Eagles Celebrate Homecoming With Win Over Lincoln

The Eagles football team placed an exclamation point at the end of Holden’s Homecoming week by delivering a win over Lincoln in the final score of 42-6 on Friday, Sept. 20.

Senior running back Sam Comer ran for four touchdowns and 204 yards as Holden’s defensive pressure kept the Cardinals in check by providing multiple tackles for loss, a safety by senior defensive lineman Jacob Andes, and an interception by senior defensive back Kale Tryon who also had a key fumble recovery in the game.

“Our defense played outstanding,” said Holden football coach David Diener. “They kept being physical. They got turnovers. They gave up one play on a double move, and we knew they were really good at those types of things. That was one of their strengths, and for us to only let them connect once, I really thought our defense played great. So I was really proud of our defense, and then, Sam.

“Sam stood out tonight,” highlighted coach Diener. “We’ve known that he has that ability to slash, and he carried us tonight. That doesn’t take any credit away from Seth (Wright), from Brody (Bockover) for blocking for him, for our O line taking care of their front four and their quick backers. It took us a little bit to make sure that we could pick those guys up quick. Once we picked them up quick, then Sam was able to find seams pretty easy and get through and make big plays.”

Comer found the end zone on the first of his four touchdown carries at the 4:05 mark of the first quarter to open scoring in the Homecoming game. Comer’s carry gave Holden an early 6-0 lead following a missed extra-point kick.

With Lincoln pinned back near its own end zone early in the second quarter, Andes chased Cardinals quarterback Riley Sanders into the end zone with Sanders throwing an errant pass. An intentional grounding call on the play resulted in a safety credited to Andes, leaving the Eagles ahead 8-0 with less than a minute played in the second period.

A barrage of tackles made behind the line of scrimmage to go with Andes’s safety were provided by multiple Eagle defenders throughout the game with senior Sauren Folson totaling four TFLs, Andes and senior linebacker Trent Stout adding two TFLs apiece, and junior linebacker Tucker Kauffman, junior defensive back Chasen Hall, and freshman Jack Thomas each chipping in one TFL. Stout, Kauffman, and senior defensive back Danny Mailath each had two pass break ups as senior defensive back Kale Tryon added one pass break up and intercepted a Cardinal pass.

“That was a big emphasis we had,” said coach Diener of the defensive effort. “We knew that our D line is always going to play great, but we were needing our backers to step up and make some big plays for us. They absolutely did tonight. It was fun to see them run and have fun making plays because it takes practice, it takes game reps to get that done, but once they decided to run fast and play, they did. For them to get reward for that effort that we were wanting to see, that was big. I’m very proud of that front seven, and then our back four.

“Mailath came in and had a chance to step in and make some big plays for us filling a spot for Justin Brown this week,” continued coach Diener. “He got his first opportunity to play as a senior and he came through for us. I was also real proud of our safeties and Chasen. They had tough guys they were covering all night, and we did really good keeping them in front of us. Then, when they had one-on-one opportunities, we were able to still get the ball knocked down.”

Sophomore running back Brody Bockover kept the scoring going for Holden in the second quarter when he carried the ball for a five-yard touchdown run near the midway point of the second quarter. Folson tacked on the extra-point kick to put Holden ahead 15-0.

Five clock minutes later, Comer cashed in a 22-yard burst to pay dirt on a run to the end zone with Folson adding the extra-point kick.

The Cardinals would close out scoring in the first half on an 80-yard touchdown pass. A failed two-point conversion set the halftime score at 22-6.

Early in the third quarter, Tryon shut down a Cardinals drive by intercepting a pass.

Holden’s drive following Tryon’s interception ended with an Eagle punt by Kauffman. The Cardinals coughed up the ball as Tryon forced a fumble on the tackle on the punt return. Tryon fell on the fumble for a recovery inside the Cardinal 10-yard line.

Comer turned the fumble recovery into points on an eight-yard touchdown run for the only points posted in the third period.

“That was big because we had the penalty that cost us that drive coming right off the turnover, so to be able to get that done on the special teams play, that’s a big play,” said coach Diener of Tryon’s fumble recovery to set up Comer’s touchdown run. “We talk about our special teams wanting to set up a score, and they absolutely did that for us. I was really proud of our crew. That side of the ball we’ve been wanting to win in those phases, and we finally feel like we did in a game. That goes to a testament to their practice, and because we two-platoon, we can put varsity kids, varsity bodies on those special teams because they rest when the other team is on offense or defense. For those kids to step up and play hard on that play is an important part of having a successful playoff run.”

The fourth quarter belonged to Holden as Comer pinballed and spun through defenders on a 31-yard touchdown run with just over a minute played in the final period.

Bockover added a seven-yard touchdown run with 6:29 remaining on the clock. Folson kicked for the extra-point to set the final score.

Holden’s defense allowed only 142 total yards in the game with 80 of those yards coming on the one Lincoln touchdown pass. The defensive stat sheet of the Eagles includes, 11 TFLs, seven pass break ups, one sack, and one safety.

“That’s something we pride ourselves in wanting to be,” said coach Diener in regard to the physical defensive presence displayed by the Eagles. “When we have teams turn on the tape, we want to say man, people are going to feel us the next day, the next week. We really feel like that’s been a strength of ours. We’ve got some bumps and bruises of our own, but our kids keep coming each week on Friday and putting it together and playing hard. That’s what this game’s about, and we want that to be a calling card of ours because we know we’re going to play some physical teams in our conference.”

“Homecoming is extremely special,” added coach Diener midway through his fourth season as the head coach of the Holden football team. “Now that I’ve got players coming back for it, that’s now an exciting piece of it for me that I hadn’t had always before.

“The thing about Homecoming is you have home games, you have away games, but everybody remembers ‘24 Homecoming, and the players, these seniors, they’re going to remember games, but they’re always going to remember their Homecoming week. That’s a special moment for us to come out and play hard and have a great memory for them to look back on their high school career of the ‘24 Homecoming.”

Comer carried the ball 31 times on his way to his 4 touchdowns and 204 yards in the Homecoming win. Bockover carried 8 times for 2 touchdowns and 39 yards. Seth Wright carried 5 times for 22 total yards.

Quarterback Wes Brown completed 9 passes for 93 total yards.

Cohen Drake had a team-high 6 catches and 63 total receiving yards. Wright caught 1 pass for 16 yards, Ryan Hough caught 1 pass for 11 yards, and Evan Killion had 1 catch for 3 yards.

Hough handled 2 kickoff returns for 27 total yards. Bockover had 1 kickoff return for 25 yards. Homecoming King Kasyn Tevis had 2 punt returns for 20 total yards.

On defense, Stout led the Eagles with 9 total tackles (7 solo, 2 assists, 2 TFL). Kauffman totaled 7 tackles. With 6 tackles each were Tryon, Andes (2 TFL, 1 sack, 1 safety), and Folson (4 TFL). Mailath had 4 total tackles. Hall totaled 3 tackles. With 2 tackles apiece were Tevis and Thomas (1 TFL). Bockover, Jacob Roberts, and Latif Lusia each chipped in 1 tackle.

The Homecoming win evens Holden’s record on the season at 2-2 as the Eagles head into MRVC-East play for the remainder of the regular season.
The Holden football team opens conference play this Friday with a road game at Lexington. Game time is 7 p.m.