Eagles’ fast start sets tone in playoff rout
Atascocita was looking to get off to a fast start against Hastings on Saturday.
The Eagles wanted to make sure they set the tone against the Bears after coming out slow last week against Channelview to start the playoffs.
“I think we started out the game like we wanted to,” Atascocita coach Craig Stump said. “You want to execute on offense when you start a game and I think we did that. We learned our lesson from last week where we didn’t come out at our best.” Mission accomplished. Atascocita won its 10th game in a row after rolling past Hastings 63-35 in a Class 6A Division I area around playoff game at NRG Stadium.
The Eagles (11-1) will play Cy-Fair (10-2) in a Class 6A Division II regional game at 2 p.m. Saturday at NRG Stadium. The Bears end their season 7-5.
This was the fourthstraight game where the Eagles scored at least 60 points in a game.
Atascocita outscored the Bears in the first half 35-14 to take a commanding lead.
Eagles junior running back Quincy Thompson had 11 carries for 115 yards with three touchdowns.
Quarterback Brice Matthews was 12-of-24 for 232 yards throwing three touchdowns for the Eagles.
Receiver Dylan Robinson had five receptions for 131 yards and one touchdown for the Eagles.
Stump was pleased with Eagles’ offensive flow throughout the game.
“It’s hard to say,” said Stump on whether this was the best offensive game of the season for the Eagles. “We have managed to score over 60 points a game our last four games and there’s a lot of juniors out there. I think that we still have a lot of things that we can improve on.”
The Bears were led by sophomore quarterback Joseph Manjack, who replaced starting quarterback Javon Williams in the third quarter after coming out with an injury.
Manjack finished went 13of-17 for 200 yards and threw one touchdown for the Bears.
The Eagles will now face their attention to the Bobcats, who won the Class 6A, Division II state championship last season.
“I hadn’t seen them yet, but we will get the film out and start watching them,” Stump said. “I know that they’re a different team than last year, but this year they have a different team just like we do. I think it’s about this year, but we’re going to take this week of practice and look to get better to prepare for them next week.”