WHITE RIVER VALLEY — Huntsville running back Phillip Hoskins ran for 125 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries, leading the Class 4A-1 Eagles (1-2) to a 36-8 home win over 3A-1 Elkins at Eagles Stadium.

"I was very motivated to get a win," Hoskins said. "[The win] meant a lot. We needed a win like this. We did it as a team, and we executed right, and I think it's going to get us going where we need to go. The offensive line did an amazing job."

Huntsville never looked back after taking a commanding 22-8 lead into halftime following Hoskins second touchdown run, a 2-yard plunge out of the Wildcat formation with one second remaining in the half. The Eagles were aided by five personal foul penalties - three facemasks - on the drive.

"That was big because we'd missed some [scoring] opportunities," Huntsville coach Ken Harriman said. "For us to go ahead and get that thing in, obviously that was a big advantage for us. Elkins fought hard and that had to be disheartening to them. I'm real happy with the way our kids kept their heads, it could have got out of hand before halftime."

The Eagles scored on their first drive when Hoskins broke a tackle and burst down the sideline for a 36-yard touchdown with 6:23 remaining in the first quarter. Hoskins' run for a two-point conversion, gaveHuntsville an early 8-0 lead.

Elkins (1-1) responded on the ensuing drive with a 7-play, 63-yard scoring drive capped by quarterback Robert Teague's 2-yard quarterback sneak and subsequent conversion pass to receiver Hunter Guffey to tie the game.

Huntsville retook the lead with 5:22 left in the second quarter on fullback Wilson Phillips 1-yard run.

The drive, which covered 58 yards and featured no passes, put the Eagles up 14-8 after the 2-point conversion attempt was no good.

The Eagles offense rolled up 220 yards rushing, while holding Elkins under 200 yards of total offense.

"[I'm] real happy with the way the kids played tonight," Harriman said.

"[This win] was huge. To be as close as we were last week and to come away with a loss was gutwrenching, so I was really proud of the way the kids bounced back tonight. I thought we did every phase of the game pretty well tonight."

Hoskins third touchdown of the game came with 10:44 left in the fourth quarter, giving the Eagles a 29-8 lead. The 5-foot-10, 165-pounder has scored six touchdowns in Huntsville's last two games.

"Phillip is one of a kind," Harriman said. "He's a tough runner. He's going to [have] almost 500 yards in three weeks, so he's the real deal.

Kids love to block for somebody who runs that hard.

The [Wildcat] is a big part of what we do. We call that the Falcon package."

Sports, Pages 6 on 09/24/2009

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