Walker Valley Stampedes PURE Academy, 49-8

Roman Eulo Runs For Three Scores In Mustangs' Win

Friday, October 18, 2024
Richard Roberts

CHARLESTON, Tenn. -- After coming away with a huge Region 4-5A win over East Hamilton a week ago, the Mustangs were looking to keep up the momentum as the Progressing Under Restraints and Extremes Academy (PURE) Royals rolled into the MAC from Memphis Friday at Walker Valley.

The Mustangs held serve in a big way over the Royals scoring on all six first half possessions and added a second half score to walk into the weekend with a 48-0 win over PURE (1-7).

Led by junior quarterback Dosen Stum, the Mustangs racked up 360 of total offense. Junior receiver Roman Eulo had another large night with three first half touchdowns. Tate Rountree, Javan Hall and Hudson Makuch all pitched in with first half scores.

“We talked about everything we needed to do over these next three weeks was to prepare to win a region championship. This was one of those games that was kind of a trap game,” said Mustangs head coach Drew Akins. “They are a really talented football team. Obviously, they are huge. They are really respectful kids. It's a really cool program and the things they are doing for those kids is huge. I'm really happy to have those guys here.”

The Mustangs (7-2, 3-1 Region 4-5A) can now turn their attention to the season ending battle to decide the region championship Nov. 1 at home against McMinn County (5-4, 3-1).

“Mentally, we started preparing this week for it. It's a huge opportunity. I'm so happy to be back in a place where we have an opportunity to go win a region championship. We're going to have to prepare for a really good McMinn County team that is playing really well,” said Akins. “Their quarterback has come a long way from the start of the year. Their offensive line has gelled. Their defensive line is outstanding. We've got a lot of things we have to make sure that we prepare for. But, ultimately it's really cool to be back in that game with that opportunity.”

It took just four minutes for the Herd to put the first points of the night on the board thanks to Eulo's 17 yard TD run. Noah Campbell made it 7-0 with the extra point. Eulo followed up with a 6-yard run on Walker Valley's next touch.

Stum found Rountree twice on the Mustangs' third possession with the second completion good for a 5-yard score.

Javan Hall helped make it a 28-0 game zipping his way to paydirt from 35 yards out with just under three minutes left in the first half. Stum then found Makuch for a 22 yard scoring strike before Eulo posted his third TD of the game from 1-yard out.

“Ultimately, we wanted to come out and keep the momentum we had from last week,” Akins said. “To come out here and start the game the way we started and dominate the first half the way we did on both sides of the ball. I'm really proud of our guys and the way they came out and played and really dominated from the beginning.”

Akins sat his starters the second half allowing the younger Mustangs to gain valuable experience for future service.

The experienced Royals took advantage of the opportunity pushing 75 yards to break up the shutout on a 6-yard run by Duhan. The 2-point conversion made it 42-8 game.

“Their quarterback (Hersel Key) is a really good player. Their running back (Cam'ron Duhan) is a really good player. They are both outstanding players. But, again they are just respectful kids, outstanding kids. They fight. They have such a tough schedule where they are traveling all the time. They traveled all the way from Memphis,” Akins reminded. “It's really cool to watch them play. Their demeanor and their attitude throughout was really cool. It's something we can learn from. It's not always about a scoreboard. A lot of times it's about what this game can teach you and they do a great job with what this game can teach you.”

Jacob Kerley, who made the most of his time under center during Stum's injury absence, wasted no time showing he is the QB of the future for the Mustangs as he found a leaping Luke Hayden between a pair of PURE defenders that resulted in a 60 yards score that put the Mustangs out front 49-8 with 4:08 left in the third quarter.

From there the Mustangs held PURE out of the end zone the rest of the night as the continuous clock wound down to all zeros.

“It was a really good play. Luke (Hayden) and Jacob are both sophomores who have a lot of potential and a lot of future with us down the road. I'm really happy to see that,” bragged Akins. “You want to keep running more offense with your young guys. We threw the top play to Brody (Croomes) and we threw the vertical ball. We were just trying to run normal offense because we want those guys to get a good Friday night experience.

“It was the same thing with the defense just trying to make sure we get stops and get lined up and all those things. Those are things I think we did a good job doing in the second half. We challenged those young guys at halftime to go play hard and I think they did.”

GAME SUMMARY

PURE ACADEMY	0	0	8	0	-- 8
WALKER VALLEY	14	28	7	0	-- 49

First Quarter

WV — Roman Eulo 17 run (Noah Campbell kick), 8:13

WV — Eulo 6 run (Campbell kick), 1:35

Second Quarter

WV — Tate Rountree 5 pass from Dosen Stum (Campbell kick), 5:10

WV — Javan Hall 35 run (Campbell kick), 2:46

WV — Hudson Makuch 22 pass from Stum (Campbell kick), 1:25

WV — Eulo 1 run (Campbell kick), 0:18.9

Third Quarter

PA — Cam'ron Duhan 6 run (Sirkingston Jones-Wills pass from Hersel Key), 6:40

WV — Luke Hayden 60 pass from Jacob Kerley (Campbell kick), 4:04

STATS	PA	WV
First Downs	11	19
Rushes-Yards	30-159	30-165
Passing Yards	51	195
Total yards	210	360
Passing (Comp-Att-Int)	10-13-0	7-16-2
Fumbles-Lost	2-1	0-0
Penalties-Yards	8-50	5-45
Punts-Avg,.	1-25.0	1-38.0