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• Southwest Ohio area H.S. football: Week 1 | YBS

OXFORD — Mike Wright tried to focus on the bright side of his Talawanda High School football team's season-opening defeat.

For the Braves, that was a solid second half in a 28-7 setback at the hands of visiting Eaton on Friday, Aug. 22, at Bowers Field.

"I was very proud of our kids in the second half," Wright said. "Considering all the youth and inexperience we had on the field, we very easily could have folded up our tents and let everything go by the wayside. But we didn't. We came out in the second half and played harder and better."

Talawanda played the Eagles even after intermission, but that wasn't nearly enough to grab a victory after Eaton rolled to a 21-0 lead in the opening two periods.

Senior quarterback Braden Park provided most of the Braves' offense. He ran 14 times for 93 yards and completed 9-of-25 passes for 56 yards.

"There's a lot of different emotions after a game like that," said Talawanda senior cornerback/wide receiver Josh Wright, who snagged an interception. "We just came out real flat in the first half and dug ourselves too big a hole. They kind of shocked us with their running game. We didn't think they'd run the ball like that."

Eaton played without standout runner Josh Slemker, who's been suspended for the first two games for disciplinary reasons.

Yet the Eagles racked up 218 rushing yards and got a 30-carry, 144-yard effort from junior Dalton Caudill in his first varsity start.

Caudill ran for one touchdown and had an 86-yard scoring burst negated by a penalty in the third quarter. Quarterback Austin Fudge scampered for a pair of TDs and hit Brandon Arahood with a 5-yard touchdown pass.

"We ran the ball pretty well," Eaton coach Ron Neanen said. "We wanted to let our offensive line take over a little bit in the first half, and I thought we did that. We came out intense and very ready to play.

"In the second half, I thought we came out a little flat and played a little sloppy," he added. "You can't do that against a good team like Talawanda. They'll come back on you in a heartbeat."

The Braves, who were limited to 192 total yards, tried to make a game of it after the break. Alex Calhoun recovered an EHS fumble, and that play led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Demarcus Dickerson late in the third stanza, closing the gap to 21-7.

Eaton lined up for a 22-yard field-goal attempt on its next possession, but an errant snap forced kicker Jonathan Simmons to throw a pass that was intercepted by Michael Jarvi at the goal line.

Talawanda, though, managed just one more first down the rest of the contest, which was delayed 40 minutes at the outset by inclement weather.

"It was a field-position game, and we didn't do a very good job in that regard," Mike Wright said. "Three of their scoring drives started inside our 30."

Fudge converted 9-of-13 throws for 83 yards for the Eagles, who host Edgewood next Friday. The Braves will be at Kings that night.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2194 or rcassano@coxohio.com.