EAGLES RUNNING BACK Anthony Price tries to break through the grasp of two Rusk defenders. The Fairfield high school Eagles outplayed the Rusk Eagles all night, but wound up with a 10-14 loss when the final buzzer sounded Friday night.

Rusk could not mount a sustained drive against the FHS squad and got its scores from a long run and a fumble return.

The Fairfield Eagles, on the other hand, controlled the ball most of the night but were unable to turn their possessions into enough points.

"I felt for the kids," FHS head coach Darrell Piske says. "They played good enough to win."

The two teams traded punts on their first possessions and the Eagles seemed to be on the move early in the opening stanza when a drive was killed with a personal foul penalty. Wide receiver Tevin Green was ejected from the contest when he slapped a Rusk player on the facemask after a play was blown dead.

Fairfield athletic policy requires that an ejected player sit out the next week also.

Rusk took over on their own 30 yard line and moved the ball four yards in two plays until running back Terral Carter broke free for a 66-yard touchdown sprint. Kicker Ricky Rojo added the extra point for a 7-0 score with 2:09 minutes on the first quarter clock.

A bad snap stalled the next Fairfield possession deep in their own territory, but punter Justin Terry put Rusk in a hole when he boomed a 64-yard kick to the 13-yard line on the opposite end of the field.

The Rusk team managed a first down before punting away to set up a Fairfield scoring opportunity midway through the second quarter.

Fairfield took over on the Rusk 30 after a 15-yard punt and gained a first down on runs by Chris Burns. A penalty for illegal substitution and a bad snap that threw off a pass play caused the drive to stall.

Field goal kicker Rudi Castillo was called out for a try from the 23, an offside penalty moved it back to the 28 and Castillo's effort missed.

The Eagles ended the next Rusk possession with an interception by defensive back Colby Green, giving Fairfield possession at the Rusk 42 yard line.

Fairfield moved to the 20 yard line immediately on a 7-yard pass from Willie Tatum to Lamar O'Brien, lengthened when Rusk was called for a facemask penalty.

From there, Burns, Darian Scott and LaDarius Brackens advanced the ball to the six yard line and Tatum took it the remaining distance for a touchdown. Castillo added the extra point to tie the tally at 7-all with 41 seconds remaining in the half.

Early in the third quarter, the Eagles put together a 13-play drive deep into Rusk territory until a fumble by Tatum was picked up by Rusk defensive back Derrick Sanders and returned 72 yards to score. The extra point kick by Rojo put the FHS squad behind 7-14 with 1:17 left in the quarter.

Sanders was able to return the fumble because the ball popped into the air when a Fairfield player tried to recover it, and Sanders caught the ball in midair.

Fairfield was not deterred, though, and proceeded to mount a drive that ended with a 39-yard field goal by Castillo to narrow the margin to 10-14 with 9:37 left in the game.

Starting from their own 35 yard line after a 25-yard kickoff return by Anthony Price, the Eagles notched two first downs on two consective plays.

Burns ran for 13 on the first play, Price gained 39 on the next play. Tatum lost eight, then gained 16, and Price added seven that came up just short of another first, necessitating the field goal try.

The Eagles got the ball just once more about midfield when the Rusk punter accidently touched a knee to the ground when fielding the snap, but could not get any traction.

Rusk mounted its longest sustained drive of the night, eight plays, to run out the clock by kneeling twice.

"Offensively, we played well. They had nine guys in the box and couldn't stop us," Piske says.

Defensively, the Eagles shut down the Rusk offense most of the night.

"We need to take advantage of the chances we get and we need to create some breaks," the coach says.

Fairfield defensive back Andrew Myers was injured on the last play of the first half while making a rolling tackle and will miss action this week.