AUBURN — Anthony Prak ran for three touchdowns and the Noble defense intercepted three Edward Little passes in a 31-0 football win Friday night at Walton Field.
“He’s a good running back. They’ve got a good football team,” Edward Little coach Dave Sterling said. “They played very well, they executed well, and we just got to get a little bit better week by week.”
The Red Eddies’ (0-7) first drive ended with a touchdown — for Noble. Stuart Powers caught a pressured Jack Keefe fourth-down pass and took it 65 yards for a score.
“That was absolutely huge, to come out and get a pick-six and start the game that way was awesome,” Noble coach Keenon Blindow said. “It’s always great to see a D tackle go ahead and do that, and he’s got a ton of speed and works really hard, so it was great to see a captain get a pick-six. It was awesome.”
Noble’s (5-2) first drive also ended with a Knights touchdown, capped off by quarterback Dylan Mulligan’s 1-yard run into the end zone, giving Noble a 13-0 lead late in the first quarter. Mulligan was 8 for 14 passing in the game for 47 yards.
The Knights stopped the Red Eddies on three straight fourth downs in the second quarter, with two of those Edward Little drives fizzling out in Noble territory.
“It’s extremely hard (to finish drives),” Sterling said. “You all have to execute, you have to catch the ball, you have to make plays when you have the chance to make plays, and that’s part of football.”
Prak’s 41-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter gave Noble a 19-0 halftime lead.
Keefe passed well in the first half, completing 13 of 23 passes for 104 yards, but incompletions on Edward Little’s final four pass attempts before halftime ended a streak of seven straight Keefe completions and halted a chance for Red Eddies to carry some momentum into the third quarter.
“Coach (Evign) Dodge is our D coordinator, he does a great job, does a lot of good things, switching it up and changing up the coverages,” Blindow said. “We have that bend-don’t-break mentality, and they moved the ball a little bit on us on a few drives, but we came out, we stopped them, and we did some great things. So, great job by the defense.”
Edward Little tried to grab momentum back with an onside kick to open the second half, but Noble was able to hold onto the ball despite the Red Eddies believing they came up with a loose football. The Edward Little defense then forced consecutive three-and-outs but were unable to do anything on offense.
Prak ran for a second touchdown, from 28 yards out, one play after Alex Marchand intercepted an Edward Little pass. Prak’s third touchdown, from 10 yards out, came early in the fourth quarter and gave Noble a 31-0 lead.
“Anthony Prak is an incredible running back. He really is,” Blindow said. “He’s been doing great stuff. He averages over 140 yards a game, scores every game. He catches the ball well. He’s just an all-around great back, great kid. Also, great captain, great leader.”
Prak finished with 155 yards on 14 carries and also caught one pass for 16 yards.
For Edward Little, Keefe finished 16 of 31 for 113 yards. The Red Eddies were narrowly edged in total yardage, with 184 to Noble’s 193.
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