Behind a dominating first quarter, East jumped out to an early 21-0 lead over Skyline and was never really challenged the rest of the way as the 4A Leopards laid a 49-20 thumping on the 5A Eagles.

East, which scored almost at will in the first half, used an overpowering rushing attack led by Parker Cracroft, Billy Takai and Brock Sine to stun their visitors.

"We were hungry," Cracroft said, referring to a season-opening loss to Fremont a week ago. "We were hungry for wins and we knew we had to come out and jump on them."

Cracroft and Takai each scored three touchdowns as East (1-1) built a 42-14 lead one possession into the third quarter.

"That's how we want to play," Cracroft said. "We think of ourselves as brothers and we stress playing like brothers."

For Skyline, it was another rude awakening to the 2007 season.

If things were bad against Bingham a week earlier, things got downright miserable as the Eagles paid a visit to the home of the Leopards.

While the Eagles tried to claw back into the game, things fell apart. After Kalama Molisi rambled into the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown late in the third, a penalty nullified the score and East's Brady McBride intercepted a pass on the next play to squash Skyline's hopes.

Those 42 points came on six scores on six straight possessions. The Leopards never punted in the game and, in fact, had only one possession end on downs.

"We're really happy with our performance offensively and defensively," East coach Aaron Whitehead said, while wondering out loud if East had beaten Skyline during the lifetimes of any current Leopard players. "We just fought real hard."

While the Leopards broke out their usual punishing ground game, East also unleashed a passing game.

With Eric Bohling completing 9-of-13 attempts for 183 yards, the Leopards kept Skyline off-balance throughout the game.

"We took it personal that we didn't have a good passing game last week," Whitehead said.

Bohling had just one touchdown pass, but it was a spectacular one.

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Just before halftime, East drove deep into Skyline territory and Bohling lofted the ball into the corner. An Eagle defender batted the ball away from the intended receiver, but Takai was in the right spot at the right moment as he dove, catching the ball just inbounds for a 35-14 lead.

That drive helped crush whatever momentum the Eagles had built in the second quarter. Kalama Molisi — who rushed for 131 yards on 16 carries — scored with 4:28 to got before the half and Kenny Schmidt snared a 77-yard pass from Lanny Papanikolas to make the score 28-14 and give Skyline a little life.

But that was as close as the Eagles would get as they fell to 0-2.


E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com

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