The annual Cedar County Bowl, as it almost always does, provided plenty of drama as the only two schools in the county battled it out for bragging rights and a traveling trophy.
The homestanding Stockton Tigers took back the coveted hardware from the visiting Bulldogs with a 34-14 opening night victory.
The Tigers showed early what kind of team they were going to be this year with a four-wide set for junior quarterback Jake Wheeler. He quickly engineered a pair of touchdown drives, both resulting in scoring passes to senior Skylar Fishburn, as Stockton took a 14-0 first quarter lead.
El Do answered back in the second period with two scores of its own on a 13-yard run by senior Ethan Dubois and a shocking 74-yard breakaway from senior Dayton Austin.
But the Bulldogs left 2:05 on the clock before half, enough time for Wheeler to run the hurry-up offense and find the end zone from 2 yards out to take a 20-14 advantage in the locker room.
The second half was virtually all Stockton as the Tigers added a third-quarter touchdown from junior Kendall Roberts and a 19-yard fourth-quarter pass from Wheeler to a leaping Brice Bird, right at the goal line.
Meanwhile, the Stockton defense kept El Do off the scoreboard as the likes of Daymond Beckett, Will Price, Austin Hutson, and Bo Walker were a game-long thorn in the side of Bulldog quarterback Riley Boyd and company.
“I liked what I saw in the second half,” said Stockton coach Shad Edwards. “When it got real humid, they showed a lot of grit. The key was starting off fast, and our kids showed a good attitude throughout the game.”
Wheeler finished the night 11 of 18 passing for 157 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also rushed for 69 yards and a score on 16 carried. Fishburn ended up with 96 yards and 2 TDs on 5 receptions. For El Dorado, Boyd had 66 yards on 10 carries and was 2 of 9 passing for just 43 yards and one interception. Austin added 101 yards on 9 attempts, most of them on his scoring run.
The one drag on the game for both sides was penalties. The Tigers were flagged 12 times for 85 yards and the Bulldogs 9 for 65.
Stockton goes on the road to Ash Grove for its Mid-Lakes Conference opener next week. El Dorado Springs entertains Pembroke Hill for its initial home game.
El Dorado Springs (0-1) 0 14 0 0—14
Stockton (1-0) 14 6 8 6—34
First quarter
S—Skylar Fishburn 15 pass from Jake Wheeler (Mason Brown run), 8:59
S—Fishburn 37 pass from Wheeler (kick blocked), 3:46
Second quarter
E—Ethan Dubois 13 run (run failed), 5:30
E—Dayton Austin 74 run (Trey Babcock run), 2:05
S—Wheeler 2 run (pass failed), 0:06
Third quarter
S—Kendall Roberts 1 run (Wheeler run), 6:08
Fourth quarter
S—Brice Bird 19 pass from Wheeler (kick failed), 7:53
