The stakes were high at the annual Stilly Cup football game on October 10th. Not only were the football boys reuniting with their old Stanwood rivals after dropping down to 3A this year but it was also the stage of the 2014 homecoming game. The motivation to defeat the Stanwood Spartans for the 5th year in a row now also doubled as a homecoming win and the varsity boys persevered.

In the 1st quarter, Stanwood’s opening drive was cut short after Senior Noah Andal (11) got a fumble recovery. This resulted in Arlington regaining possession and Senior Connor Bovard (22) scoring the first of many Eagle touchdowns. The Eagles missed the two point conversion so the score remained 6-0.

In the middle of the 1st quarter, another Stanwood drive was cut short by middle linebacker Senior Gareth Henderson (64) recovering a fumble by their running back, Junior Kyle Jackels (5). Then Junior quarterback Drew Kalahar (15) connected with Junior wide receiver Diarmuid Murphy (6) to make the score 12-0. The second two point conversion attempt was good after Kalahar threw to Senior Tristan Trotter (17) making the score 14-0.

After an uneventful second quarter, the Eagles returned in the second half to run the score up even higher. Stanwood came back with a ton of motivation and they came within 5 yards of scoring until Junior Hunter Gardoski (52) layed out Stanwoods’ Jackels just minutes into the second half. This was a pivotal moment in the game because it stopped their momentum and held the Spartans at zero.

In the 4th quarter, Trotter was able to run 14 yards for the 3rd touchdown followed by the extra point made good by Senior Anthony Parra’s (34) kick, resulting in a 21-0 lead over the Spartans. As if that lead wasn’t painful enough, to finish the Spartans off, Kalahar ran for 15 yards to raise the score to 27-0 and the kick by Parra was good. The Eagles were able to defeat the Spartans 28-0 for the homecoming game and 5th consecutive Stilly Cup win.