Enochs running back Myles’ 3 first-half touchdowns secure Sylvan Bowl trophy over Beyer
Everything went right for Enochs High School football Friday night.
The Eagles scored five first-half touchdowns, cruising past Sylvan Bowl rival Beyer with a 42-15 victory at Downey High School.
Enochs now has won six straight games against Beyer, dating back to 2018. For the time being, the Sylvan Bowl trophy will stay two miles down the road from Beyer.
“It feels great,” Enochs head coach Tracey Traub said. “As long as I’m here, I want to take that trophy home every year.”
Senior running back and wide receiver Eric Myles may have stolen the show early in the game. The track star-turned-football player rushed eight times for over 70 yards and three touchdowns in the first half.
“That guy is Speedy Gonzales, man,” Traub said. “You just got to get the ball in his hands. The guy makes one, two cuts and he’s gone. It’s hard to catch him.”
Myles didn’t even want to play football this year due to the risk of injury to his track career. He doesn’t regret playing, not only because of his monstrous opening-night performance but because he gets to spend his senior year playing with some of his closest friends, he said.
“My goal is to be a motivator for the team,” Myles said. “I’m playing football to have fun with my friends and be around everybody that I love. I just hope that I can help and uplift everybody else around me and at least make the playoffs and get a high ranking at CCAL.”
He felt the pressure before the game.
“At first, coming into the game, I was really nervous; it was the first game of senior year,” said Myles. “We all played good as a team. I’m so proud of all my linemen, my blockers. They did everything. I couldn’t do anything without them.”
Senior quarterback Johnny Staggs connected with senior wide receiver and tight end Anthony Brown seven times in the first half, including the game’s first score.
“Really proud of Johnny, he’s doing a great job leading the team,” Traub said. “Our O-line did a great job protecting him as well.”
Staggs also threw for over 100 yards to senior wide receiver and defensive back Brennan Whitten Jr., including a 92-yard touchdown within the first two minutes of the third quarter.
“I was looking, and the middle of the field was wide open, so I just checked my route to Brennan Whitten Jr., and we were on the same page,” Staggs said.
He felt relieved to start the season with an important win. “We’re going to celebrate a little bit tonight, but we gotta get back to it Monday and act like it didn’t happen,” Staggs said. “Making it to the playoffs is the main goal here.”
Enochs is determined to get back to the postseason for the first time since 2021, Traub’s first season as head coach.
For the Patriots, the final score reflects a tough number of years for the program. They’ve won only one game in the past two seasons, but coach Mike Young likes the “fight” he sees in his team.
“We started finding a groove in the second half,” he said. “The first half, we just couldn’t get anything going on offense; they got a really good team over there, especially on defense.”
The Eagles’ offense scored 35 points in the first half, while the defense didn’t allow a single first down to the Patriots in the half.
“We knew it was going to be a tough matchup,” Young said. “Really liked that my team didn’t give up, they kept fighting at the end. That says a lot about where we are.”
Young said he looks forward to next week when his team takes on Merrill West. “I think everything that we were doing in the first half that we couldn’t get going, it was coachable stuff,” he said. “We need to clean up some things on our side. We’ll get on that, and we’ll address that.”
Enochs takes on Ripon next Friday. “Ripon’s tough, they’re a playoff team,” Traub said. “We’re going to have to step up and we’re going to have to practice and be intense this whole week.”
With momentum on their side and a desire to end their playoff drought, the Eagles are gearing up for what could be a defining season.
This story was originally published August 24, 2024 at 5:22 AM.