Josh Kaiser of Edward Little High School sacks Cheverus quarterback Marc Reali during the second quarter in Auburn on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

AUBURN — Speed got the better of power early, but power won in the end.

Cheverus wasn’t fazed by an early two-touchdown deficit, and the Stags’ size advantage eventually wore down hot-starting Edward Little in a 49-26 Class A North football win at Walton Field on Friday night.

“I think we had to catch up with the speed of their wide-open game, and then once we got a look at — kind of the hard way — and got a look at a couple of things they were doing, we were able to kind of play our game,” Cheverus coach Mike Vance said.

The Stags (4-2) ran for 191 of their 296 rushing yards in the second half, starting with a 56-yard touchdown by Sean Tompkins on the first play of the third quarter. The extra-point was blocked, but the six points was still enough to tie the game 20-20.

The Cheverus defense then sacked Red Eddies (2-4) quarterback Leighton Girardin, and Teigan Lindstedt intercepted him on the next play and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown.

After stuffing EL on a fourth-and-inches play on the ensuing drive, the Stags needed just two more plays — both runs — to score again. Lindstedt rumbled 84 yards to cap off the brief drive, giving Cheverus a 34-20 lead.

“That’s what we do. We’re not a spread team. We want to run the football, and our kids did what it took to run the ball tonight,” Vance said. “You know, we did a good job. The offensive line did a very good job.”

“They were bigger than us, and they used that advantage to push the ball down the field,” EL coach Dave Sterling said.

Cheverus quarterback Marc Reali made the most of his only completion of the second half, finding Vick Marrone for a 45-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter.

“I would say that there were some very important plays in the passing game for us tonight,” Vance said. “We don’t throw the ball a lot, but we were able to capitalize a couple of times, so that was big.”

Reali entered the game with only 16 completions through the Stags’ first four games, but he added six more Friday night, including three for touchdowns.

The Stags instead have relied on the triple-threat of Tompkins, Lindstedt and Ian Trafford, who entered the game with the third, fourth and fifth-most rushing yards in Class A North. Trafford got his share of carries in the game, but didn’t factor into the scoring.

As they have all season, the Red Eddies leaned on Girardin. The senior signal-caller opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run on EL’s opening drive, then added a 54-yard touchdown pass to Josh Hamel on the next drive after Cheverus went three-and-out.

“We got the ball to the edges, we opened up the game throwing the screen to the outside to get them to stretch horizontally, and then that opened the plays to go down the field vertically,” Sterling said.

Reali’s first scoring pass cut the Stags’ early deficit to 14-7 just over four minutes into the second quarter. But Girardin answered with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jonathan Knight — who earlier had intercepted Reali in the end zone.

Reali found Marrone from six yards out late in the second quarter to make it 20-14, which was the score at the half.

Girardin rounded out EL’s scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and Lindstedt later ran in from one yard out.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

Nick Davis of Edward Little High School pressures Cheverus quarterback Marc Reali during the second quarter in Auburn on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Jonathan Knight of Edward Little High School cuts across the middle after a first half reception during Friday’s game against Cheverus in Auburn. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Jonathan Knight of Edward Little High School reacts after he intercepted a first half Cheverus pass in Auburn on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Josh Hamel of Edward Little High School hauls in a first half pass that he ran in for a touchdown to put EL up 13-0 during Friday’s game against Cheverus. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Edward Little High School quarterback Leighton Girardin runs behind the blocking of Josh Kaiser during the first half of Friday’s game against Cheverus. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Kevin LaChance of Edward Little High School walks back onto the field after talking to his coach during the first half of Friday’s game against Cheverus. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)