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Eureka defense making a statement in Class B football playoffs

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EUREKA — The Eureka football team has found its rhythm as the 2021 season has gone on. In the third game of the season, the Lions lost to Fairfield 26-19. Fast forward to now, the Lions are making a statement, beating Fairfield in the first round of the playoffs and are looking to continue that momentum.

"As a team we all came together better and the coaches plugged in and  we all plugged in and started working with each other instead of against each other," said senior defensive lineman Gavin Pilkington.

A lot of that momentum came from their defense, averaging 2.5 sacks a game and have not allowed over 15 points a game since their lost against Fairfield.

"We have always considered ourselves a hard hitting team and we always pride ourselves on not letting the other team score as much as they normally do. We right goals every Wednesday in the meeting room and we always try and get a big 0 out of the opponent so we can make it easy for our offense," senior linebacker Danny Dunn said.

The Lion defensive line has built a great resume of shutting out opponents, and even though playing defense doesn't always get the recognition, they know they have to do their job to get the win.

"They always pride the defensive tackles on doing their jobs cause whenever they do their job then other people get tackles and they don’t always get the recognition that they deserve," said Dunn.

And as much as they are physically making the stops they are doing just as much work mentally.

"If they start to score we just have to fix our mindset and hold them back and stay focused," senior defensive back Joey Kindel said.

The Lions will continue to have that mindset as they are now advancing to the quarterfinals, and this will be four years that these seniors will not forget.

"I mean it will be sad when we go our separate ways, but hopefully we can end it on a good note with the championship," senior defensive lineman Johnny Fehr said.

"No matter how it goes it is just going to be a memory that I will never forget," added Pilkington.

The Eureka Lions football team will be taking on Big Timber this Saturday for the quarterfinals.