The End Zone

Was it sloppy? Maybe, but Eastlake head coach Gene Dales certainly didn’t care Saturday after his Wolves grabbed a 34-20 victory over Inglemoor. He was just happy Eastlake moved on to the round of 32 after an injury-plagued season.

“You can call them ugly wins, but you know what, in our situation just making sure we have 11 guys on the field in the right spots right now and playing well is a compliment to our kids,” Dales said.

Dales said after the game that his team has cycled through six offensive tackles this season. Two linemen went down with broken legs in the Skyline game. The Wolves are currently starting three first-year varsity players in the middle of the line, including sophomores Kepa Hughes and Gino Bresolin, and junior Alex Gray.

Tight end Austin Reifeis, who continues to draw Division I attention, has been bothered by a pinched nerve in his neck hurting it in the fourth game of the season. Fellow tight end Matt Uhlar has also been battling a leg injury.

Here are some additional quotes that didn’t make the game story:

Eastlake head coach Gene Dales
“We haven’t talked to anybody about it, but we’re on our sixth offensive tackle. There’s not a lot of high school teams that could even get a line together after that, but we’ve lost six kids from the start of the season at offensive tackle. It hasn’t been guard, it hasn’t been center, they’ve been tackles.”

Running back Cam Hunt
“Real, real good. It felt like we’ve been through it all. All the losses we had just really helped us grow as a team and it just feels excellent to finally do it. It’s been our goal since the end of last season to get to the playoffs, so it just feels really good.”

“Our coaches are just coming up with some really nice plays that everyone feels confident about. We’re running them really well at practice right now, our energy is just really good, and our coaching is just excellent right now.”