By ADAM WELCH
pressbox1.com

GLEASON - West Carroll coach Wade Maddox had the date where his War Eagle football team played at Gleason circled on his calendar.

After all, the Bulldogs spoiled West Carroll's homecoming last year and add to that the fact that Maddox is from Gleason. That just fueled West Carroll as it captured a big 14-0 victory over host Gleason. The win boosts the War Eagles to 3-0 on the year which sets up Thursday's meeting between unbeatens when McKenzie, 3-0, visits the Nest.

“I thought our defense played well tonight for the most part," Maddox said. " I thought we were fairly physical.”

The game started off well for the War Eagles. After West Carroll put the clamps on the Bulldogs defensively, its offense took over. West Carroll Letrell Huff ran the option well throughout, with an 11-yard run to start.

“Letrell ran the option really well," Maddox said. " For a Junior High kid it’s not the easiest thing to do."

Darwin Martinez then followed with runs of 4 and 7 yards. The Eagles Jamal Glenn finished off the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run to give West Carroll an early 6-0 lead. Gleason’s offense would try to find success in the second quarter. The Bulldogs' Blake Taylor found openings on the trap play that gave the Eagles some problems.

"There were a couple of things we maybe weren’t quite ready for, a couple of things we didn’t adjust to," Maddox said.

But Bulldog fumbles were costly and turnovers ended what could have been productive drives. Later in the second quarter, the Bulldogs drive stalled as Matt Moore's stop on the double reverse ended any Gleason threat. The Bulldogs did have scoring opportunities however. With time ticking before the half, Taylor picked up 14 yards on the scramble. Taylor then found Ian Leggens in the flat to the Eagle 12, after a West Carroll personal foul. But West Carroll’s Glenn, key on the defensive side as well, came up with an open field stop to end the half. This gave West Carroll a 6-0 lead going into half and, more importantly, momentum for the second half.

West Carroll wasted little time making a statement to start the second half. The Eagles’ Glenn picked up 11 yards on the first play from scrimmage. Then Glenn scored on a 43-yard cutback run to paydirt. Glenn finished with well over 100-yards for the night. Martinez two-point conversion plunge was good giving the Eagles a 14-0 lead. Martinez was also key in the win.

“Darwin had some hard runs tonight," Maddox said.

West Carroll’s top priority in the second half was keeping the Bulldog offense off the field. Mission accomplished. It controlled the time of possession. The Eagles’ also had a touchdown called back on a holding call. Later in the game, Huff made an incredible catch in the back of the end zone, which was ruled out of bounds.

The stage is now set for unbeaten West Carroll's visit from unbeaten rival McKenzie next Thursday at the Eagles’ nest.

“We played through some adversity tonight. We played through some mistakes. If you can get pressure and force turnovers you’ll be okay," Maddox said. "We’re going in 3-0. Hope the crowd comes out next week. They are going to have a good team. McKenzie is always tough.”