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EATON – Neil Schwieterman scored four touchdowns and St. Henry took advantage of a multitude of second half errors by Eaton to win pulling away, 44-21, on Friday night in the MVP Game of the Week.

St. Henry (2-0, 0-0 MAC)  will remain the Miami Valley's top ranked Division V team in the MVP Fab 5 for Week 3 of the high school football season.

Meanwhile, the shell shocked Eagles (1-1, 0-0 SWBL-SW) will attempt to put Week 2 into proper perspective just in time for league play.

“I don\\'t think we could have drawn it up any better,” said Redskins head coach Jeff Starkey. “Eaton came out and made some plays right away and we made some mistakes. I\\'m really proud of our kids and how hard they played.

“When you are playing good football teams – like Eaton – you are going to turn the ball over sometimes.”

Eaton accepted the opening kickoff and proceeded to drive 57 yards in 13 plays.   Austin Fudge scored on a quarterback keeper from 10 yards out to make the score 7-0.

The Redskins responded with an extended drive of their own, but on the 10th play quarterback Brad Stahl was picked off to end the threat.

The teams exchanged punts and at the 10:38 mark of the second quarter Schwieterman  recovered a fumble in Eaton's end zone to tie the score.

Dalton Caudill scored from 20 yards out on a sweep at 4:08 to make the score, 14-7. But St. Henry drove 60 yards in just 6 plays to once again tie it.

At halftime: St. Henry 14, Eaton 14.

The Redskins took the second half kickoff and immediately drove 60 yards in 5 plays to take a lead that they would never relinquish.

Four plays later Eaton was forced to take a safety after a horrendous shotgun snap.

Three plays after the required free kick, Stahl once again found Schwieterman, this time in the flat,  and he was off to the races for a 17-yard TD – effectively ending the MVP Game of the Week.

Unlike most of their previous teams, St. Henry used a wide variety of offensive sets in this game, even though they managed to run many of the same plays anyway. Even so, they achieved a level of balance seldom seen from a Starkey coached squad.

The Redskins rushed for 121 yards (on 20 carries) and passed for 142 more on the evening – although most of the passing yards was generated from screens, shovel passes,  and very safe curl routes.

Eaton rushed for 98 yards (on 31 carries) and passed for 49 in a losing effort.

“We\\'re disappointed,” Eaton head coach Ron Neanen said. “We did some stupid things in the first half. But I thought we held in there. I thought our defense was outstanding in the first half with all of those turnovers, but we should have been able to capitalize on a couple of those but we didn\\'t.

“In the second half we came out and made some mental errors. We blew our coverage completely, missed a snap – and then they put a drive together and it just snowballed. We just couldn\\'t get it back together.”

St. Henry senior Schwieterman, had 115 yards of total offense (66 rushing on 10 carries, 49 receiving on 3 catches) in addition to his four-pack of scoring plays.

Stahl, had 142 yards on 11-for 15 passing, and 26 yards rushing on  8 carries.

The highly regarded Fudge, was held to 49 yards on 4-for-12 passing for Eaton.

All-Southwestern Buckeye League running back, Caudill, ran for 111 yards on 16 carries (and a TD); but much of his production was after this game was—for all intents and purposes—over.

Leave it to a Midwest Athletic Conference coach to claim it was his defense on a night when his team put 44 points on the board.

“I think we really have some speed on defense,” Starkey said. “Our kids really got off of their blocks and they really tackled well.

“I\\'m really proud of the way our kids played defense because Eaton really does have a really explosive offense.”

Eaton knows that they played a very tough squad from a very tough league and that games like this will only serve to make them a better football team in the future.

Their goal is to learn from picking apart the game film and to put those lessons to good use during league play in the coming weeks.

“Good teams (take advantage of mistakes),” Neanen lamented. “Good teams will put you away. That's the fastest team we have played in a couple of years.

“They\\'re a real good football team.”

Next week, St. Henry opens MAC play by hosting their rivals from New Bremen (1-1, 0-0 MAC).

Meanwhile, Eaton will travel to play Greenon.