Thursday night football kicked off at 7:00 in Baton Rouge, as Capitol hosted Episcopal at BREC Memorial Stadium.
From the start of the game, Episcopal set the tone for the game early. On the opening drive of the game, it only took Episcopal three plays to score and take a 7-0 lead. Capitol got the ball and when they punted the ball Episcopal blocked it and had the ball in great field position. Episcopal then scored on the first play of the drive, on a play-action rollout where Dylan Mehrotra, threw a beautiful pass to take a 14-0 lead. Capitol showed hope here on the kickoff return where they returned it 90 yards for a touchdown, they then for a 2pt conversion and converted to make the game 14-8. Episcopal seemed to get stopped, but on a fourth and one, they went for it and converted, rather than punt. This gave them the momentum back that they briefly lost, and Episcopal never looked back scoring on the drive. Rather than getting big chunks of plays as they had been, this drive Episcopal established the run, did not pass and could not be stopped, 21-8. Capitol’s offense got the ball past the 50-yard line when they passed the ball deep and gained 47 yards on a diving catch. After this they got sacked, lost yards on a run, and two high snaps in a row led to a turnover on downs, with less than a minute left in the first quarter.
Episcopal dominated this drive, they scored in five plays, including gains of 12, 23, and 24 yards, 28-8 with 11:45 left in the second quarter. After a three and out from Capitol, Episcopal once again drove down the field seemingly uncontested and score on the same play-action rollout they scored for their second touchdown, they missed the PAT, 34-8. Capitol threw an interception to start their drive, it was caught by Kolin Bilbrew, who returned the pick to the Capitol 16 yard line. Episcopal scored on the first play of their drive on a dive to Ryan Armwood, who had a fantastic game and seemed impossible to tackle, 41-8 with 7:10 left in the second quarter. Capitol could not get anything going once again and went three and out. Episcopal scored quickly off a 36-yard touchdown pass with 3:45 left in the half, 48-8. With 2:25 left in the half, Episcopal got the ball back, and without passing the ball even with the limited time in the half, they put the ball in the endzone to got up 55-8 with 25 seconds left in the half.
Episcopal came into the game with a visible game plan. Offensively they ran a multitude of formations, including spread and under center heavy sets, which bothered the Capitols defense. Every time Episcopal got the ball in the first half they scored. Defensively they played aggressive, their defensive backs played close to the line of scrimmage, and it was common for them to blitz. While Capitol had the one big pass, playing this way paid off and Capitol’s offense was limited, to say the least.
In the second half, Episcopal took the foot off the gas, most of the starters did not play, and they only scored once in the rest of the game to make the final score 62-8.
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