Harrisburg holds off Creswell 14-13 for first win of season

The Eagles arrived in Creswell Thursday winless, while the hometown Bulldogs were exceeding expectations at 3-2.  But Bulldog head coach Paul Goldspink had warned that Harrisburg was better than their 0-4-1 record.  The Eagles proved Goldspink right, scoring 14 unanswered points to take a 14-7 lead in the second quarter and holding on for the down-to-the-wire 14-13 victory.  (The Bulldogs were also missing several key players because of injury and illness, which caused somewhat of a domino effect in the starting line-up.)

Creswell opened the game by driving down the field methodically with their run-dominant Double Wing offense, rushing the ball 12 times in a row on their way to the endzone and a 7-0 lead.  Harrisburg responded on the kickoff return, advancing the ball to the 48 for great starting position.  The Eagles then showed the merits of their own quirky run offense--with three running backs lined up in an I in the backfield (I have no idea what it's called-if you do, let me know!)--and marched the 52 yards to tie it up at 7-7.

When Creswell got the ball back, it looked as though they couldn't be stopped, but when the Bulldogs went for it on fourth down deep in Eagle territory, Harrisburg sacked quarterback Lex Harrold for a big loss and a turnover-on-downs at the 18.  Harrisburg scored again-this time through the air (the Eagles only had one passing TD in '09) and took a one touchdown lead.

Creswell ended the half on a drive that started with just :52 left on the clock, but the Bulldogs quickly tore apart the Eagle defense on the ground to get into scoring territory, and then Harrold threw a pass into coverage in the endzone.  The pass was deflected, but not intercepted, and fell perfectly into the hands of the Bulldogs' Nick O'Connell (who scored on both a reception and an interception two weeks ago)  for the touchdown with :02 left in the half.  But the extra point was missed wide and the Eagles held the halftime lead and final margin, 14-13.

Creswell had a chance to take the lead on a time-consuming drive late in the fourth quarter, but another error in the kicking game-this time a bad snap-stifled the Bulldogs' chances and allowed Harrisburg to run out the clock and get in the win column for the first time in 2010.

Calling the game was definitely a challenging adventure for me as I never even got a starting line-up for the Eagles, and their white jerseys with silver numbers made it next to impossible to tell who was who under the lights.  The bunched offensive formations didn't make it any easier on either side of the ball in my second football broadcast ever...but luckily only one person was listening consistently!  All-in-all though, while I do have a  l    o    n     g  way to go, it was an entertaining game & challenge, and a decent second attempt at football play-by-play for me.  

Play-by-play can be a very tough industry to break into, and I don't know exactly where this will go, but I'm ok with that.  What I do know is that I'm following a longtime dream of calling football and I'm having a lot of fun, so that alone is very cool.

***Ps-If you are listening to my live broadcasts, be patient with the connection.  My wireless card is not extremely reliable out in the cuts, but it usually will reconnect if it's having problems, and I'm working on improving the connection.***