The Northside Eagles opened their 2011 campaign Friday night with a 35-7 victory over the visiting Union Grove Wolverines. Senior Jack Montgomery made his first varsity start at quarterback for the Eagles, but for those who didn’t know this, they would have assumed that he was a returning three year veteran. Montgomery finished the night by completing 13 of 18 passes for 172 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Eagles fumbled the opening kickoff and the Wolverines recovered on the Northside 23, but the Eagle defense did not yield a first down as they held Union Grove to no gain on a fourth and one running play to give the ball to Montgomery and Eagle offense on their own 14 yard line. Montgomery led the Eagles on a 10-play / 86 yard touchdown drive that ended with senior Marte Polk running it in from the seven yard line for a touchdown at the 6:02 mark of the first quarter. On the drive, Montgomery was 5 for 5 passing the ball for 55 yards. The offense picked up six first downs on the drive. After the Eagle defense forced a three and out, the offense took over at their own 49. Ten plays later, the Eagles were in the endzone again; this time Montgomery hooked up with Keshun Hill for a 26 yard touchdown pass with 11:06 left in the second quarter. Senior Dillon Mixon connected on his second of five PATs to make the score 14-0. Union Grove was forced into two more ‘3 and outs’, and on the second, Hill electrified the Northside crowd with a 61 yard punt return for a touchdown with 6:04 left before halftime. Mixon’s PAT made the score 21-0 in favor of NHS. The Eagle defense forced ‘3 & outs’ on all six Union Grove first half possessions. After the last one, the Eagles took over on their own 43 yard line with less than a minute before halftime. Montgomery scrambled out of bounds for six yards. He then hit Marte Polk on an 8 yard pass and the Eagles called time out with about 2 seconds left on the clock. On the final play of the half, Montgomery hit Hill in stride on a crossing route, and Hill picked up a couple of great blocks down field and raced all the way into the endzone from 43 yards out as the clock read 0:00. Mixon added the PAT to give the Eagles a 28-0 halftime lead. Through the first 2 quarters, the Northside defense had limited Union Grove to 14 yards of total offense and no first downs.

On the Wolverines second possession of the second half, the Eagle defense gave up the only points of the night when Union Grove connected on a 67 yard touchdown pass. With 23 seconds left in the third quarter, the Eagles added their final touchdown on a 6 yard run by Curtis Martin. Mixon’s final PAT of the night made the final score 35-7. The Eagle defense ended the game holding Union Grove to less than 100 yards of total offense while the Eagle offense rolled up 328 yards led by Keshun Hill’s 130 receiving yards and two touchdowns on eight receptions in addition to his 61 yard punt return for a touchdown.

The Eagles are at home again next week when they take on the Kendrick Cherokees of Columbus, GA.