East Flat Rock – East beat North Buncombe 28-22 then blanked Madison 42-0, also at home, in snapping a 16-game losing streak. Quarterback Lex Burns senses more team confidence. He said, “We’re climbing” up to respectability.
Head coach Colton Brackett is in season two of preaching “balls to the walls” full effort, and said the Eagles are “busting their asses.” The school’s basketball league title in 2023-24 success “sparked our entire athletic program,” Bracket theorized. Eagle fever is reviving.
Brackett, 32, an East alumnus, has drawn the most students for football tryouts since East’s golden era in the 2000s when he played. Sixteen of 22 starters return. Many are in their third year starting on varsity.
Brackett told the Eagles after their opening win that “you didn’t let down,” after yielding the first two scores. “We executed well,” he said of the triple option he newly implemented from a basic double wing formation using “pistol” snaps. East amassed most of its 368 total yards on the ground. “We need to run the ball, to keep our defense off the field,” Brackett said.
He praised quarterback Burns (5-11, 185 sr.) for split-second decisions about who to get the ball to. “Lex is smart. He’s in the top ten of his senior class” with a 4.5 adjusted GPA. Burns said, “I’m ten times faster” than a year ago. He charged in for two scores on keepers in each game, one a 25-yarder. He rushed for 99 yards then 42 yards. He completed 10 of 12 passes for 187 yards and two scores versus Madison.
Schulz, Noel
Wingback Isaac Schulz (5-11, 180 jr.) is a pivotal playmaker. He led East with 103 rushing yards in week one, and with 76 (13 YPC) in week two. He scored the team’s first TD of the season on a pitchout. Later, he set up the go-ahead TD with a brilliant, zig-zagging 49-yard run to the Hawk three-yard line. He caught a TD pass against Madison.
Other runners are fastest Eagle Kayden Williams (6-0, 175 jr.), strong fullback Dakota Page (5-11, 185 sr.), all-Mountain Seven Leland Prutzman (6-0, 160 sr.), and Trace Crumpler (5-10, 150 jr.).
Slot receivers are Schultz and all-M7 Landon Noel (5-6, 140 sr.). Noel scored in the opener, dashing 23 yards down the left side. Noel caught a TD pass in week two. Wide receivers are Kynden Stephens (5-8, 130 sr.) and Eli Stokes (6-2, 150 jr.).
The all-junior offensive line, mostly third-year starters, has tackles Caleb Walker (6-2, 250) and Colton Riddle (6-1, 230), guards Gabe Jones (6-0, 230 jr.) and Noah Beddingfield (5-11, 230), and center Ben Justice (6-0, 240).
The kicker is Barclay George (5-9, 170 so.).
Defensive starters are linebackers Jones, Page, and Crumpler; NT Jacob Tekavec (5-11, 260 sr.), DEs Walker and Riddle; CBs Stokes and Triston Fritog (5-10, 160 jr.), strong safety Schulz, nickel back WIlliams, and free safety Prutzman once he returns from injury. “Leland’s our general, with his instinctive intensity,” Brackett said.
Kayden Williams recovered a Madison fumble, while Stokes had a “pick six.” Page snatched a blocked NBHS punt. Jones made sacks.
“Inspirational!” is how Jones termed winning the first two games. “Coach Brackett is challenging us to do our parts and be leaders.”
West and then Pisgah seem M7 frontrunners, Brackett said. “We’re gonna surprise a team or two.”