LEON — Racking up 420 total yards of offense, Eureka stormed out of the gates and never looked back en route to a 46-6 victory over Bluestem in a Tri-Valley League matchup to open the season Friday night.
At 1-0 overall, the Tornadoes will take on another TVL foe, Caney Valley, on Sept. 13. That contest will be played at a neutral site in Chanute as EHS completes work on its stadium following last year’s tornado that struck the town. The Bullpups will enter that contest at 1-0 as well following a 42-6 victory at Cherryvale.
As for Bluestem, it dropped to 0-1 on the season as it remains home for a second straight game to entertain Cherryvale.
Eureka had control of Friday’s contest from the start, striking for 16 points in the opening quarter. That included a 10-yard touchdown run and a 15-yard scoring strike from Cade Larcom to Zach Hare.
The Tornadoes then blew the game wide open before halftime. Three long touchdown runs, including 40- and 93-yarders from Brent Escareno, allowed the Tornadoes to expand their advantage to 38-0 at the intermission.
Eureka tacked on one more score after the break on a 15-yard TD pass from Larcom to Hare.
Bluestem was able to avoid the shutout in the final period as Nicholas Laidler broke free for a 34-yard scamper into the end zone.
The Tornadoes did most of their damage on the ground with 309 yards rushing. Two Eureka players surpassed the century mark in the contest, including Escareno with a game-high 151 yards on three carries with two touchdowns.
Bluestem had 169 total yards in the game. Laidler, who completed just 3-of-10 passes, recorded 106 yards on the ground by way of 25 carries.