the Eagles took a 14-0 lead to end out the first quarter.

“I couldn’t believe it at first, it was pretty cool,” Baldwin said of his first varsity score.

Crow said he was impressed with Baldwin’s performance in the game, and with the performance of fellow junior back, Kris Dearie. Baldwin carried eight times for 104 and three touchdowns and Dearie carried six times for 128 yards.

“Both Baldwin and Dearie have come in and stepped up for guys that are hurt and couldn’t play tonight,” Crow said. “We thought we’d have two seniors in those spots, but we played two juniors, and they did a great job.”

Tranquility stopped the Eagles attempt at another touchdown at the start of the second quarter with back-to-back sacks. On a third and seven on the 18-yard line, Tranquility’s Pedro Ramirez sacked Eagles quarterback Casey Bogart. On fourth and 14 on the 25-yard line, Johnny Gutierrez brought Bogart down again, and quelled the Eagles quest for a third touchdown.

Bogart was 5-for-6 for 64 yards in the game.

“It was a good first game, everyone got playing time, and came out and played well,” he said.

Bogart said that the team wouldn’t be able to make that type of fumble mistake at the start of the game against other teams.

“We definitely can not come out like that against some of our other opponents,” he said.

But the Eagles wouldn’t be stopped for long, as Terry ran it in again for his second touch down of the night on a 42-yard run to put his team up 20-0. The extra point failed.

Terry carried the ball eight times for 144 yards and two touchdowns. He also drove home four extra points at the Eagles’ kicker.

Baldwin got back into the act on the Eagles next possession, as he ran the ball up the middle for yet another touchdown, and with the extra point good this time, the Eagles ended the first half up 27-0.

The Eagles received the ball to start the third quarter and moved the ball into scoring position. On first and 10 on the 35-yard line, Baldwin carried the ball on a 30-yard run. Then Terry and Dearie on consecutive carries brought the ball to the first and ten on the 21-yard line for the Eagles. From there, Baldwin ran it in, nearly lost the ball, and then recovered it in the end zone for another touchdown, putting the Eagles up 33-0.

With Tranquility in possession of the ball, a fumble led to another score as Templeton’s Tanner Robinson pounced on the ball for a touchdown. With the extra point, the Eagles ended the third up 40-0 over Tranquility.

The Eagles Andrew Schechter caught the final touchdown of the night off a pass from junior quarterback Tyler Jones with just over six minutes left to play in the game. The Eagles ended the night with a 46-0 win.

The Eagles managed 19 first downs, for a total of 466 yards in their first game of the season.

While the Eagles managed an easy win, Crow knows mistakes made in this game — a fumble, and various penalties — will have to be shored up as the Eagles head into next Friday’s game at former Central Section rival Central Valley Christian.

“We have a lot to improve on,” he said.

The Eagles travel to Visalia to play the CVC Cavaliers on Friday, Sept. 7. Game starts at 7:30 p.m.



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