Seeley steps over Eureka

EUREKA - One step forward, two steps back for the Eureka Lions.

Every good move the Lions (0-2) made Thursday night against Seeley-Swan, they followed with a second they'd probably really rather not think about today.

The end result was a 20-6 loss to the visiting Blackhawks.

And a few more gray hairs for their coaches.

"At times, we did great," Eureka head coach Ed Newell said.

"But it has to be all the time, not sometimes," he said.

"We'd get 20 yards and the next time we'd get a two-yard loss, because for whatever reason we'd decided to turn it off for that play. You can't be a good football team and do that.

"Until we decide to do that, we're going to have a lot of painful nights like this.

"We need to do some soul searching and see where we're at."

"They did make some big plays," Newell said of the Blackhawks.

On the other side of the field, the Seeley coaches were counting every lucky penny they've ever come across - because just about every break went their way.

The Blackhawks snapped the ball over quarterback Nathan Stone's head four times - they recovered all four. They were in third-or fourth-and-long situations just about all night long - and converted every one that mattered.

Time and time again, the Lions had Seeley backed up only to let the Blackhawks off the hook.

Stone was 13-of-19 on the night for 194 yards, no interceptions and three touchdowns, all to tight end Cody Kuhlews.

On the Lions' side, they did some good things - they drove deep into Seeley's territory on their first possession of the night, but turned the ball over on downs. They returned a punt 52 yards to the Seeley 21-yard line, but failed to advance from there.

Still, at half, the game was knotted at 6-all.

And things looked ready to turn Eureka's way when Cory Greenwood gained 16 yards on a reverse on the first play of the second half - but the Lions fumbled the chance away on the second play.

It was two steps backward, one big step forward for the Blackhawks

Seeley-Swan recovered the fumble and immediately went backward 15 yards. But on third and 25, it completed a 31-yard pass.

Then the Blackhawks backed up another 17 yards, but gained back 15 yards and a first down on a pass interference flag.

Two short gains put them on the Eureka 12. Stone found Kuhlews four plays later to go up 13-6.

"When it's fourth and eight, we should not be giving up a 13-yard touchdown," Newell said.

"You just can't do that. We had the right defenses called. We had a stunt called, the right guys didn't stunt, so we didn't have the pressure we needed.

"We've just got to decide to do things the right way. It was the first time in my life I didn't know what to call - because at times it would work and at times it wouldn't. It was like we could turn it off and turn it on."

Seeley-Swan 20, Eureka 6

Seeley Swan 0 6 14 0 - 20

Eureka 0 6 0 0 - 6

Second Quarter

S - Cody Kuhlews 32 pass from Nathan Stone (kick failed) 9:18.

E - Tanner Newell 1 run (run failed), 2:14.

Third Quarter

S - Kuhlews 13 pass from Stone (Shawn Evans kick), 6:54.

S - Kuhlews 35 pass from Stone (Evans kick), 2:33.

S E

First downs 8 9

Total Net Yards 160 217

Rushes-yards 41-148 30-23

Passing 12 194

Comp-Att-Int 1-10-12-2 13-19-194-0

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 4-1

Penalties-Yards 5-45 8-56

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Seeley,David Cahoon 21-65, Nathan Stone 5-minus 31, Shawn Evans 2 -minus 2, Kameron VonHeeder 1-0. Eureka,Chad Price 12-17, Jesse Johnson 5-20, Dalton Williams 8-29, Tanner Newell 15-57, Cory Greenwood 2-25.

PASSING-Seeley, Nathan Stone 14-19-194-3 . Eureka, Jesse Johnson 1-3-12-0, Tanner Newell 0-7-0-0

RECEIVING-Seeley . Eureka, Luke Truman 1-12.

MISSED FIELD GOALS- None.