Schools
Brentwood Second-Half Rally Falls Short Against North Callaway
Eagles trailed 26-0 but fought back late in Brentwood's final tune-up before districts.
KINGDOM CITY – A furious second-half comeback attempt fell just short for the football team Friday night, as the Eagles scored three late touchdowns, but couldn’t get the necessary fourth, in a 26-21 road loss against North Callaway.
The host Thunderbirds came out flying pretty high in the first half against Brentwood, soaring to a 20-0 halftime lead, while the Eagles couldn’t manage to get much done at all.
“We just didn’t play very good in the first half,” Eagles head coach Keith Herring said. “We got off to real slow start, and we were playing a couple of young guys at fullback and at middle linebacker, and we just didn’t play very good at the start.”
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Nor did Brentwood play particularly well at the start of the second half, as it allowed North Callaway’s Levi Morland to break loose for a 48-yard touchdown run—his second of the night—that extended the Thunderbirds’ lead to 26-0.
On the ensuing kickoff though, is when sophomore Jake Zivic gave the Eagles the jolt it needed to get back in the game, as he delivered a sensational 70-yard touchdown return that put Brentwood on the board and finally woke up his teammates.
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“They’d been kicking away from us all night,” Herring said. “So we moved our guys up and Jake finally got one and broke it for us. It was a huge play for us.”
And just to be sure his teammates knew he meant business, Zivic also delivered a big hit on Brentwood’s kickoff to North Callaway, which pinned the Thunderbirds deep in their own territory, and completely fired up the Eagles sideline.
North Callaway was clearly rattled. They had a quick three-and-out, and followed up with a short punt that gave Brentwood excellent field position on its next drive.
The Eagles took full advantage of their sudden good fortune by converting the short-field into points, when senior Rekardo Owens scored on a 2-yard run to cut the deficit to 26-14.
Brentwood pulled even closer midway through the fourth, when freshman Austin Koster scored his first varsity touchdown, on a 1-yard run, that made the score 26-21, with 8:18 left in the game.
“If we would’ve just played at all in the first half, we could’ve beat them by 50,” Herring said. “I really believe that. But the slow start just killed us.”
The Eagles actually got the ball back, with the chance to take the lead in the final minutes.
But they were unable to convert on a critical fourth down, and were forced to give the ball back to North Callaway, who ran out the clock to clinch itself the win.
The loss dropped Brentwood’s record to 3-4 on the season, and was the team’s second in a row, after having its three-game winning streak snapped last week in a .
This weekend will serve as a bye week for Brentwood, as it gets two weeks to get ready for the beginning of district play with a home game against Grandview on Friday, October 21.
The following week, Brentwood will close out its regular season with a road game against Principia on Saturday, October 29.
The two teams among the three (Brentwood, Grandview, and Principia) with the best records in district play will advance to the state playoffs, which will begin on November 2.
“It’s a new season for everybody,” Herring said. “It’s a time when everybody’s just got to get after it.”
The Brentwood home game against Grandview will kickoff at 7 p.m. on October 21, while the October 29 road game at Prin is slated for a 1 p.m. start.