Eastern bows to Danville in regional final, closes book on historic season

Carson Francis, Staff Writer

Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.

LOGAN — Eastern has accomplished what was once unthinkable this season.

After only 10 years as an OHSAA-sanctioned football program, it’s safe to say the Eagles have officially cemented themselves as one of the premier programs in the state.

After recording a second consecutive undefeated regular season, Eastern tallied its most wins in program history en route to its first-ever appearance in a regional final — something that not almost nobody would’ve seen coming a decade ago.

“It’s been a long 10 years. We’ve been building every year. First it was getting to .500, then over .500, and then we finally won the league three years ago. Last year, we won our first playoff game, and now we’re here,” Eastern head coach Scott Tomlison said. “We’ve been taking steps. For the season that we had and to make the regional championship, we probably overachieved. But that sets us up well.”

As the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

Eastern (13-1) met up with Danville in a Division VII regional final at Logan High School in search of its first Final 4 appearance in school history on Friday.

Experience prevailed as the Blue Devils (12-2) — playing in their 11th regional final and third straight — got the best of the Eagles and dominated from the start, cruising to a 40-6 victory.

There’s no doubt the loss stings for Eastern’s football community. But it doesn’t take away from the joy the Eagles supplied throughout the season.

“This was a great learning experience for us. Now, we know what we need to do to get back here, take the next step and win this next time,” Tomlison said. “We bring everybody back next year. Everyone’s coming back who we need to come back, and we’ll look to make the same run and get to Canton.”

Eastern went almost nowhere on its opening drive and was forced to punt. To make matters worse, the punt was shanked and traveled only six yards, allowing Danville to set up at Eastern’s 32-yard line with 10:24 left in the first quarter.

From there, the Blue Devils only needed one play to deliver the first blow. 

Cyren Wallace carried the rock, bounced outside and dashed 32 yards to the end zone. Wallace then crossed the goal line on the two-point try, giving Danville an 8-0 lead with 10:15 left in the quarter.

While the Eagles were determined to fight back, they simply had no answer for Danville.

After a quick three-and-out, Danville got the ball back and went right back to work on the ground. Following multiple explosive runs, Aidan Burke finished off the drive with a four-yard touchdown at the 5:45 mark in the frame, making it a 14-0 advantage.

When Eastern came up empty on offense again, the Blue Devils capitalized again.

Quarterback Jacob Hackman took matters into his own hands and came up with a six-yard score. Hackman then ran in the two-point try to send Danville into the second quarter with a 22-0 lead. 

PHOTOS: Images from Eastern’s Division VII, Region 27 championship matchup

Seemingly dead in the water, however, Eastern wasn’t ready to quit yet.

With Danville’s offense at midfield, Hackman dropped back to pass before Boston Webb elevated and hauled in an interception, returning it to Danville’s 45-yard line with 10:09 left.

Unfortunately, the Eagles returned the favor, coughing up the football and giving it right back to the Blue Devils. But with an opportunity to put Eastern away early, Danville’s offense slipped up again.

After driving back into the red zone, Hackman rolled out to his right and fired a pass to the near sideline before Carson Peters jumped in front of it and took it 82 yards to the house at the 6:06 mark in the second, cutting the deficit to 22-6.

Danville responded with a one-yard touchdown run from Hackman right before halftime, giving the Blue Devils a 28-6 lead at the break.

Eastern knew it needed to act fast if it wanted to chip away at the deficit. But ultimately, that didn’t happen.

The Eagles were forced to punt on their first two possessions in the second half. After another shanked punt set Danville up at Eastern’s eight-yard line, Burke found the end zone once more from that spot, expanding the lead to 34-6 with 6:43 left — and Danville would bring that lead to the end of the frame.

The Blue Devils put the nails in the coffin on the first play of the fourth when Burke brought the rock in from 11 yards out to make it a 40-6 lead.

From that point on, anything Eastern could do was too little, too late. They could only watch as the clock ran out, putting a magnificent season to an end.

“I’m very proud of our guys for how they competed. They didn’t quit and they played hard,” Tomlison said. “Danville was fundamentally sound and did the little things better than we did. We can learn a lot from this game.”

Danville will advance to next Friday’s Division VII state semifinal against Jeromesville Hillsdale, a 44-14 winner over Cuyahoga Heights.

Meanwhile, Eastern sees, undoubtedly, its most successful season in program history come to a close and says goodbye to four seniors — Tucker Leist, Wyatt Richardson, Brady Moore, and Declan Davis.

“Our four seniors were huge. Brady Moore had a huge year on both sides of the ball. Wyatt Richardson became our go-to guy when we needed a big play,” Tomlison said. “Declan Davis played football for the first time ever this year. I begged him for years, and I finally got him out on the football field and he’s got an offer from Rio Grande. And Tucker Leist had a really good season receiving. They’re all four guys that you hate to lose.”

Those four leave the program on the heels of three playoff appearances, three SOC I titles and the most wins in program history.

And, despite a devastating end to the year, the Eagles believe that the best is yet to come.

“[The Eastern seniors] are great kids who helped lead us, but we’ve got a lot of young guys who are waiting in the wings to fill those shoes,” Tomlison said. “We’re looking to do the same thing as we did this last year, but we’ll be a year older then.”

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