Thomas, Eagles’ offense take flight against Tonopah
Spring Mountain football coach Aaron Masden sensed during practice this week that quarterback Marcus Thomas was becoming more comfortable at the controls of the Eagles’ spread offense.
It’s easy to see why.
Thomas passed for 226 yards and six touchdowns as the Eagles rolled to a 72-13 Division IV Southern League win over visiting Tonopah on Friday.
“He’s just putting together the offense and getting more comfortable back there,” Masden said of Thomas. “He’s working really hard in practice and got a lot of really great support from his teammates encouraging him along. It’s really coming together nicely.”
Thomas completed 14 of 22 passes without an interception. The junior added 84 yards on 12 carries, including a 41-yard TD run.
Spring Mountain’s Christopher Munro caught five passes for 69 yards and two TDs, and Dwayne James had three catches for 54 yards and two scores.
Thomas also hit Trivarrea Webb with a 30-yard TD pass.
Bruce Travis-Collins ran nine times for 47 yards and a TD and had three catches for 69 yards and a score for Spring Mountain, which used a 38-point second quarter to build a 44-7 halftime lead.
Ashley Christmas carried six times for 94 yards for the Eagles (3-1, 1-1), including a 64-yard TD.
Spring Mountain’s Isaiah Brooks scored on a 9-yard run on the game’s final play. The senior also ran for a pair of 2-point conversions and made an interception as a linebacker.
The Eagles offensive fireworks added up to 453 yards from scrimmage, including 227 rushing.
“We’ve got very good running backs, guys who can rotate through with great speed, good power, and they understand how to run the ball,” Masden said.
Masden was pleased with the way his players responded from a 62-28 home loss to Pahranagat Valley in last week’s league opener.
“We were talking all week about getting the bad taste of the loss out of our mouths,” Masden said. “We wanted to make lots of improvements; we knew this would be a big game.
“We had a lot of really good practices, a lot of good conversations, and the guys worked hard and put it together.”
Seth Littlefield completed 5 of 12 passes for 117 yards for Tonopah (3-2, 0-2), including TD strikes of 33 and 58 to Spencer Littlefield.
Spencer Littlefield caught three passes for 98 yards.
