Talihina crushes Commerce

By CRAIG HALL
TALIHINA—There would be no second-round failure for Talihina this year.

After falling to Woodland in the second round last year, Talihina was not about to let that happen again as the Tigers rolled into the quarterfinals with a 38-7 win before a huge crowd.

The Tigers made sure they would advance this year, outplaying the larger Commerce team with their usual tough defense and an offense that overcame turnovers and penalties.

Talihina’s defense actually posted another shutout. Commerce’s only points came on an 81-yard kickoff return after Talihina scored its second touchdown.

Other than the one score, Commerce drove inside Talihina territory twice, but came away empty.

Talihina held Commerce to only six first downs, allowed only 46-yards rushing and 67 through the air, with one completion good for 34 yards.

Photo by CRAIG HALL Talihina's Kane Owens stiff arms Commerce's Luis Arizpe during the 38-7 win Friday night.

Commerce’s leading rusher, Bryson Sullivan, rushed for 1,344 yards in the regular season, but was held to four yards on nine carries.

He did score on the long kickoff return, but was otherwise bottled up by the swarming Talihina defense.

Talihina countered on offense with another excellent game by quarterback Jordan Eagleroad and fullback James Brigance.

Eagleroad, who intercepted two passes on defense, scored the first touchdown on a 74-yard run, threw for 110 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 112 yards on 17 carries.

Brigance led Talihina with 114 yards on 14 carries, including a 56-yard run in the second half, and also caught one of the touchdown passes.

Talihina received a gift for its second touchdown on the first play of the second quarter. A long punt was fumbled by the Commerce returner and the ball was batted back into the end zone. Kane Owens recovered the loose ball and after Aaron Smith’s PAT, Talihina led 14-0.

The two-touchdown lead did not last long. On the ensuing kickoff, Commerce used two fakes before handing off to Sullivan. He made his way through the first wave of Talihina players and outran the opponents for the score.

That cut the lead to 14-7. Talihina increased the lead back to two touchdowns with only 36 seconds left before halftime on Eagleroad’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Brigance.

Midway through the third quarter, Talihina pretty much ended the suspense as Chris Capsey got behind Commerce’s defense, caught a pass from Eagleroad in stride and sprinted into the end zone for a 54-yard touchdown reception.

Smith added a 27-yard field goal early in the final period and Dakota Boren capped the scoring late in the game with a three-yard run.

The only negatives for Talihina was committing 11 penalties for 80 yards and turning the ball over twice on fumbles. Nine of the penalties came in the first half

Talihina did force Commerce into five turnovers. Eagleroad intercepted the two passes and Commerce fumbled three times, turning the ball over each time.

Talihina improves to 12-0 on the season and will travel to Hennessey next week. Commerce ended its season at 9-3.